A new chair for Canada’s health-research funding agency

Marie-Josée Hébert has been appointed the new chair of the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)., Canada’s health minister Jean-Yves Duclos announced today.

Dr. Hébert is a nephrologist-transplantologist and Shire Chair in Nephrology, Renal Transplantation and Regeneration at Université de Montréal, where she holds the position of vice-rector of research, discovery, creation and innovation.

A professor in UdeM’s medical faculty, Dr. Hébert is also co-director of the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program.

As a researcher, Dr. Hébert has established and led major interdisciplinary and intersectoral research groups. Her work has included the discovery of novel mechanisms in the rejection of organ transplants. In 2015, she won the Dr. John B. Dossetor Award from the Kidney Foundation of Canada in recognition of her outstanding contribution to kidney disease research.

UdeM rector Daniel Jutras congratulated the vice-rector on her major appointment.

“Marie-Josée Hébert has a long track record of supporting research,” he said. “At the university, she has played a central role in promoting innovative ideas and building a culture of collaboration and responsible research conduct, work that she will certainly continue at CIHR for the benefit of all Canadians.”