Melanie Woodin

Melanie A. Woodin is a Canadian neuroscientist and academic administrator who is serving as the 17th president of the University of Toronto. She is the first woman to hold the office. Woodin previously served as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto, a position she began in 2019.

Life and career

Woodin graduated from the University of Toronto in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in biology and a Master of Science in zoology in 1997. In 2001, she completed her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Calgary, then completed her postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Woodin joined the University of Toronto as assistant professor in the Department of Zoology in 2004. She established the Woodin Lab which she continues to lead.
She has served as the Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies, Director of the Human Biology Program, Associate Dean, Undergraduate Studies and Academic Planning, and the Vice-Dean, Interdivisional Partnerships in the Faculty of Arts & Science.
She serves on the board of directors at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence. She is a member of the Canadian Brain Research Strategy leadership and was the President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, an association dedicated to advancing brain research.
She was elected the 17th president of the University of Toronto in 2025 and has held the role since July 1, 2025.

In 2014, Woodin was named Neuroscience Alumnus of the Year by the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary. In 2022, she received the Alumni of Distinction Award from the Cumming School of Medicine.
She has been a Senior Fellow of the University of Toronto's Massey College since 2019.