Rémi Quirion - President of INGSA

Rémi Quirion, PhD, OC, GOQ, MSRC

President

International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA)

Professor Rémi Quirion was the Chief Scientist of Quebec from July 2011 to June 2026 and has been elected President of the International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA) in 2021 with a mandate extended until 2030.

Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University, he served as Scientific Director at the Douglas Research Centre (1996-2011). In April 2009, he took on the role of Vice-Dean (Life Sciences and Strategic Initiatives) at the Faculty of Medicine, and that of Senior Advisor to the University (Health Sciences Research) at McGill University, in addition to serving as Executive Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Joint International Research Strategy on Alzheimer’s Disease, positions from which he resigned when he was appointed Chief Scientist in 2011. He was also CEO of the Fonds de recherche du Québec (Health – Nature and Technology – Society and Culture) during his time as Quebec’s Chief Scientist.

Rémi Quirion has received many awards and recognitions including Officer of the Order of Canada in 2007 and Grand Officer of the Ordre national du Québec in 2026. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and a Knight of the Ordre de la Pléiade. He is a member of the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, the Académie Nationale de Médecine de France and the International Council of Science. He has also received several honorary doctorates and is the author of over 750 scientific publications.

Janet E. Halliwell