Seven UdeM profs join the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

Seven Université de Montréal faculty members have joined the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). CAHS Fellows are elected by their peers based on outstanding contributions to health and biomedical sciences. They demonstrate leadership and creativity on a daily basis and actively promote academic health sciences. A CAHS fellowship is one of the highest honours in the field. The recipients join the company of Canada’s most eminent experts in the field.

The CAHS was founded in 2004 to provide assessments of, and advice on, key issues relevant to the health of Canadians. It serves as a credible, expert and independent assessor of science and technology issues and enhances understanding of issues affecting the public good by transmitting the results of assessments and providing opportunities for public discussion. It also supports the development of timely, informed and strategic advice on urgent health issues, as it has done since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Along with the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the CAHS forms the Council of Canadian Academies.

New members of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

Malek Batal is a professor in the Nutrition Department at the Faculty of Medicine and the Social and Preventive Medicine Department at the School of Public Health. He is director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutrition Changes and Development, and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Health Inequalities. He conducts research on the link between food system health and population health. He frequently works with First Nations people in Canada and Indigenous and rural people internationally to address health inequalities.

Sylvie Nadeau is a physiotherapist and professor in the Department of Rehabilitation who specializes in the biomechanical and neurophysiological factors in mobility disorders in the elderly and in persons with physical disabilities. As a leader in her discipline, she created an advanced physiotherapy practice program in neuro-musculoskeletal conditions and established international student exchange agreements between Université de Montréal and universities in France and Brazil. She has helped drive rehabilitation research in Québec by developing national and international strategic partnerships and building intersectoral collaboration to provide better health care and services to Canadians.

Anne Monique Nuyt is a neonatologist and director of the Pediatrics Department at UdeM. She has a longstanding interest in cardiovascular disease risk for preterm babies as they reach adulthood. Her work unravels how cardiovascular problems develop after premature birth, identifies optimal screening strategies and tests specifically targeted therapies. She promotes the study of early life determinants of pediatric and adult health through conferences, involvement in scientific societies and mentoring of young clinician-scientists.

Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret is a professor in the Department of Nutrition and vice-president of clinical research at the Montréal Clinical Research Institute. He works on reducing the frequency and consequences of hypoglycemia caused by type 1 diabetes. He has developed an artificial pancreas and established a major diabetes registry. He holds two diabetes research chairs, has published over 335 scientific articles and contributed to national and international treatment recommendations.

Fred Saad is a professor in the Department of Surgery who has played a major role in the research leading to most new treatments for advanced prostate cancer. With over 600 scientific publications and 80,000 citations, he is among the world's most cited scientists. He holds the Raymond Garneau Chair in Prostate Cancer, has held many leadership positions and served on several prestigious international editorial boards. Committed to patient education, he published the book Prostate Cancer in 2012, which has become the authoritative work on the subject in Canada. His numerous awards include the Ordre national du Québec, the highest honour bestowed by the Québec government.

Nabil G. Seidah is a professor in the Department of Medicine who is recognized for his contribution to research on proprotein convertases. In the course of his career, he has cloned seven of the nine convertases and demonstrated their action in a number of pathologies, including the role of the PCSK9 enzyme in familial hypercholesterolemia. His research has led him to develop a PCSK9 inhibitor with an unprecedented effect on lowering cholesterol. Animated by a love of scientific discovery, he has given 470 conferences in 30 countries and authored 760 publications. He is the director of the Neuroendocrine Biochemistry Research Unit at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute, where his team is working to find new treatments for cardiovascular diseases, viral infections and cancer.

Psychiatrist Vincenzo Di Nicola is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Addiction at UdeM. He specializes in pediatric psychiatry and focuses on three vulnerable groups: children, families and ethnic minorities. He has published numerous books and has developed a clinical guide for work with immigrant families, providing tools for effective therapy with minorities, migrants and refugees. His work on child psychiatric issues across cultures remedies gaps in understanding problems such as eating disorders, selective mutism and trauma by incorporating ethnocultural factors into treatment. He holds a doctorate in philosophy and has received many awards, including the Prix Camille-Laurin from the Association des médecins psychiatres du Québec.