Elizabeth Gillies is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Polymeric Biomaterials and a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the University of Western Ontario. She obtained her B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Queen's University, Kingston, in 2000. She then moved to the University of California, Berkeley where she completed her Ph.D. degree in 2004 working under the guidance of Jean Fréchet. After postdoctoral work at the University of Bordeaux with Ivan Huc, she joined Western in 2006. Her research interests are in the development of biodegradable polymers, stimuli-responsive polymers, phosphorus-containing polymers, and polymer assemblies. Her team is applying these polymers via multidisciplinary collaborations with industry and academia to a range of applications including coatings, packaging, drug delivery, tissue engineering, and agriculture. Dr. Gillies is currently an Associate Editor at the journal Biomacromolecules. She has received a number of recognitions including an NSERC E. W. R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada, as well as membership in the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists and the Canadian Academy of Engineering.