This morning, Business in Vancouver announced the 2013 cohort of "Forty under 40," recognizing the top forty professionals in the lower mainland of British Columbia under the age of 40 years old. Paul Schaffer, Head of TRIUMF's Nuclear Medicine division, was selected as one of the winners. Congratulations!
A modest man with a sense of humour and a strong commitment to his family and playing hard outdoors, Paul came to TRIUMF in 2009 from the private sector where he worked at General Electric in upstate New York. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from McMaster University in 2003 and earned his B.Sc. with honours in chemistry and biochemistry from UBC in 1998. He is now also an adjunct professor at SFU's Department of Chemistry and an assistant professor in the Department of Radiology at UBC.
The commendations for Paul are many but he is most recognized for his earnest sincerity, his positive attitude, and his ability to create teams that produce phenomenal results on short time scales. A master of his subject matter, Paul has transformed the TRIUMF nuclear-medicine program by focusing on core competencies, specific outcomes, and connections with industrial and commercial interests.
Nigel S. Lockyer, former director of TRIUMF, commented, "Paul is a leader, an entrepreneur, an inspirational manager, and one of BC's most promising talents. He is the key researcher looking forward for the laboratory and establishing the major nuclear-medicine research plans and goals for the next two decades."
Jason S. Lewis, vice chair for research in the Department of Radiology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, noted, "First and foremost, Paul is an outstanding and accomplished scientist. Not many achieve the level of performance, in terms of both research and leadership, as Paul has attained in his young career. He is a compelling and selfless leader of his team."
Congratulations to Paul and hats off to TRIUMF for another check mark in the "talented people" column!
-- by T.I. Meyer, Head of Strategic Planning & Communication