On September 1, 2011, Professor Don Brooks, a founding member of the CBR, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Professor of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science, will step down from his position as UBC’s Associate Vice President, Research and International. In this capacity over the past 10 years, Don has skillfully provided superb administrative support to researchers throughout UBC, and helped to establish strong relationships with peer institutions worldwide.

Fortunately, Don is not disappearing from the UBC scene! Indeed, he will continue to provide major contributions to UBC as the Director of UBC’s Support Programs to Advance Research Capacity (SPARC).

Formerly known as the Health Research Resource Office (HeRRO), SPARC was launched with a mandate to provide strategic support to UBC researchers in all discliplines who seek funding for research initiatives. Under Don’s direction, SPARC will help investigators develop research partnerships and build interdisciplinary, inter-institutional teams that may involve government, the private sector and the community.

While contributing to the successes of essentially all of UBC’s researchers, Don leads an active, stimulating, and highly productive research group of his own at the CBR in the Life Sciences Centre. We are proud of his accomplishments and wish him well in his new job.