Eugenia Kumacheva


Eugenia Eduardovna Kumacheva is a University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. Her research interests span across the fields of fundamental and applied polymers science, nanotechnology, microfluidics, and interface chemistry. She was awarded the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2008 "for the design and development of new materials with many applications including targeted drug delivery for cancer treatments and materials for high density optical data storage". In 2011, she published a book on the Microfluidic Reactors for Polymer Particles co-authored with. She is Canadian Research Chair in Advanced Polymer Materials. She is Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
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Education and early life

Eugenia Kumacheva was born in Odesa, Soviet Union. After earning her undergraduate degree from the Technical University in St. Petersburg, she worked in industry for several years before beginning her Ph.D. research. In 1986, she was awarded her Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry of polymers in the Institute of Physical Chemistry Russian Academy of Sciences.

Career and research

Eugenia then worked as a staff scientist at the Moscow State University before beginning her postdoctoral fellowship supported by Minerva Foundation with Professor Jacob Klein at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. She then joined the research lab of Professor Mitch Winnik at the University of Toronto in Canada to study multicomponent polymer systems. In 1996, Kumacheva became an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto, and in 2005, she was promoted to the ranks of Full Professor. Eugenia has published 2 books, 10 book chapters, and 305 papers with >70 citations/paper. She holds 40 patents and is a founder of two companies FlowJEM and KuBE Materials Solutions. She has given >300 invited, keynote and plenary lectures, as well as public lectures. In 2008, she was the first Canadian recipient of the L'Oréal-UNESCO "Women in Science" Prize. In 2016, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 2017, she was awarded a CIC medal "presented as a mark of distinction and recognition to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the science of chemistry or chemical engineering in Canada, this is the CIC’s top award." In 2020, Eugenia was appointed by The Governor General of Canada as an Officer to the Order of Canada for “her contributions to chemistry, notably through microfluidics and polymer research, and for her efforts as an advocate for women in science".
Eugenia Kumacheva's work focuses on polymer science, nanoscience, microfluidics, and interface chemistry. She is strongly interested in research with biological applications. Recently, she became involved in the use artificial intelligence.

Honors and awards

Eugenia Kumacheva's awards and honors include: