How This Blog Came To Be

Step ONE: Retire so that you have time to do this :)

I know that this blog is meant to be all about research, and not all about me, but given my current transition into "retirement" from my active employment at the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (CCSRI), I thought that this was a good opportunity to kick-start the blog and get this out of the way :)


This is where the "celebration" really started:  My Retirement Announcement on the CCS website.

I wonder of they were trying to tell me that, as one colleague put it "Don't let the door hit you on the way out"   :)

Then the real "roasting" began - November 28 and December 14, 2011...

A few selected photos of the several receptions and send-offs I received. It was a very heart warming time, for sure. I am very grateful to the CCS and to my staff colleagues who organized these events. Some of the pictures are from a Retirement Reception at the first ever Canadian Cancer Research Conference. It was a great opportunity to see over a thousand research colleagues at the conference.

The remaining pictures are from a staff reception held a couple of weeks later.

Dr. Gerry Johnston, Associate Dean of Research,
Dalhousie University, Halifax

Dr. Roy Cameron, Professor Emeritus,
University of Waterloo

Dr. Phil Branton,
former Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute
of Cancer Research

Dr. Elizabeth Eisenhauer,
Co-Chair of the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance
 

Getting *MY* say in: a few words of rebuttal :)

Dr. David Malkin, Scientific Chair of the
CCSRI Advisory Committee on Research

Me with a few of the attendees after the ceremonies

Staff reception with my family
in the front row :)

Family around the cake!

A few of the NCIC "old-timers":
(l to r) Dr. Gareth Taylor, Andrea Mackesy, Connie Marano,
me, Carol Bishop, Ross Marchildon

Me and granddaughter Mercedes: one of the reasons I am retiring
so I get to enjoy more of her and the rest of the family :)

And now, that is all behind me: I am warmed and humbled by the outpouring of affection, but time to move on. Next posts will be all about SCIENCE and RESEARCH!