Marie-Josée Hébert’s bio
Marie-Josée Hébert earned a specialized degree in nephrology at the Université de Montréal, followed by postdoctoral studies at Harvard. Dr. Hébert is a researcher and nephrologist-transplant physician at CHUM, professor in the faculty of medicine and co-holds the Shire Chair in Renal Transplantation and Regeneration. She is also co-director of the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program (CDTRP) and founder of numerous interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral research groups.
Her laboratory focuses on the role of programmed cell death as a major pathway contributing to immune dysregulation, rejection and abnormal vascular repair. Findings from her team have led to the characterization of new mediators of rejection and renal failure in humans. They also contributed to a better understanding of the mechanisms of fibrogenesis triggered by endothelial injury, autophagy and apoptosis. Fellow in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Marie-Josée Hébert received the Dr. John B. Dossetor Research Award (2015) and the Medal for Research Excellence (2016) from the Kidney Foundation of Canada. In 2017, she was named scientist of the year by the newspaper La Presse.
As vice-rector of research, discovery, creation and innovation at the Université de Montréal since 2015, she has played a leading role in the development of major interdisciplinary research initiatives, including the launch of IVADO – Institute for Data Valorization, Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, the Digital Health Consortium and the Montreal Declaration for the Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence.