As leader of the Faculty’s Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) Office, Michèle carried out an ambitious mandate with great energy and commitment to the health sciences. Recruited to guide the Faculty during the University’s largest-ever public fundraising initiative – Campaign McGill – she and her team raised a total of $155 million, surpassing the Faculty’s target of $130 million ahead of schedule. She fulfilled this goal working closely with faculty members, alumni and friends in support of our strategic priorities, which included amassing $16 million annually to fund chairs, students, research and scientific infrastructure.Michèle also played a key role in strengthening our ties with the teaching hospitals, by creating and implementing the University-Hospital Endowed Chair program. These Chairs are established in collaboration with our hospital foundation partners to help promote, recruit and retain leading clinical academics. The program has yielded eight joint chairs so far, with plans in place to add several more. Michèle was also a valued member of the University’s Strategic Reframing Initiative, bringing her strong business acumen to the table to help refine institutional priorities.
As head of International Fundraising for DNDi, Michèle will use her two decades of experience in philanthropy to bring momentum to the organization’s mandate and help develop new treatments for neglected tropical diseases, such as malaria, sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and pediatric HIV. She will manage a team of fundraisers at DNDi’s head office in Geneva, as well as five regional offices around the world.
Please join me in thanking Michèle for all her support and in wishing her the best as she sets out on this new path. She has been the inspiration behind so many gifts from alumni and friends who are dedicated to the ongoing leadership of the McGill Faculty of Medicine.
David Eidelman, MDCM
Vice-Principal (Health Affairs)
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
September 11, 2012