NSERC Appoints New Vice-President, Research Grants and Scholarships

Isabelle Blain

Dr. Tom Brzustowski, President of NSERC, is pleased to announce the appointment of Isabelle Blain as Vice-President, Research Grants and Scholarships. The appointment was effective as of June 3, 2002. As Vice-President, Ms. Blain will have direct responsibility for Canada's award programs for promoting discovery and the training of highly qualified personnel in the natural sciences and engineering. The budget for these programs is more than $400 million this year. She replaces Dr. Nigel Lloyd, who was recently promoted to become NSERC's Executive Vice-President.

Ms. Blain has enjoyed an outstanding and varied career at NSERC. For the past four years she has been Corporate Secretary to Council. Previous to that she was Coordinator of Review and Investigation. She also served the Research Grants Division for a number of years in the capacity of Research Grants Officer and later as the Chief of Coordination, during which time she managed and streamlined the processing of the more than 5,000 applications that NSERC receives annually. Her interim appointments have included stints as Director of Human Resources and Director General of the Common Administrative Services Directorate of NSERC and SSHRC.

Before joining NSERC, Ms. Blain worked for 10 years as an industrial researcher and project manager in microbiology for Joseph E. Seagram et Fils, Limitée.

For more information, contact:

Francis Lionnet
NSERC
Tel.: (613) 992-9001
E-mail: fzl@nserc.ca