Board of Directors, RI-MUHC
Profiles of Our Board Members
Sarah Prichard, MD FRCP(C)
Chair of the Board
Dr. Prichard is a nephrologist who had an academic career at McGill University, followed by a career in industry at Baxter Healthcare and recently, by roles as Vice President (Research) and acting Provost and Vice President (Academic) at Western University. She serves on both corporate and not-for-profit boards. She has been Vice Chair of the McGill University Health Centre Board since 2017.
Mary-Anne Carignan, MBA
Vice-Chair
Mary-Anne Carignan has been serving since 2008 as Co-president of Purkinje Inc., a pioneer in the design, development and marketing of solutions supporting clinical decision-making and healthcare information technology. She is convinced that the patient should be at the core of a progressive healthcare system and that technology facilitates the collaboration needed for optimal health outcomes.
Between 2001 and 2007 Ms. Carignan was General Manager at Fusion MD and The Catalyst Group, two organizations focused on health care and technology in the North American marketplace. Prior to that, Ms. Carignan worked for Philip Morris (part of the Kraft and Nabisco family of companies), where she was the first woman named to its international budget department and spent a decade working in Lausanne (Switzerland), Zagreb (Croatia) and Antwerp (Belgium). She also established the Nursefinders operations in New York City, serving hospitals and long-term care facilities.
A founder of the Québec chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada, Ms. Carignan served on its board from 2006 to 2016. In 2010, Ms. Carignan was appointed by the Canadian Minister of International Trade to the SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) Advisory Board. A socially engaged lecturer promoting the advancement of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), she also serves as a mentor for the Montreal Children’s Hospital and the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada.
Mary-Anne Carignan earned her honors MBA from Business School Lausanne. She is fluent in English and French.
François Laurin, FCPA, FCA, CFA, ICD.D
Treasurer
Mr. Laurin is a corporate director. Until April 2021, he was executive vice president and CFO of Laurentian Bank of Canada. He previously served as CFO of Bio Amber in 2015 and Alderon Iron Ore Corp. from 2013 to 2014 and president & CEO of Cap-Ex Iron Ore Ltd from 2011 to 2013. Prior to those positions he served as CFO of Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines Limited and Transat AT and other senior finance positions, including at CDP Private Capital Investments. Throughout these years Mr. Laurin was responsible for all finance, treasury and capital markets and was involved in merger and acquisition activities of the companies mentioned. Over the past 35 years, he has had firsthand experience with Board of Directors matters as an active senior management participant/steward and as a director.
Mr. Laurin has been a member of a number of public, private and non-profit sector boards, including Mason Graphite, Cap-Ex Iron Ore, TIW, TVA Group, Quebecor Media and the MUHC, among others. He has extensive experience working on audit committees, including serving as chair, and has served on various committees such as Finance, HR and Corporate Governance and Real Estate. He is a director, co-vice-chair and member of the Executive Committee and Nominating Committee of the Board of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, member and past chair (2011-2018) of the Montreal Children’s Hospital Council of Services to Children and Adolescents, and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of McGill University.
Mr. Laurin is a graduate of McGill University (BCom 1982, GDPA 1983). He was appointed as member (CA) in 1985 and as a Fellow (FCPA, FCA) in 2013 of the Ordre des comptables professionnels agréés du Québec. He completed the CFA Institute program in 1999 (CFA) and completed the Directors Education Program in 2011 (ICD.D).
Mr. Gilbert Tordjman is the Chief Operating and Development Officer (CODO) of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). A Chartered Professional Accountant, Mr. Tordjman has held numerous executive level positions in major academic and hospital institutions. He was most recently Vice President – Finance and Administration at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM), and Treasurer of the IRCM Foundation. Before that, he served as Executive Director of the Development and Alumni Relations Office at Concordia University. Other past roles include Vice President - Administrative Affairs with the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQ-S), Director - Finance and Administration at the Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation, and head of Financial Management at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at the Jewish General Hospital.
