A changing of the guard will occur at the University of Waterloo at the end of June as the school announced it is getting a new leader.
Vivek Goel has been chosen to replace Feridun Hamdullahpur as UWaterloo’s president and vice-chancellor.
Hamdullahpur is stepping down after having served in the role since 2010.
Goel, who will become the UWaterloo’s seventh president and vice-chancellor, comes to the school from the University of Toronto, where he was the vice-president of research and innovation.
“Dr. Goel has decades of experience and expertise as a university leader and as a champion of student experience, research and innovation,” Cindy Forbes, chair of the University of Waterloo’s board of governors, said in a release. “He is uniquely qualified to guide the institution and to bolster our strengths at the intersection of health, society and technology.”
A public health physician, Goel is also a member of the federal government’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force and scientific advisor for the CanCOVID Research Network.
“A research-intensive institution like Waterloo is ideally poised to create the change and solutions for a better future – whether it is tackling public-health challenges, addressing systemic racism, dealing with the climate crisis, or spurring economic recovery and growth,” Goel stated.
A 19-member committee spent almost a year searching for what it felt was the best candidate to replace Hamdullahpur.