Professor John Challis joined the board of Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in June 2014 as proxy for the Vice Chancellor of The University of Western Australia (UWA). He is executive director of WA Health Translation Network (WAHTN), having served as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Health and Medical Research at UWA from 2014 – 2015. Professor Challis holds the title of University Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, and Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. He completed his training at the University of Cambridge, University of California, San Diego and Harvard Medical School and held a Junior Research Fellowship at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, before moving to McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Professor Challis was chair of the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto and later became vice president, research and associate provost. He was the inaugural scientific director of the Canadian Institute for Health Research, Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health and served as president and chief executive of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research in Vancouver BC.
