Molly Shoichet

Molly S. Shoichet is a Canadian science professor at the University of Toronto specializing in chemistry, biomaterials and biomedical engineering. She was Ontario's first Chief Scientist. Shoichet is a biomedical engineer known for her work in tissue engineering, and is the only person to be a fellow of the three National Academies in Canada.

Education Shoichet studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received her bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1987. She attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst for her doctoral studies and earned her PhD in polymer science and engineering in 1992.

Career After receiving her doctorate, Shoichet joined the faculty of Brown University as an adjunct professor, while simultaneously working in industry. Shoichet joined the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering in 1995, where she remains as of 2026. Her work includes tissue and polymer engineering, focusing on drug delivery and tissue regeneration. Early in her career, she studied the blood–brain barrier. and include studies on the use of hydrogels that deliver stem cells to nonfunctioning retinas. These hydrogels are designed to be easily injectable into the tissue and they then form a scaffold for cells to grow in the appropriate three-dimensional shape.

In 2015, Shoichet co-founded Research2Reality to showcase scientific research in Canada through a combination of accessible blog posts and short videos. She has also curated the "Artful Science" exhibit at the Toronto Pearson International Airport.

In November 2017, Shoichet was named as Ontario's first Chief Scientist by then Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Shoichet was the North American recipient of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2015 for her work on regeneration of nerve tissue, and in developing direct drug delivery methods for the spinal cord and brain using novel materials. She has advocated for women in science and women professors.

The University of Toronto designated her a "University Professor" in 2014. She is the only person to be a fellow of the three National Academies in Canada. She is the 2017 winner of the Kalev Pugi Award of the Chemical Institute of Canada. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Tissue Engineering. She was awarded Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) as per Government House of 29 December 2017.

In 2020, she was the winner of the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Other honours Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2013) Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013) Fellow, Canadian Academy of Sciences of the Royal Society of Canada Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) Senior Scientist Award (2014) Fellow, Royal Society UK Fellow, National Academy of Inventors

Personal life Her brother, Brian Shoichet, is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, where he serves as Co-Vice Dean of Graduate Pharmacy Education Programs and faculty in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry.

Selected publications