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CATALIS Quebec’s Network of Partners
Now Includes 23 Quebec Health Institutions

In keeping with its new government mandate of bringing together clinical research stakeholders, CATALIS Quebec is pleased to announce that it is expanding the scope of its activities to a larger number of institutions in the province: it has added 23 public institutions from Quebec's health and social services network (HSSN) to its own network of partners.

As a mobilizing force for the healthcare system’s key participants, CATALIS has always valued the ecosystem members’ involvement in identifying challenges and solutions to optimize Quebec’s clinical research environment. After four years of working with five major Quebec university hospital centres, CATALIS extended an invitation last September to HSSN institutions and members of the Table nationale des directeurs de recherche to assess their interest in joining the CATALIS network to collaborate on executing its 2020-2024 strategic plan.

Following a call for applications, we are proud to announce that 23 institutions applied and were selected to take part in implementing common clinical research tools; 15 of those institutions also applied and were chosen to participate in the new FAST TRACK evaluation service.

The FAST TRACK evaluation service is a key flagship project for CATALIS which uses an innovative new process to authorize pharmaceutical company-financed clinical trials within 8 weeks. CATALIS recently released the results of its first pilot project, in which 4 HSSN sites ranked among the 5 fastest sites in the world, in a Phase lll clinical trial conducted at more than 1,000 sites in 40 countries.

CATALIS is delighted to announce that the 23 HSSN joining its network are...

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Two New Administrators Join the CATALIS Board of Directors

For more than 30 years, Dr. Guy Rouleau and his team have focused on identifying the genes causing several neurological and psychiatric diseases, including autism, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, hereditary neuropathies, epilepsy and schizophrenia, as well as providing a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that lead to these disease symptoms. Among Dr. Rouleau’s main achievements are his contribution to the identification of dozens of disease-causing genes and his discovery of new mutational mechanisms.

Dr. Rouleau has published over 900 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has been quoted more than 85 000 times (Google Scholar). He has supervised more than a hundred students at the Masters, PhD and Post-doctoral levels in addition to receiving numerous awards for his contribution to science and society.

Dr. Rouleau has received numerous awards, including the Michael Smith Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Margolese National Brain Disorders Prize from the University of British Columbia, the Prix du Québec – Wilder Penfield from the Government of Québec, the Prix d’excellence of the Collège des médecins du Québec, and the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award from the Gairdner Foundation. He is an Officer of the National Order of Québec, an officer of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

As co-founder of the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute, Dr. Rouleau is pioneering a new way of doing research by transforming The Neuro into the first academic institution to adopt Open Science principles in order to accelerate discovery and benefit patients and society.

Dr. Miller's laboratory, located at the Lady Davis Institute, investigates molecular mechanisms underlying melanoma and breast cancer, with a focus on the development of novel targeted therapies and immunotherapies. Different approaches are used to better understand the mechanisms of action and to design new anti-cancer therapies.

Dr. Miller has received a number of research awards throughout his career, including the Medical Research Council of Canada Scientist Award and the FRSQ Chercheur national Award. Dr. Miller is a well-known speaker at national and international meetings and sits on peer review panels for the National Institutes of Health (United States), the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Ontario Cancer Research Network, and the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

In recognition of Dr. Jacques Michaud and Dr. Michael Sebag for their work on the CATALIS Quebec Board of Directors

After three years on the CATALIS Board of Directors, Dr. Jacques Michaud is now stepping down.

On behalf of the CATALIS Board of Directors, I would like to acknowledge Dr. Michaud's professionalism and dedication, and to thank him for his great contribution to the development and growth of CATALIS. Dr. Michaud has contributed to the development and monitoring of the implementation of our 2020-2024 strategic plan, which aims to optimize the clinical research environment in Quebec and give patients the opportunity to benefit from innovative therapies and treatments.

Dr. Michaud is Chief of Division of Medical Genetics at CHU Sainte-Justine and Professor of Pediatrics and Neurosciences at the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal. Dr. Michaud's clinical and research activities are focused on the genetics of neuro-developmental disorders. More specifically, his laboratory uses genomic approaches to identify genes involved in intellectual disability and epilepsy. As Scientific Director of the CHU Sainte-Justine and Génome Québec Integrated Clinical Genomics Centre in Pediatrics, Dr. Michaud also works on validating and integrating genomic tests that can be used in a clinical setting to better understand rare diseases.

My colleagues on the Board of Directors and the management of CATALIS join me in expressing our gratitude to Dr. Michaud for his contribution to our organization and in wishing him the best of success in his future professional and academic endeavors.

We would also like to thank Dr. Michael Sebag for his contribution to the Board of Directors since June 2020. Although Dr. Sebag is stepping down from the CATALIS Board of Directors, he will now be serving on our Scientific Advisory Committee.

Dr. Sebag is a hematologist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC). He has been working towards improving the lives of patients with multiple myeloma and related disorders since 2006, including through the preclinical development of new drugs that target largely unexploited pathways in multiple myeloma. In addition, he is involved in the development of investigator-led clinical trials across Canada.

We thank Dr. Sebag for his work on the CATALIS Board of Directors and are happy that he will continue to share his expertise and support the development of our organization by serving on the Scientific Advisory Committee.

- Marc Rivière, President of the CATALIS Quebec Board of Directors

CATALIS Quebec has a new address!

In early March, the CATALIS team moved into its new offices, located at :

360 rue Saint-Jacques, bureau G-100

Montréal (Québec) H2Y 1P6

CATALIS Quebec is a non-profit partnership dedicated to the advancement and operational excellence of clinical research in Quebec.

Since 2017, CATALIS Quebec has been carrying out a large-scale government mandate to optimize Quebec’s clinical research environment. The CATALIS network's efforts are focused on providing more Quebec patients with access to tomorrow’s therapies.

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