In addition to his impressive professional career path, Mr. Tordjman is a committed volunteer. He is the past Chair of District 1 of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, which covers the northeastern region of the United States and eastern Canada. He was until recently a member of the Board of Directors of Federation CJA, where he received the Gertrude & Henry Plotnick Young Leadership Award.
Mr. Tordjman’s expertise allows him to work collaboratively to maximize the economic and social impact of research projects at the RI-MUHC. His bridge-building and problem-solving skills enhance the RI-MUHC’s relationship with our MUHC and McGill University partners. Mr. Tordjman’s strengths in leading, innovating and managing are pivotal in spearheading new initiatives while implementing strategies that leverage and align with the efforts of research. Mr. Tordjman’s skills will allow the RI-MUHC to seize new opportunities for revenue growth, partnerships, and venture philanthropy.
Operationally, Mr. Tordjman provides strategic and administrative leadership in growth and development. He oversees administrative operations at an executive level. He is responsible for the oversight of overall operations and the coordination of research initiatives in collaboration with industry, financial and government partners. His mandate includes a range of innovative, value-added activities to support our researchers in the development of commercial opportunities stemming from their discoveries.
Dominique Bérubé, ing., PhD
Board member
Dominique Bérubé is the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, and Professor in the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University. A strategic leader with intersectoral expertise of the academic, research and innovation ecosystem, Professor Bérubé has more than 22 years of experience in research funding and innovation administration. Professor Bérubé has led the development of large-scale research initiatives and major research infrastructure projects, as well as the implementation of major funding programs, while also demonstrating leadership in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives.
A member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, she holds a PhD in environmental sciences from the Université du Québec à Montréal and Master's and Bachelor's degrees from Polytechnique Montréal in metallurgical and materials science. Previously, Prof. Bérubé has served as the Vice-President of Research and Graduate Studies at Concordia University, the Vice-President of Research at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Associate Vice-President of Research at the Université de Montréal.
Lesley Fellows MDCM, DPhil, FRCPC
Board member
Lesley Fellows is an expert on the neurobiology of human decision-making. Her inter-disciplinary research has shown how the frontal lobes guide everyday choices, from basic decisions about what foods to eat, to complex social choices such as voting. A neurologist-scientist, she has also studied the effects of Parkinson’s Disease on decision-making and emotion, and how cognitive and mental health can be optimized for people living with chronic health conditions, such as HIV. She completed her DPhil at Oxford University, followed by medicine and neurology at McGill University, and a post-doctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. She joined the faculty at McGill in 2004, where she is Professor of Neurology & Neurosurgery and a neurologist based at the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital. She served as Chair of her Department, as Vice Dean, Academic Affairs, in McGill’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, and in August 2023 she took up the positions of Vice Principal (Health Affairs) and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences at McGill.
Russell J. Hiscock, CFA, CPA, CMA, ICD.D
Board member
Russell J. Hiscock retired as President and CEO of the CN Investment Division in 2018. The Division manages assets for the CN Pension Trust Funds (the Fund), one of the largest corporate pension funds in Canada. Mr. Hiscock joined the CN Investment Division in 1987 as Manager - Investments and was subsequently appointed Manager - Common Stocks and then General Manager. Mr. Hiscock has had many years of direct equity portfolio management experience in both the Canadian and International stock markets, as well as considerable private equity investing activity with particular emphasis on the energy sector.
Mr. Hiscock is a seasoned and internationally respected investment management executive with a lengthy record of success and a worldwide industry network. He is a forward-thinking, results-oriented leader with expertise in institutional investment, capital markets, corporate governance and government relations. He is also an experienced operating executive, having chaired both the Fund’s real estate division, which manages the Fund’s real estate assets, and the oil and gas division, which manages two sizeable, wholly owned operating subsidiaries and one publicly traded company.
Mr. Hiscock has held numerous corporate and not-for-profit board positions, including service on several hospital foundation and industry association boards. He is a member of the Board of Governors at the University of Waterloo. With Hewitt Group, he is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the family office. He is Board member and chairman of the Audit Committee for Valeura Energy Inc. and participates on the Investment Advisory Committee of Nunavut Trust. Mr. Hiscock has also played key roles at the McGill University Health Centre Foundation, where he is a member of the Board of Directors and past chairman of both the Investment Committee and the Human Resources Committee. Among past activities, he has been a member of the Pension Investment Committee for McGill University, past chairman of the Board and of the Government Relations Committee for the Pension Investment Association of Canada (PIAC), past board member for the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation and for Freehold Royalties Ltd., and past chairman of numerous CN Pension Fund companies in the oil and gas, real estate, infrastructure, private equity and absolute return areas.
Mr. Hiscock’s holds an Honours Co-Op Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo (1975), an MA (economics) from Western University and an MBA (finance) from the Rotman School at the University of Toronto. He has earned the CFA, CPA, CMA and ICD.D designations. He lives in Montreal, is married and has two grown sons.
Peter Kruyt, B. Comm., MBA
Board member
Current roles
Mr. Kruyt became Senior Advisor to Power Corporation of Canada in January 2018. He is also a member of the Power Pacific Investment Management Board of Directors.
Mr. Kruyt was appointed Chairman of the Board of the McGill University Health Centre in 2017 and Chairman of the Board of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre in 2019. He is also a director of the Canadian Tennis Association.
Previous roles
When he joined Power Corporation in 1981, Mr. Kruyt served as Executive Assistant to Mr. Paul G. Desmarais, who, at the time, was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kruyt took over as President and Chief Executive Officer of Power Broadcasting Incorporated from 1987 to 2000 and President and Chief Executive Officer of Power Technology Investment Corporation from 2000 until 2009.
He was Chairman of Power Pacific Corporation Limited, a subsidiary of Power Corporation, one of the Corporation’s equity investment funds from 1996 to 2020. Mr. Kruyt was also Vice-President of Power Corporation from 1996 to 2017 and Vice-Chairman of Power Energy from 2012 to 2019.
He was a director of Potentia Renewables from 2010 to 2021 and of The Lion Electric Company from 2017 to 2021. Mr. Kruyt was also a director of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada from 2016 to 2020, of Great West Lifeco Incorporated from 2003 to 2008 and of Bellus Incorporated from 2002 to 2009.
Mr. Kruyt was a director of Bombardier Sifang Power (Qingdao) Transportation Limited and of La Presse Limited from 1985 to 2016. He also served as an alternate director on the board of CITIC Pacific Limited in Hong Kong from 2003 to 2014.
He was Chairman of the Canada China Business Council from 2003 to 2018 and director of Eagle Creek Renewable Energy Inc from 2013 to November. He served on the board of the St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation and of the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations (CIRANO). Mr. Kruyt was also a member of the Board of Governors of Concordia University from 2000 to 2005 and served as Chairman from 2005 to 2012.
He was a member of the advisory board of the School of Business at Memorial University of Newfoundland, a director of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and chaired the Government Task Force on Digital Radio in 1992.
Mr. Kruyt obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Concordia University and an MBA from the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD).
Anne Mezei is an elected independent member of the Board of directors of the RI-MUHC and serves as chair of its HR-EDI Committee.
Anne is a human-centric talent leader. Her expertise spans across companies in various stages, from high-growth startups to mature global organizations. She held executive positions in Human resources in a variety of industries. She is currently a Member of the Medicom Board of Directors and CHRO for Deeplite. Anne also actively counsels different organizations on their human resources strategic journey.
Previously she was Senior Vice President Talent for Element AI, a growing global company in artificial intelligence, and before she held the position of Vice President, Human Resources at CAE Inc for the Global Engineering, Technology, Innovation, Operations, and Defense & Security groups, operating worldwide. Anne has also helped position HR as a strategic function at Cogeco Cable, St-Hubert Group Inc., Autodesk Inc., Aldo, Bell Canada, Wyeth-Ayerst and Domtar.
