Janet Rossant is Senior Scientist emeritus in the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Program at the Hospital for Sick Children, University Professor emeritus in the Dept of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto and President and Scientific Director of the Gairdner Foundation. Her research interests are focused on understanding the development of the early mammalian embryo at a cellular and molecular level.  She has used the information from such studies to derive novel stem cells from the mouse blastocyst and understand the relationships between pluripotent stem cells in vitro and embryo cells in vivo. She has also been actively involved in ethics and public policy discussions around stem cell research and genetic modifications.