Dr. Worton is retired after a 37 year career as a medical research scientist and scientific leader.
Following degrees in Physics at the University of Manitoba and a PhD in Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, Dr. Worton spent two years as a research fellow at Yale. In 1971, he moved to the Department of Genetics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, where he spent 25 years as a scientist, the last 11 years as Geneticist-in-Chief, and Professor in Molecular and Medical Genetics at the University of Toronto.
In 1996, Dr. Worton moved to Ottawa as Scientific Director of a new Research Institute at the former Ottawa General Hospital. Following the merger of this Institute with the Loeb Health Research Institute to create the Ottawa Health Research Institute in 2001, he became its first CEO and Scientific Director, retiring in April, 2007.† During that 6 year period he was also VP Research of The Ottawa Hospital, and Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa.
Dr. Worton's research has been on the genetics of human disease, including identification of the gene responsible for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and elucidation of the mechanism of mutation in patients. His work has resulted in more than 120 publications in leading journals and books and over 150 invited presentations at international meetings.
Dr. Wortonís national and international leadership role has included 12 years as Associate Director of the Canadian Genetic Diseases Network, six years as Head of the Canadian Genome Analysis and Technology Program and four years as Founding Scientific Director of Canadaís Stem Cell Network.
He has also served on the Boards of the Ottawa Health Research Institute, the Ottawa Hospital Foundation, the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists, the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Canada and the American Society of Human Genetics, his last year as President of the Society. He also served on the Interim Governing Council that created the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.† Currently he is Chair of the Board of Research Canada and Vice Chair of the Board of the Ontario Research Fund
Dr. Worton is the recipient of several national and international awards including the prestigious Gairdner Foundation International Award. He holds honorary degrees from the University of Manitoba and UniversitÈ Catholique de Louvain and is an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada.

Stem Cells: Their Discovery, Healing Power and Social Impact
Stem cells have been known in the scientific literature for over 40 years, but only in the last 10 years have they burst into the public consciousness. The first stem cells were discovered in mouse bone marrow in the early 1960s and found to be primitive unspecialized cells that were capable of giving rise to the many different types of specialized cells found in blood. Later, stem cells were discovered in other tissues such as brain and muscle, and found to give rise to specialized cells in those tissues. In 1980 mouse embryos at the blastula stage were found to contain stem cells that were capable of giving rise to all the cells of the adult mouse. It was not until 1998 when human embryonic stem cells were reported with similar properties that scientists and the public began to think seriously about the use of such cells for repair or regeneration of tissues destroyed by trauma or disease. Stem cell research came of age, and with it came the controversy over the use of stem cells from human embryos. Some of the social concern is very real, and touches on both ethical principles and religious beliefs, but much of the debate is also due to ignorance of the facts, or on distortion of the facts to serve a particular purpose. The recent discovery that ordinary skin cells can be re-programmed to behave like stem cells may prove to be the best route to the new field of Regenerative Medicine based on stem cell therapeutics, and at the same time remove any concern about the use of embryonic stem cells for therapeutic applications.