Cindi Morshead, PhD

Dr. Cindi Morshead

Department of Surgery

Dr. Cindi Morshead is a Professor in the Department of Surgery and the Chair of the Division of Anatomy at the University of Toronto. Her area of expertise is in stem cell biology and the field of adult neural stem cells. As a neurobiologist, Dr. Morshead’s interests lie in developing novel regenerative medicine strategies to treat the central nervous system.

She has an outstanding team of 25 top-notch researchers and trainees in her lab who are tackling big questions related to the impact of aging, neurodegenerative disease and injury that lead to physical and cognitive impairments. Dr. Morshead has a long history with the University of Toronto as both an undergraduate and graduate student, and faculty member. She did her PhD in Derek Van der Kooy’s lab where she received excellent mentorship and was able to pursue her passion for science.

Dr. Morshead now considers one of the best parts of her job to be working with trainees and the graduate community. She has supervised many students over the years, and was a Graduate Coordinator at the Institute of Medical Science (IMS) from 2012–2016. During her tenure at the IMS, she also served as Chair of Recruitment and IMS Scientific Day and as an Admissions Committee member. Her experience enabled her to work in creative teams to build opportunities for student engagement and most importantly, she worked to keep the unique needs of individual students at the forefront. Whether it be mentoring students in her own lab, or the lab of colleagues, or teaching graduate and undergraduate courses for students pursing their interests in neuroscience and regenerative medicine, she takes great pride in seeing students grow and prosper in their chosen fields.