Rémi Quirion

Dr. Quirion is a full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University (affiliation Neurology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics) and scientific director at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. On April 1, 2009, he took office at McGill University as Vice-Dean (Life Sciences and Strategic Initiatives) in the Faculty of Medicine and Senior University Advisor (Health Sciences Research), in addition to being the CIHR Executive Director, International Collaborative Research Strategy Executive Director, International Collaborative Research Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease and related neurological diseases. In his role as Vice-Dean, Dr. Quirion is the lead ambassador for the research enterprise of the Faculty of Medicine. As Senior University Advisor, he is playing a major part in all key research initiatives and advising the faculty on issues spanning the spectrum of the life sciences. He was the inaugural scientific director (2000-2005) of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA), one of the 13 virtual institutes of the CIHR created in 2000. Under his leadership, the Douglas Research Centre became a premier research facility in Canada in the fields of neurosciences and mental health. He promoted the development of neurosciences and clinical research as well as social and evaluation aspects of research in mental health and addiction. His research interests include a) understanding the relationships between key phenotypes of the Alzheimer's brain and b) molecular and pharmacological features of neuropeptide receptors focusing on NPY and CGRP, their role in memory, pain, and drug dependence and in animal models of schizophrenia. Over 20 PhD students, 50 PDF, have trained so far in his laboratories. He is on the advisory board of over 15 scientific journals in psychiatry, pharmacology, and neurosciences and has published five books, 650 scientific papers and articles, and has over 25,000 citations and h index of 78. One of the most highly cited neuroscientists in the world, he has received more than 40 awards and honours over his career.