Fast Five: Meet Dr. Harold Atkins

Fast 5 features quick, personal profiles of our research team members. This week, it’s Dr. Harold Atkins, Scientist, Cancer Therapeutics; Medical Director, Regenerative Medicine, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

1. What are you reading for pleasure right now?
I just finished reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.  He is excellent at capturing the human condition.

2. What is the most worthwhile non-monetary investment you’ve made?
Time spent woodworking.  It is very calming and, very occasionally, a useful product comes out of it.

3. What advice would you give your younger self?
Be more outgoing – learn from others and tell others what you have learned.

4. What prompted you to get into regenerative medicine?
When I was training, I did a bone marrow aspiration, took the cells to the lab and grew hematopoietic colonies. I was taken by how you could study something in the lab and use the knowledge to treat patients.  Because of this, I became a stem cell transplant physician and have since learned about other aspects of regenerative medicine.

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?
A cyclotron and PET scanner to be able to study regenerative processes on a molecular level in patients enrolled in clinical trials.