Fast Five: Meet Dr. David Hill

Fast 5 features quick, personal profiles of our research team members. This week, it’s Dr. David Hill, Lawson Professor in Diabetes Research, Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Physiology & Pharmacology and Paediatrics at Western University, Scientific Director of Lawson Health Research Institute and Integrated Vice President, Research for London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph’s Health Care, London.

1. What are you reading for pleasure right now?
The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths, one of my favorite mystery authors

2. What is the most worthwhile non-monetary investment you’ve made?
An iPhone 11. Two of my kids work in diabetes research the U.K. so I do a lot of Skype and WhatsApp.

3. What advice would you give your younger self?
Build a strong network of colleagues and collaborators. They will last you a lifetime and make research a fun group achievement.

4. What prompted you to get into regenerative medicine?
A stunning research fellow who taught me as an undergraduate. She moved to Oxford and I followed to work on cartilage growth and repair. This morphed into fetal development and eventually into the regeneration of insulin-producing cells. I wonder where she is now?

5. If you could buy one new toy for the lab right now – if money was not an issue – what would you get and why?
I’ve done it! A single cell RNA-seq machine. Just have to find the money to pay for the studies now.