René Simard, O.C., FRSC, FCAE

Dr. Simard is currently Professor Emeritus at the Université de Montréal. Dr. Simard previously served as Vice Rector (Academic and Research) of the Université de Montréal from 1985-1993 and Rector from 1993 to 1998, Director of the Montréal Cancer Institute from 1975 to 1987, President of the Québec Health Research Council from 1975 to 1978, and President of the Medical Research Council of Canada from 1978 to 1981. In 1982 to 1983, he was elected President of the Canadian Society of Oncology and from 1985 to 1989, he served on the Science Council of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Lyon) of which he was President from 1986 to 1988. He served on several panels for Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the National Research Council (NRC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

In 1990, the Minister of Health and Welfare Canada appointed him as Chairman of the National Advisory Council on Pharmaceutical Research whose report was entitled Time to act: a strategy for the development of pharmaceutical research. As a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Council on Science and Technology of Canada (PMACST) he chaired the Expert Panel on Canada’s Role in International Science and Technology. He was also a member of the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Council (CBAC), and Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society of Canada.

Author of approximately 200 publications and communications on cell and molecular biology, virology and carcinogenesis, he is also a member of the Royal Society of Canada, an Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officier des Palmes académiques (France) and an Officier de l’Ordre national du Mérite (France). He holds honorary degrees from the Université Paul Sabatier; the Université de Sherbrooke; the Université Jean Monnet; Hanyang University; Soka University; and McGill University.

Dr. René Simard obtained an MD at the Université de Montréal in 1962 and after his residency training in pathology in New York City he obtained a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Université de Paris in 1968. He has been a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada since 1976.

---