Zubin Austin BScPhm MBA MISc PhD FCAHS is Professor and Murray Koffler Research Chair at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada.  His research focuses on the professional and personal development of the health workforce.  He has published over 250 peer reviewed manuscripts and authored 4 textbooks, including “Management, Leadership, and Entrepreneurship in Pharmacy” recently published by the Pharmaceutical Press – UK.  In 2017, in recognition of the global impact of his work, he was installed as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the highest honour for health researchers in Canada.  He is also the only University of Toronto professor ever to have been awarded both the President’s Teaching Award for sustained excellence as an educator and the President’s Research Impact Award for the international significance of his work.  He has been named Professor of the Year by pharmacy students on 21 separate occasions.

Since the pandemic, I’ve been more interested in gardening.  This summer, I’d planted beans and peas but sadly nothing sprouted…I’d assumed the voles and squirrels had carried them off.  Towards mid summer, I noticed a strange, unrecognizable plant starting to grow where the beans and peas had been planted.  Using GoogleLens, I scanned it…and discovered that what was growing in my garden in Canada – was a papaya tree!  Tropical fruits aren’t known to grow in Canada, but somehow in the winter, I’d composted papaya seeds/pulp and spread it in the garden, and it took root, crowded out the beans and peas, and is now growing.  Stay tuned – it will take several years for the tree to grow and bear fruit but for the winter I brought it in the house, carefully pollinated it with a q-tip, and hope that soon made-in-Canada papaya will be on my breakfast table.