/ Chief Scientist of Québec

Chief Scientist of Québec

Since I took office in 2011, I have seen time and time again how excellent the research supported by the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) is. Québec accounts for 1% of the world's scientific publications, which is well above its demographic weight in the world, which is one-tenth of 1%. However, the expertise of our researchers and the results of their work are too often unknown to our fellow citizens, who are the main funders of this research. Yet research allows us to better understand the social, economic, medical, and environmental phenomena that surround us. It also informs the decision-making of governments, businesses, organizations, and individuals. Research leads to incredible medical breakthroughs, to ever more sophisticated and greener technologies, to the development of public policies and practices adapted to our needs.

Rémi Quirion

Chief Scientist of Québec

Mandates

  • The mandates of the Chief Scientist of Québec are:
  • To advise the ministre de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie on matters pertaining to the development of research and science in Québec;
  • To foster the excellence, position and influence of Québec research in Canada and internationally, especially through partnership development;
  • To chair the boards of directors of each of the three Québec research Funds, and coordinate issues of common concern and the development of cross-sectoral research;
  • To administer the human, material, financial and information resources of the three Funds;
  • To promote careers in research and scientific culture.

Biographical notes

Since his appointment as Chief Scientist of Quebec, Rémi Quirion, OC, CQ, PhD, FRSC, chairs the boards of directors of the three Fonds de recherche du Québec and advises the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy on research and scientific development issues. He is the president of the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA) as of September 2021.

Until his appointment, Rémi Quirion was the vice-dean for science and strategic initiatives in the faculty of medicine at McGill University and senior university advisor on health sciences research. He was the scientific director of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute Research Centre, a full professor in the department of psychiatry at McGill University and the executive director of the International Collaborative Research Strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Professor Quirion was the first scientific director of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA), one of Canada’s 13 health research institutes.

His work helped to elucidate the roles of the cholinergic system in Alzheimer’s disease, of neuropeptide Y in depression and memory and of the calcitonin gene–related peptide (CGRP) in pain and opiate tolerance. Rémi Quirion earned his PhD in pharmacology from Université de Sherbrooke in 1980 and carried out his postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States in 1983. He has over 750 publications in prominent scientific journals and is one of the most extensively cited neuroscientists in the world. He has received several awards and honours, including the Ordre national du Québec (Chevalier du Québec, CQ) in 2003, the Prix Wilder-Penfield (Prix du Québec) in 2004 and the Order of Canada (OC) in 2007. Mr. Quirion is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and was also inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. In 2015, he was appointed Officer in the Order of Academic Palms of the French Republic, a distinction awarded by the French government that recognizes its contribution to the development of French-Québec relations in research.