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2022 ASBMB Election
Home Membership Election 2022 Walid Houry

HOURY, Walid

Professor, University of Toronto, Department of Biochemistry

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Walid Houry

Statement of interest

As a member of the ASBMB since 2003, I have been inspired by the contributions made by the society to the dissemination of knowledge in general and science in particular through its various publications.

Although my own research interests are in the field of protein homeostasis, I find it very important to keep informed of the progress made in other related fields of science. So, I always enjoyed reading ASBMB Today to get the latest news about awards, meetings, and, more importantly, research that might not be in my direct area of expertise.

Being on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry since 2017 has been a very rewarding experience. As a result, I am keen to be involved in the ASBMB Publications Committee to further the reach of ASBMB publications and to promote open-access in a more equitable fashion. Also, I would advocate to continue the progress of ASBMB journals towards novel and innovative article review and publication formats. I find this to be especially important given the new and different article reviewing and publishing approaches being used by other journals. Hence, a clear policy needs to be established to address how ASBMB journals will interact with open-access preprint repositories such as bioRxiv and what value will be placed on reviews provided by journal-independent peer-review platforms such as the Review Commons.

We live in an exciting time for science publishing, and I look forward to contributing as part of the ASBMB Publications Committee.

Education and training

  • B.S., chemistry with high distinction, Lebanon (1990)
  • M.S., chemistry, Cornell University (1991)
  • Ph.D., chemistry, Cornell University (1996)
  • Postdoctoral fellow, Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Sloan–Kettering Institute (1996–1997)
  • Postdoctoral fellow, Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry (1997–2000)

Awards and honors

  • Invited full member, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society (2021)
  • Visiting Scientist Award, National Research Foundation of South Africa (2015)
  • Tokyo Biochemical Research Foundation Award (2011)
  • Canada Foundation for Innovation Leaders Opportunity Fund (2010–2011)
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator (2001–2006)
  • Premier’s Research Excellence Award, Canada (2002–2005)

Experience

  • Member, Academic board of the Governing Council of the University of Toronto representing the Faculty of Medicine (2020–2023)
  • Board member, Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences (2018–2022)
  • Member, Journal of Biological Chemistry editorial board (2017–2022)
  • Co-lead organizer, Keystone Symposia “AAA+ Proteins: From Atomic Structures to Organisms” (2020)
  • Acting chair, Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto (2018)
  • Associate Chair, Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto (2012 and 2016)
  • Founding member, BiophysTO seminar series, University of Toronto (2015)
  • Director and principal applicant, CIHR training program grant in “Protein Folding and Interaction Dynamics: Principles and Diseases,” University of Toronto (2009–2015)
  • Editor, “Systems Biology & Interactomics: The Molecular Chaperones Interaction Networks in Protein Folding and Degradation” (2014)
  • Editor, The Biomedical & Life Sciences Collection, Henry Stewart Talks Series on “Protein Homeostasis” (2011–2012)