Throughout her career, Anne championed diversity and acted as a connector by enabling people to work together at scale. She successfully led HR through numerous mergers and acquisitions in North America, Europe and Asia . Her experience provided Anne with an expertise in organizational design, talent management, organizational development, total reward, leadership development and culture. Anne develops strategies enabling organizations to adapt to current business and societal environments.
Anne is also actively involved in the community and is particularly interested in supporting organizations dealing with health, women, education and environment. She is currently a member of the Advisory Board of McGill Faculty of Continuing Education and serves on the SNAP Quebec Board of Directors. She has served as Chair of the Women’s Y Foundation Board and has been a member of IMF (International Woman Forum). Anne has also dedicated time to fundraising for cancer research.
Anne holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Relations from McGill University. She is a Chartered Human Resources professional member (CHRP).
Lucie Opatrny, MDCM, MHCM, M.Sc.
Board member
A specialist in internal medicine who earned her MDCM as well as a Master’s degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from McGill University, Dr. Lucie Opatrny also holds a Master's degree in Health Care Management and a Diploma in Advanced Negotiation from Harvard University. Appointed President and Executive Director of the McGill University Health Centre on December 14, 2022, she assumed her functions on January 30, 2023. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Opatrny served as Assistant Deputy Minister at the Québec Ministry of Health and Social Services, where she managed the Academic, Medical, Nursing and Pharmaceutical Affairs Directorate since 2018. Previously, she was Director of Professional Services at St Mary's Hospital Center and the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de Laval. Her fields of interest are, in particular, access to health services and the quality of care.
Gloria Shaffer Tannenbaum, PhD
Board member
Born in Montreal, Dr. Tannenbaum received her B.Sc., M.Sc. and PhD degrees from McGill University. She subsequently pursued postdoctoral research training in neuroendocrinology as a Medical Research Council of Canada scholar. In 1978 she joined the Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology & Neurosurgery at McGill and became Director of the Neuropeptide Physiology Laboratory at the McGill University-Montreal Children’s Hospital Research Institute. She was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 1989 and was accorded the honorific title of Emeritus Professor in 2010.
Dr. Tannenbaum is internationally recognized for her pioneering research on growth hormone (GH), a pituitary hormone that is essential for normal growth and metabolism. She provided the first evidence that growth hormone secretion is characterized by a striking ultradian rhythm; this landmark observation (a citation classic) provided a complete new dimension for the understanding of growth hormone regulation and postnatal growth. She subsequently devoted her entire career to unlocking the complex brain mechanisms that regulate the growth hormone rhythm. Her laboratory was widely regarded as the foremost centre for the study of growth hormone pulsatility. Her basic physiological experiments have been extended into the clinical domain towards the design of more reliable clinical tests for establishing the diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency in children with failure to grow.
Dr. Tannenbaum has published over 120 original scientific articles and reviews in high-impact journals, edited two books, and has been an invited lecturer and keynote speaker at prestigious universities and international conferences throughout the world. She has been granted several patents for her discoveries (from the U.S., Europe and Australia). She has further served her academic community through editorship on eight important biomedical journals, membership on several grant review panels and organization of international conferences. She has trained numerous graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in basic research and medicine worldwide. She and her research group consistently received peer-reviewed funding from provincial, national and international agencies. She has also fostered fruitful collaborations with the pharmaceutical industry and served as a consultant to both industry and academia. Her intellectual property continues to be commercialized.
In addition to her research and teaching accomplishments, Dr. Tannenbaum has also provided strong leadership to a number of scientific organizations. She has held many important offices at national and international levels and received numerous scholarships, awards and distinctions throughout her career. Her international stature and leadership ability are further evidenced by the high recognition she has received from the American Endocrine Society, including election to the governing body of the Society, and appointments to advisory committees, including finance, audit and strategic planning. In 2018 Dr. Tannenbaum was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre.
