A legacy of mentorship: How Kullervo Hynynen has shaped a generation of researchers and innovators
A world-renowned physicist, engineer and scientist, University of Toronto professor Kullervo Hynynen’s pioneering research has revolutionized the field of focused ultrasound and led to new clinical tools that harness the power of ultrasonic energy to non-invasively treat disease.
Along the way, he has mentored over 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have carried on his commitment to innovation and impact as leaders in academia, industry, health care and other sectors.
Hynynen’s love of teaching and mentorship comes through in the quiet pride and joy in his voice as he talks about his students.
“I really like spending time with students — doing experiments together, getting to know them and planning the project,” he says.
His approach to mentorship is notably student-centred, putting the trainee and their needs first.
“I try to find the skills and talents of each student and tailor the project to their strengths so they can learn as much as possible from this work,” says Hynynen, who holds the Temerty Chair in Focused Ultrasound Research and is a senior scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute.
Even as his lab grew and he took on leadership roles — most recently as Sunnybrook’s vice president, research — Hynynen still made time for his students.
“He knew what everyone was doing. He could come by and in three minutes, get caught up on what you were working on and offer one or two pieces of advice,” says Nicholas Ellens, who completed a PhD in medical biophysics with Hynynen in 2014. “It was a kind of superpower of being able to manage many people with few touches, but the right touches.”
Ellens says the lab’s focus on translating discoveries into practical health-care applications prepared him for a career in industry. He now leads research and development at a startup company working on a combined drug-ultrasound approach to target glioblastoma, a hard-to-treat brain cancer.
In addition to training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, Hynynen has championed engaging young students through a high school summer research program that he established. He says he was inspired to create the program based on his own experiences as a science-loving teenager growing up in a small town in Finland.
Now in its 20th year, the program has grown to welcome 25 high school students every summer to work on focused ultrasound research projects and gain hands-on experience in physics, engineering and biology. Hynynen notes that the program receives more than 400 applications every year and that many students go on to pursue graduate studies.
Charissa Poon is one of those students. Her high school physics teacher encouraged her to apply to the program and she ended up spending three summers working in Hynynen’s lab during high school and her undergraduate studies at McGill University. She returned to Hynynen’s lab to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering and neuroscience and now works as a research engineer and researcher in Japan.
“I became a research scientist because of my experiences in Dr. Hynynen’s lab,” she says. “It shaped not only my career, but also how I mentor students and approach unfamiliar fields today.”
Despite some hurdles he’s faced with the program — for example, securing financial support and convincing senior trainees to invest time in training a high school student — Hynynen firmly believes in the value that it brings to both his lab and the wider scientific community.
“The biggest thing with the summer program is that the students brought so much enthusiasm to the lab. The energy level went up every summer,” he says, noting that the success of the high school program is one of his proudest accomplishments.
“It’s not necessarily about whether we are going to benefit from the training of these students, but whether the scientific community will benefit from engagement of these kids at a young age,” says Meaghan O’Reilly, a senior scientist at Sunnybrook and an associate professor of medical biophysics at Temerty Medicine whose lab also takes part in the high school summer research program.
O’Reilly, who completed her PhD with Hynynen in 2012, credits his mentorship for helping her transition from being first a research engineer and later a doctoral student in his lab to now running her own independent research group as his colleague.
“He’s had more faith in me than I sometimes had in myself,” she says.
For both O’Reilly and Ellens, Hynynen’s support beyond the lab has also left a lasting impression. Ellens has a warm memory of a dinner conversation with Hynynen years after he graduated where his former supervisor spoke candidly about his experiences — and regrets — trying to balance his research career and family life. O’Reilly remembers a conversation with Hynynen shortly after the birth of her daughter when she was trying to figure out how to ensure her lab and students were still supported while she was on leave.
“He told me, they’re only that little once so just focus on yourself,” she says.
Since starting his research career in 1984 at the University of Arizona and later at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School and now at Sunnybrook and U of T, Hynynen’s impact on the field of focused ultrasound has been immense.
“His scientific progeny are incredibly impressive,” says O’Reilly. “You’d be hard-pressed to find somebody else in our field who singlehandedly produced so many leading scientists in focused ultrasound.”
For his part, Hynynen, who recently stepped down as vice president, research at Sunnybrook, says he is looking forward to spending more time with his students in the lab.
“For me, it’s a great joy to work with these smart young people.”
