Roderick R. McInnes is the Scientific Director of the Institute of Genetics of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and a Professor at the University of Toronto. He is also Professor of Pediatrics and of Molecular and Medical Genetics, and an Anne and Max Tanenbaum Chair in Molecular Medicine at the University. Dr. McInnes has made many contributions to the understanding of the molecular basis of retinal and eye development, and to the identification of genes and processes associated with inherited retinal degenerations. These discoveries include the identification of the eye developmental genes CHXlO, CRX, and VSXl, as well as the photoreceptor genes ROMl and PHRl. His team demonstrated the relationship between several of the genes discovered in his lab with various forms of inherited blindness. With Derek van der Kooy, Dr. McInnes was the co-discoverer of retinal stem cells in the adult eye. Recently, his group identified a novel principle that underlies most if not all forms of retinal degeneration, a principle that appears to challenge current ideas about why photoreceptor cells die in retinal degenerative diseases. Dr. McInnes is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the recipient of the 2002 Samuel Rosenthal Award from the Rosenthal Foundation of Cleveland. He received the 2004 Dales Award from the University of Toronto and was elected a Senior Fellow of Massey College of the University in 2005