Beyond the laboratory, Dr. Tannenbaum has crusaded for women’s rights and educational opportunities for women through her active involvement in international organizations such as Women in Endocrinology and Women in Neuroscience, as well as in a number of key working groups at McGill University. These efforts have led to greater mentoring, guidance and participation of women in traditionally male-dominated areas of the health sciences.
Closer to home, Gloria Tannenbaum is the mother of four daughters.
Rhian M. Touyz, MBBCh, MSc (Med), PhD, FRCP, FRSE, FMedSci, FCAHS
Board member
Dr. Touyz is the recently appointed Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and Dr. Phil Gold Chair in Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She was recruited to Montreal after serving 10 years as the Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences (ICAMS), British Heart Foundation Chair and Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Touyz, a clinician-scientist, received her B.Sc.(Hons) (1980), MBBCh(1984), M.Sc.(1986) and PhD(1992) in South Africa. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (CRIM) in 1996 and became Staff Scientist and Professor at the CRIM. In 2005 she was recruited to the Kidney Research Centre, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, University of Ottawa, where she was the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Hypertension until 2011, when she was recruited to the University of Glasgow to direct ICAMS.
She is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci), Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE), College of Physicians and Surgeons (FRCP), American Heart Association (FAHA), European Society of Cardiology (FESC) and Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (FCAHS).
Dr. Touyz serves on scientific advisory boards and expert panels of numerous international institutions, including the Max Delbruck Centre for Molecular Medicine, Berlin; Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM); Unité de recherche de l'institut du thorax, Nantes, France; Mayo Clinic Cardiovascular Research Center, USA; MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, UK; and Wellcome Trust Physiology in Health and Disease, UK.
She has played major leadership roles in the premier national and international hypertension and cardiovascular organizations. She was President of the Canadian Hypertension Society (2007-2008), Chair of the High Blood Pressure Research Council, American Heart Association (2010-2012), President of the International Society of Hypertension (2014-2016) and President of the European Council for Cardiovascular Research (2019-2021). She was the founder and Chair of the Women in Hypertension Research Network of the International Society of Hypertension, the mission of which is to encourage, support and inspire women in science and medicine in the field of hypertension and related cardiovascular diseases and to facilitate new avenues for communication, collaboration and education. She is Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Science, in-coming Editor-in-Chief of Hypertension and Associate Editor of Pharmacological Reviews.
Her research focuses on molecular and vascular mechanisms of hypertension and small vessel disease with a particular interest in i) vascular signaling and redox biology; ii) vascular biology of cations and TRPM channels; iii) cardiovascular oncology; and iv) cardiometabolic and adipose biology. Her research spans molecular biology to clinical studies and she uses a combination of proteomics, cellular and molecular biology, transgenic models, molecular imaging technologies and human physiological assessment. She has a particular interest in translational and clinical research. She has published over 550 peer-reviewed papers and her research has been funded by the CIHR, HSFC, JDRF, BHF, ERC, MRC and Wellcome Trust.
Dr. Touyz has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Dahl Award (AHA), Robert M. Berne Distinguished Award (American Physiological Society), Distinguished Scientist Award (Hypertension Canada), RD Wright Award (BP Research Council, Australia), Irvine Page Award (American Society of Hypertension), Joan Mott Award (Physiology Society) and premier international hypertension honour, the Research Excellence Award (Council on Hypertension, AHA).
She is also actively involved in contributing to best clinical practice, has co-chaired the Canadian Hypertension Education Program for clinical guidelines and is a current member of the Committee for Practice Guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology.
In addition to her clinical and scientific activities, she is an inspirational leader and passionate mentor and teacher. Dr. Touyz has trained over 70 PhD students and fellows in basic, translational and clinical research. Many of her trainees have gone on to successful independent academic and clinical careers.