Our Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
Our McGill CERC in Genomic Medicine is privileged to rely on internationally visible experts to guide its scientific activities. The following experts are part of our international SAB:
Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board
Helen Hobbs, M.D.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center & Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Helen H. Hobbs, M.D., is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Genetics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She is Director of the McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, which serves as the Center for Human Genetics at UT Southwestern. Her work focuses on defining the genetic determinants of plasma lipid levels and cardiovascular risk. Most recently, she has identified genetic variations that confer susceptibility to fatty liver disease. → Profile
Members of the Scientific Advisory Board
William Dalton, M.D., Ph.D.
Founder and Executive Chair of M2Gen, a national biotechnology subsidiary of the Moffitt Cancer Center
Dr. William Dalton is CEO of M2Gen, a Moffitt Cancer Center biotechnology company. Additionally, he is founding director of Moffitt’s Personalized Medicine Institute, established in 2012 to focus on Moffitt’s brand of personalized medicine, Total Cancer Care®. Dr. Dalton served as president and CEO of Moffitt from 2002 to 2012 and was instrumental in helping the Cancer Center achieve tremendous growth and innovation. He facilitated the launch of M2Gen and the development of Moffitt Total Cancer Care®. → Profile
Mark Daly, Ph.D.
Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine Finland - Chief of the ATGU at Massachusetts General Hospital
Mark Daly is the founding Chief of the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit (ATGU) at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor at the Harvard Medical School. He is also an Institute Member and Co-Director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the Broad Institute. Mark Daly was appointed Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM) at the University of Helsinki in February of 2018, and now divides his time between Helsinki and Boston though he maintains his primary lab and affiliations in Boston. → Profile
Stéphanie Debette, M.D., Ph.D.
director of the Inserm Bordeaux Population Health research center
Stephanie Debette is professor of epidemiology and practicing neurologist at University of Bordeaux and Bordeaux University Hospital (PUPH). Since January 2022 she serves as director of the Inserm Bordeaux Population Health research center at the University of Bordeaux (500 staff members). She is also the founding director of the Precision and global Vascular Brain Health Institute (VBHI), recently selected for funding by the France 2030 initiative of excellence (Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire). The VBHI aims to tackle the most common neurological diseases, stroke and dementia, through a new paradigm integrating precision population health and therapeutic innovation. → Profile
Richard Lifton, M.D., Ph.D.
President of the Rockefeller University
Richard P. Lifton was named The Rockefeller University’s 11th president by its Board of Trustees on May 5, 2016, following an international search. He took office on September 1, 2016. A physician-scientist who holds M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University, Dr. Lifton has pioneered the use of genetics and genomics to understand fundamental mechanisms underlying human diseases, including cardiovascular disease, neoplasia, kidney disease, and osteoporosis. He is especially known for research on hypertension and salt intake, work which has informed public health efforts and therapeutic strategies used worldwide. → Profile
Mark McCarthy, M.D.
Executive Director of Human Genetics and Principal Fellow at Genentech
Prof McCarthy is currently Executive Director of Human Genetics and Principal Fellow at Genentech in South San Francisco, where he leads efforts within the company to use human genetics and genomics to drive novel and effective strategies in drug and biomarker discovery. Prior to his move in 2019, Mark was the Robert Turner Professor of Diabetes Medicine at the University of Oxford, UK and Consultant Physician at the Radcliffe Hospital. His academic research focused on the characterization of genetic variants influencing risk of type 2 diabetes and related traits, and on using those discoveries to drive biological inference and translational opportunities. → Profile
Dan Roden, M.D.C.M.
Senior Vice President for Personalized Medicine AT Vanderbilt University
Dan Roden is expert in studies of the genetic basis of variable drug responses and of cardiac phenotypes, particularly arrhythmias. He is principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Data and Research Center and of the Vanderbilt site for the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network. He directs the Vanderbilt DNA databank BioVU and leads Vanderbilt’s PREDICT project which displays information on >15 drug-gene pairs and delivers point of care decision support when a target drug is prescribed to patients with variant genotypes. → Profile
Former members of the Scientific Advisory Board
Lon Cardon, Ph.D.
Former Chief Scientific Strategy Officer at BioMarin Pharmaceutical in San Rafael, California
Lon Cardon, Ph.D., FMedSci, joined BioMarin Pharmaceutical in September 2017 and currently serves as Chief Scientific Strategy Officer, a role that is responsible for enriching BioMarin’s therapeutics pipeline and for driving the company’s future growth. From 2017 to October 2019, Dr. Cardon served as BioMarin’s Chief Scientific Officer, with the aim to further advance the translation of genetic discoveries to new treatments for rare disorders. → Profile
Roderick McInnes, C.M.,M.D., Ph.D., FRSC
Senior investigator, Lady Davis Institute, the Jewish General hospital - Alva Chair in Human Genetics
Roderick McInnes is the Director Emeritus of the Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital. At McGill he is Professor of Human Genetics and Biochemistry. Until 2009, he was a University Professor of the University of Toronto, Head of the Program in Developmental Biology at the Hospital for Sick Children, Inaugural Scientific Director of the Institute of Genetics of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Acting President of CIHR in 2018-2019. His research is focussed on the genetics of retinal degeneration and eye development. In 2010 he was President of the American Society of Human Genetics. → Profile
