Prof. Heyu Ni: it’s important for a supervisor to find the strengths and weaknesses of each trainee

Editor’s note

On May 14th, 2019, the Guangzhou Blood Center and the editorial office of Annals of Blood (AOB) successfully held a symposium in Guangzhou, aiming to provide a platform for AOB Section Editors for academic communication and discussion on AOB’s annual progress and future development. During the symposium, Prof. Heyu Ni (Figure 1) from the University of Toronto gave an excellent presentation on the topic “Platelets and Platelet Immunology” as a distinguished speaker. After his presentation, the editorial office conducted a brief interview with Prof. Ni.

Figure 1 Group photo by Prof. Ni and the Editor-in-Chief of AOB Dr. Yongshui Fu.

Currently, Dr. Ni’s laboratory investigates the roles of adhesion molecules involved in thrombosis/hemostasis, inflammation/immune response, and tumorigenesis. His team is studying the mechanisms of these processes using a confocal intra-vital microscopy suite, proteomics, and gene targeted mice. With regards to team management, Prof. Ni shared his experience, “It’s important to find the strengths and weaknesses of each trainee and try to encourage them, to give them proper projects, so that they are able to reach their own goals”. As a supervisor, he always kept in mind that each trainee has their own unique training background.

“To Use their strengths but also identify their weakness, try to enhance the weakness part because they are our future”, said Prof. Ni.

During the interview, Prof. Ni also pointed out some important challenges in medical science. He encouraged all the governments and research agencies to provide sufficient financial support for researchers to encourage our new generation of trainees, and move research forward. More details on interview please see Figure 2.

Figure 2 Professor Heyu Ni: it’s important for a supervisor to find the strengths and weaknesses of each trainee (1). Available online: http://www.asvide.com/article/view/32643

Expert introduction

Heyu Ni, MD, PhD is a Scientist of the Canadian Blood Services Centre for Innovation, the Platform Director for Hematology, Cancer and Immunological Diseases at St. Michael’s Hospital, and the Founder/President of CCOA therapeutic Inc. He has been a full professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, Department of Medicine, and Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto since 2013.

Interview questions

• Viewing at your biography, I noticed that you firstly received your MD in China, and then PhD in Canada, and then postdoctoral training in USA, and now you have been working in Canada for years with outstanding contribution to the field. Looking back on your career, would you like to share what took you to the path, and what encouraged to keep moving on?
• How to identify a research with the clinical significance?
• What would be your advice to the younger generations (like younger physicians, nurses or students) regarding how to keep enthusiasm in basic research?
• In your presentation, you introduced your excellent team and some interesting studies that they are carrying on. What do you regard as the key elements in team management?

Acknowledgments

Funding: None.

Footnote

Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, Annals of Blood for the series “Meet the Professor”. The article did not undergo external peer review.

Conflicts of Interest: Both authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/aob.2019.06.06). The series “Meet the Professor” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. The authors report that they are full-time employees of AME Publishing Company. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

References

1. Zhong J, Tang C. Professor Heyu Ni: it’s important for a supervisor to find the strengths and weaknesses of each trainee. Asvide 2019;6:193. Available online: http://www.asvide.com/article/view/32643

(Science Editors: Jessie Zhong, Constance Tang, AOB, aob@amegroups.com)