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Dr. Christine Allen

Dr. Christine Allen

dr christine allen

Christine Allen is a Professor and the inaugural Associate Vice-President and Vice-Provost Strategic Initiatives at the University of Toronto. She completed her doctoral research in the Department of Chemistry at McGill University and post-doctoral research in the Department of Advanced Therapeutics at the B.C. Cancer Agency. She joined the University of Toronto in 2002 and has established a leading research group focused on the design of innovative materials and drug delivery technologies with over 140 peer-reviewed publications in her field. She has over 20 years of experience in the drug delivery field and has significant expertise in the design, development, and evaluation of advanced drug delivery systems. Christine’s research laboratory is located within the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy building at University of Toronto St. George campus. She is co-founder of Nanovista Inc., a company developing multi-modal visualization agents for high precision image-guided cancer therapy. She has received career awards from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS), the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada, and most recently the Controlled Release Society (CRS) Women in Science Award. She is a fellow of CSPS, CRS, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). Christine is the outgoing President of CSPS, the President Elect of CRS and a member of the Governing Council and Executive Committee of NSERC. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Controlled Release, a pre-eminent journal in pharmaceutics and drug delivery. Christine is a member of the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence and a strong advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion in research and innovation. She is also a member of the Connaught Committee at University of Toronto, which oversees the management of the Connaught Fund held at the University of Toronto, In 2019, she launched the book club “Women in Stem: Leading and Reading” for faculty, staff and students at the University of Toronto. In 2021, she was appointed CEO and Scientific Director of the Nanomedicine Innovation Network (NMIN), as well as Interim Director of the Precision Medicine initiative at University of Toronto (PRiME).

  • Full Professor (Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, 2014-Present)
  • GlaxoSmithKline Chair in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery (Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, 2014-Present)
  • Associate Dean, Graduate Education (Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, 2014-2015)
  • Interim Associate Dean, Graduate Education (Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, 2013-2014)
  • Associate Professor (Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, 2007-2014)

Cross-Appointment in Department of Chemical Engineering  and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto

  • Faculty (STTARR Innovation Centre, University Health Network, 2008-Present)
  • Associate Dean, Academic (Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, 2012)
  • Interim Associate Dean, Academic (Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, 2011)
  • Visiting Scientist (STTARR Innovation Centre, University Health Network, 2009-2010)
  • Assistant Professor (Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, 2002-2007)
  • Associate Director (Molecular Design and Information Technology Center, 2002-2006)
  • Assistant Director Materials Research (Celator Pharmaceuticals Corp., 2002)
  • Research Scientist II (IRAP Project Leader) (Celator Pharmaceuticals Corp., 2001-2002)
  • NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellow (Department of Advanced Therapeutics, B.C. Cancer Agency, 2000-2001 Supervisors: Dr. Marcel Bally and Dr. Lawrence Mayer)
  • Post-Doctoral Fellow (Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2000 Supervisor: Dr. Helen Burt)
  • 2021 Control Release Society (CRS) Women in Science Award (CRS Women in Science Award)
  • 2014 Gattefossé Canada/CSPS Award in Lipid-Based Drug Delivery (Dou Y.N., Zheng J., Foltz W.D., Weersink R., Chaudary N., Jaffray D.A., Allen C. Heat-activated Thermosensitive Liposomal Cisplatin (HTLC) Results in Effective Growth Delay of Cervical Carcinoma in Mice. Journal of Controlled Release 2014, 178:69-78 (PubMed link))
  • 2011 CRS/Elsevier Journal of Controlled Release Jorge Heller Award for Outstanding Paper (Dunne M., Zheng J., Rosenblat J., Jaffray D.A., Allen C. APN/CD13-Targeting as a Strategy to Alter the Tumor Accumulation of Liposomes. Journal of Controlled Release2011, 154:298-305 (PubMed link))
  • Innovation Award (Ontario Research and Commercialization Program, 2008)
  • Career Award (Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)/Rx&D, 2004-2009)
  • New Investigator Research Award (Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC)/AstraZeneca, 2006)
  • Early Career Award (Canadian Society for Pharmaceuticals Sciences (CSPS)/GlaxoSmithKline, 2006)
  • President Elect, Control Release Society (CRS) (2021 – Present)
  • Committee Member, Connaught Committee (University of Toronto, 2021 – Present)
  • Editor-In-Chief, Journal of Controlled Release (JCR) (2020 – Present)
  • President, Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS) (2020 – Present)
  • Committee Member, NSERC Governing Council (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, 2018 – Present)
  • Chair, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Research and Innovation Standing Committee (University of Toronto, 2019 – Present)
  • Founder, Women in Stem: Leading and Reading Book Club (University of Toronto, 2019 – Present)
  • Deputy Chair, Annual Meeting Program Committee (Controlled Release Society (CRS), 2015-2016)
  • Treasurer-Elect (Controlled Release Society (CRS), 2015-2016)
  • Secretary (Controlled Release Society (CRS), 2014-2015)
  • Associate Editor (Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2013-Present)
  • Elected Member, Board of Directors (Controlled Release Society (CRS), 2012-2015)
  • Member, Grant Review Panel, Biomaterials and Biointerfaces Study Section (National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2011-2017)
  • Elected Member, Executive Committee  (Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS), 2011-2013)
  • Member, Editorial Advisory Board (Bioconjugate Chemistry, 2010-Present)
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Board (Controlled Release Society (CRS), 2009-Present)
  • Member, Editorial Advisory Board (Drug Delivery, 2009-Present)
  • Ph.D. in Chemistry – Dean’s Honours List McGill University, 1995-2000
    Dissertation: Polycaprolactone-b-poly(ethelene oxide) copolymer micelles: Physico-chemical characterization and application in drug delivery
  • B.Sc. in Biochemistry – Summa Cum Laude, Dean’s Honours List University of Ottawa, 1991-1995