Dr. Wallace MacNaughton

Wally obtained his BSc (1984) and MSc (1986) in Biology from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.  After a brief stint as a lab technician at McMaster University and Queen’s, he completed his PhD in Physiology at Queen’s in 1989, under the supervision of Dr. John Wallace.  It was in Dr. Wallace’s lab that he developed his interest in the mediators of mucosal healing in inflammatory diseases of the gut.  He then did post-doctoral fellowships at University of Calgary, under Dr. Grant Gall, and at the University of Ottawa, under Drs. Tony Krantis and Kent Harding.  In 1991, Wally joined the Department of National Defence (Canada) as a Defence Scientist in the Radiation Biology Group, studying the effects of ionizing radiation on intestinal epithelial function, and had adjunct appointments in the Departments of Physiology and Medicine at the University of Ottawa.  He joined the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary in 1996, and is currently Professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology in the Cumming School of Medicine.  He is a member of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases and the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute.    

Wally’s current research interests are in intestinal epithelial biology in health and disease, particularly the factors that regulate epithelial restitution and mucosal healing in the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.  His lab has been continuously funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Crohn’s and Colitis Canada, with additional support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the University of Calgary.