Message from the Dean

Dr. Kristin Baetz was a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology and the Assistant Dean of Research and Special Projects (2019-2021) at the Faculty of Medicine, uOttawa.  Prior to that Dr Baetz was the Director of the Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology (2012-2019), a multi-faculty Research Centre with a mandate to develop and apply systems biology to biological studies relevant to human diseases.  Dr. Baetz’s research program exploits the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a variety of systems biology approaches to understand the basic cellular mechanisms cancer and neurodegeneration.  Presently her lab is focusing on how lysine acetyltransferases impact chromosome stability, stress response and lipid homeostasis.  She also applies her yeast screening platforms and synthetic biology approaches to improve industrial yeast for bioproduct fermentation.  Dr Baetz’s was a CRC Tier II (2005-2015) and her work is published consistently in high impact journals such as PNAS, PLoS Genetics, Metabolic Engineering, Nature Cell Biology and Developmental Cell.  Her research program has been funded by a variety of sources including CIHR, NSERC, CFI, ORF, CCSRI, PSI, Agriculture Canada and NCE.  Given her broad expertise and scientific reputation, Dr Baetz served as Associate Editor at Biochemistry and Cell Biology and has extensive reviewer experience at CCSRI, CIHR, NSERC and NFRF.

Dr. Baetz is also extensively involved in advocacy efforts to improve research funding eco-system in Canada.  From 2012 – 2019 Dr Baetz has served on the board of the Canadian Society of Molecular Biosciences (CSMB), including serving as President (2015-2017), a professional association of biochemists and genetics scientists that advocates for sustainable science policy and funding for Canadian researchers.  Her work with CSMB has led to her recruitment onto the board of Research Canada (2018 – present) a national, broad-based alliance dedicated to advancing health research through collaborative advocacy and she has served on the Ontario Research Fund Advisory Board (2017/2018).  She is also an advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM and runs/participates in a variety of workshops/events at both the local and national level. 

Dr. Kristin Baetz, Dean, Faculty of Science