Professor Rémi Quirion

Professor Rémi Quirion is the inaugural Chief Scientist of Quebec since 2011. A McGill University professor at the Department of Psychiatry and previous Scientific Director at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. He served as Vice-Dean, Faculty of Medicine at McGill University and also Senior University Advisor (Health Sciences Research).  He was the Canadian Institute of Health Research Executive Director, for Alzheimer's Diseases, from 2009 to 2011.

Under his leadership, the Douglas Research Centre became a premier research facility in Canada in the fields of neuroscience and mental health. Prof. Quirion promoted the development of neuroscience and clinical research in neurology and psychiatry as well as social and evaluation aspects of research in mental health and addiction. Rémi’s research interests include understanding the relationships between key phenotypes of the Alzheimer's brain, molecular features of neuropeptide receptors’ roles in memory, pain, drug dependence, and in animal models of schizophrenia. Rémi has trained more than seventy doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows. In addition to being on the Advisory Board of over fifteen journals in psychiatry, pharmacology, and neurosciences, he has published five books, more than 650 scientific papers and articles, and is one of the most highly cited researchers in the world.

In 1993, Prof. Quirion was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec. In 2004, he was awarded the Government of Quebec's Prix Wilder-Penfield. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is also a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 1997, he was awarded the Léo-Pariseau Prize and the Prix Michel-Sarrazin in 2007.