Prof. Keir Menzies is a molecular biologist with a strong interest in aging and age-related diseases, as they relate to cellular NAD+ homeostasis and metabolism. Following his H.B.Sc. from the University of Toronto in biological chemistry, he received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees at the Muscle Health Research Centre at York University under the supervision of Dr. David Hood, a Canada Research Chair specializing in exercise physiology. During his training, Dr. Menzies helped describe the role of mitochondria and oxidative stress in skeletal muscle during aging, disuse and exercise. These studies included a variety of metabolism-related topics, including the role of the sirtuin proteins as regulators of mitochondrial function. Further to this, his work in the field of sirtuins led to an award for the Best Article of the Year in Metabolism, Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Dr. Menzies then completed his postdoctoral training with Dr. Johan Auwerx, the Nestle Chair in Energy Metabolism at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, who has been included on the list of the 400 most influential biomedical researchers (European Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2013). In Switzerland, Dr. Menzies gained expertise in sirtuin signalling, NAD+ metabolism and genetics in round worms, mice, and humans.