Jacques Simard
Director
Endocrinology and Genomics axis
CHUQ Research Center
Department of Molecular Medicine
Faculty of Medicine, Laval University
Quebec City, Quebec
Canada

Dr. Simard (Ph.D.) holds a Canada Research Chair in Oncogenetics, and is a Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine at Laval University and Director of Endocrinology and Genomics axis at CHUQ Research Center (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec). His career as an independent investigator began in 1990. A major emphasis of his research program has been the structure, function and regulation of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of steroid hormones, as well as the characterization of the molecular basis of a form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia and male pseudohermaphroditism. He was also involved in the identification of susceptibility genes for breast, ovarian and/or prostate cancers. In 1999, in acknowledgement of Dr. Simard's outstanding contributions, he received the Richard E. Weitzman Memorial Award, the most prestigious recognition for a scientist younger than 40, awarded by the Endocrine Society. He also received the Prix d'excellence 2004 from the Fondation de la recherche sur les maladies enfantiles. He is author on close to 300 publications.

He has been Director of the Interdisciplinary Health Research International Team on Breast Cancer susceptibility (INHERIT BRCAs), which has been recently funded as the IRSC Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer, a clinical research network including 24 scientists and clinicians from Québec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, USA, UK and France. During the past few years this team has extended their international networks to boost the capacity to perform robust genetic epidemiological assessment of the role of individual genetic variants in disease risk and how such a risk may be modified by interactions with other genes and environmental and lifestyle factors. This partnership creates unique opportunities to accelerate the integration of several types of risk factors into breast cancer risk prediction models. Furthermore, this interdisciplinary team also performs studies to improve our understanding of how this information can be communicated to patients, their families and health professionals in order to ensure its usefulness in a clinical setting and its impact on the health of populations at risk. He played a key role in the strategic development of health research as member of the Medical Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance Management Committee, Management Committee of the Réseau de médecine génétique appliquée du FRSQ and the Institute Advisory Board of the CIHR Gender and Health Institute. He is currently member of the Ministerial Science Advisory Board of Health Canada as well as on the Conseil sectoriel – Nouvelle économie du Fonds de Solidarité FTQ, a key labour-sponsored investment fund in life sciences. He is also Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

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