More than three decades after earning his PhD at McMaster University, Paul Santerre is returning to his alma mater to receive another doctorate– this time an honorary one. It’s a full-circle moment for a distinguished professor, scientist and entrepreneur whose career has spanned continents, disciplines and industries.
With more than 40 years of groundbreaking work in polymer synthesis, biomaterial design, tissue engineering and drug delivery primarily at the University of Toronto, hundreds of peer-reviewed publications, multiple startups launched, and countless students mentored, Santerre’s impact is undeniable. So how does this latest recognition measure up?
“It’s incredibly affirming,” says Santerre. “McMaster has always felt like home. To have the institution that helped shape my path turn around and say your work matters very much to society – that’s a tremendous compliment.”
Being recognized by a school that values societal contribution says something about how I’ve tried to live my career.
Santerre describes McMaster as “Canada’s university with a social conscience,” a place where research is always tied to real-world impact. “Being recognized by a school that values societal contribution says something about how I’ve tried to live my career. I want to retire one day, pickup creative writing for fun, and feel like I’ve done my best with no regrets. And I think I will feel that, because my science has meant something.”
Santerre’s path to McMaster wasn’t linear. Initially drawn to electrochemistry, a project with DuPont – a major American chemical company – shifted his focus to polymers. “I fell in love with them,” he recalls. “And in the late ’80s, McMaster was the place to be for polymer research.” Though he came to work with polymer expert and professor Archie Hamielec, it was a meeting with professor John Brash that changed everything.
“Dr. Brash opened the door to combining polymers with biotech and biology, bringing me full circle to my undergrad roots,” says Santerre. “We were designing electrodes to measure DNA structure, which was cutting-edge at the time.”
Under Brash’s mentorship, Santerre explored the interface of polymers and biology, particularly in blood-contacting materials and protein absorption. Brash’s humility and proximity to pioneering work, like the Jarvik artificial heart, left a lasting impression.
Santerre soon became a mentor himself. One of his early students was Heather Sheardown, now McMaster’s Dean of Engineering. “With Paul’s guidance, I was introduced to polymer synthesis and biology and was inspired to continue on this path of discovery,” says Sheardown, who now leads C20/20, an incubator aimed at the commercialization of ophthalmic biotechnologies. Their collaboration has spanned decades, including numerous co-authored papers.
Drawing inspiration from musician Elton John’s ability to reimagine his sound and style across decades, Santerre has approached his lengthy career with the same spirit of evolution. “That’s always been my goal with the lab – to keep it de novo, vibrant and relevant,” he says. “I want to feel the same excitement as my students when we uncover something new.”
That spirit of reinvention has been fueled by the interdisciplinary nature of his work. It began during his undergraduate studies at Dalhousie University, where a job with a small company working on oil sands surfactants sparked his interest in applied science. That early exposure to commercialization set the tone for a career that would bridge chemistry, biology, and engineering.
Santerre’s work spans a range of applications including in cardiovascular devices, ophthalmology, dental implants, cystic fibrosis treatment and spinal discs, but it is anchored by two core themes: polymers and immunity. “If immunity isn’t part of the biocompatibility conversation, I’m usually not leading that project,” he explains. “My role is to figure out how to get polymers to deliver genes and ensure the payload carriers don’t stay around and cause an inflammatory response of the cells.”
His entrepreneurial drive, sparked during undergrad, flourished through participation in Canada’s first artificial heart program at the University of Ottawa and the founding of Interface Biologics – a University of Toronto biotech start-up developing catheters and drug-polymer coatings for medical devices. “I adopted a ‘patent and publish’ strategy in my work,” he says. “And we just kept rolling them out.”
It’s not just about the science. It’s what the science can do for people.
That mindset led to the creation of the Health Innovation Hub (H2i), a startup incubator for early-stage health ventures that has supported hundreds of startups across Canada, and more recently, in Africa, through a partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
With the presentation of a McMaster University honorary doctorate on June 17, Santerre has taken time to reflect on a dynamic career defined by curiosity, collaborations and impact. “It’s not just about the science,” he says. “It’s about what the science can do for people.”