Stephen W. Scherer
Senior Scientist
The Hospital for Sick Children
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

Stephen Scherer is perhaps best known for his contributions to the discovery of the most common type of genetic variation in the human genome – so-called copy number variation (CNV) of DNA and genes. Most recently, his lab and collaborators discovered just such copy number variation appears to cause at least some cases of autism, and to be involved in other disorders. Dr. Scherer’s lab – one of the busiest in Canada – has also collaborated (with Craig Venter's Institute of the U.S.A.) on the decoding of chromosome 7 and helped generate the first genetic sequence of an individual.

He has published more than 250 scientific papers (cited >20,000 times) and has received a host of honours, including the prestigious Steacie Prize in the Natural Sciences, Canada's Top 40 Under 40 Award, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholarship, and most recently the 2008 Premier's Summit Award for Medical Research. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He was Chair of Genome Canada's Science and Industry Advisory Board (2005-2008) and is the Canadian Council member for the international Human Genome Organization.

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