Post by McMaster Faculty of Science

With his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Waterloo, Joshua Cherubini is the first “full-circle student” for kinesiology professor and McMaster University Provost Maureen MacDonald. Cherubini spent nearly eight years working in MacDonald’s Vascular Dynamics Lab, joining in the third year of his undergraduate kinesiology degree. He’d applied to several labs but MacDonald’s was at the top of his wish list. He says the anatomy and physiology lectures MacDonald delivered in his first and second-year courses left a lasting impression, especially a video of red blood cells circulating through the microvascular system of a hamster’s cheek. “A striking departure from the regular textbook images we’d usually see in the classroom,” says Cherubini. He stayed on in the Vascular Dynamics Lab to complete an undergrad thesis project and then earned his PhD with MacDonald as his supervisor, exploring the interactions between sleep profiles and exercise on cardiovascular function. “I didn’t have much interest in research until I joined Maureen’s lab and then I was hooked.” He says it’s not unusual for students in the lab to stay for an extended tour of duty. Cherubini opened a whole new world of research for the lab by exploring the impacts of disturbed sleep on the cardiovascular system, says MacDonald. “Josh’s project on partial sleep deprivation pretty much describes every student’s life.” Cherubini is now a member of Richard Hughson’s research group at the University of Waterloo, supporting a study into the cardiovascular health of astronauts on the International Space Station. There’s no out-of-this-world fieldwork involved in his postdoctoral fellowship. “I’m keeping both feet firmly on the ground,” says Cherubini. Hughson is the Schlegel Research Chair in Vascular Aging and Brain Health with the Schlegal-University of Waterloo Research Institute for Aging. He holds a PhD from McMaster where he worked as an assistant professor of kinesiology between 1977 and 1982 before joining the University of Waterloo. In the 1990s, Hughson was MacDonald’s MSc and PhD supervisor and co-supervisor for her second postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Canadian Space Agency. Three decades later, Hughson is now Cherubini’s supervisor. It’s a full-circle moment and point of pride for MacDonald. “Josh is the first student from my lab to be supervised by Rich. That’s a milestone that brings me great joy.” MacDonald connected Cherubini with her former supervisor during the Ontario Exercise Physiology Conference hosted by Mac last summer. This will come as no surprise to any student who’s worked in MacDonald’s lab and gone to conferences with their supervisor, says Cherubini. “If you go to a conference with Maureen, prepare to shake a lot of hands. Maureen will make a point of introducing you to collaborators, colleagues and graduates from her lab. Whatever conference you’re at, she seems to know everyone and everyone knows Maureen.”