Opening Lecture: “The evolution of knowledge mobilization at CIHR”

Speaker

• Dr. Michael Strong Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  

  Dr. Michael Strong

  Canadian Institutes of Health Research

  Michael J. Strong became the President of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in October, 2018. Prior to this, he served as the Dean of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University where he continues to hold an appointment as a Distinguished University Professor and a Scientist at the Robarts Research Institute. He undertook his medical training at Queens University in Kingston (1976 – 1982), neurology training at Western University (1982 – 1987), and postgraduate training at the Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies (director – D. Carleton Gadjusek, Nobel Laureate) at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland under the supervision of Ralph M. Garruto, PhD (1987 – 1990). He has published over 195 peer-reviewed articles and 29 chapters, edited 4 textbooks and given over 170 invited lectures nationally and internationally related to his research in ALS. Dr. Strong was awarded the Sheila Essay Award in 2005 and the Forbes Norris Award in 2008, and is the only Canadian to have received both international awards for ALS research. He was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology in 2008. In 2009, he was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. His research has focused on understanding the cellular biology of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) including the role of altered RNA metabolism in the genesis of neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions and in the clinicopathological correlates of the frontotemporal spectrum disorder that can be associated with ALS. The latter has led to an appreciation for the role of alterations in tau protein metabolism in ALS.