Briefs

New associate vice-principal (communications)

Jennifer Robinson has been appointed associate vice-principal (communications). The former journalist and public relations consultant will be responsible for providing leadership and direction to university communications and communication strategies. She will report jointly to the principal and vice-principal (development and alumni relations).

Fluently bilingual, Robinson is a former editorial page editor and associate editor of The Gazette, positions she held after reporting on Quebec and Canadian political and social issues. Prior to coming to McGill, Robinson was a consultant with National Public Relations, a Montreal-based firm.

"This is a key new position that reflects the university's desire to reach out in a proactive and effective manner to those who are interested in learning about McGill and its many and varied programs and activities, mission and vision," said Principal Heather Munroe-Blum.

Robinson started at McGill on February 2.

New executive director for MUHC

Dr. Arthur Porter

The McGill University Health Centre board of directors has announced that Dr. Arthur Porter has been named as executive director.

Porter comes to Montreal from Detroit, where he was president and chief executive officer of the Detroit Medical Centre from 1999–2003. That facility is the teaching and research site for Wayne State University School of Medicine, the fourth largest medical college in the United States. While there he oversaw the installation of modern information systems and successfully lobbied to secure public funding for the care of the idigent.

A radiation oncologist, Porter has published some 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has been a professor at the University of Alberta, where he was also the chief resident in Radiation Oncology and later the senior radiation oncologist at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. From 1988 through to 1991, he held the position of chief of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the London Regional Cancer Centre and later chairman of the Department of Oncology at Victoria Hospital Corporation. He was also a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario.

Porter is currently taking intensive French lessons and will start on April 5.