Biography

The 2010 Heinz Lehmann Award will be presented to Dr. Pierre Blier at the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Ottawa, Ontario. This award, established by the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology and sponsored by Eli Lilly Canada, is designed to recognize outstanding research achievements by Canadian scientists in the field of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Professor Pierre Blier (MD, PhD) graduated from the University of Montreal Medical School where he received his Master's and medical degrees as well as his PhD in neuroscience. Dr. Blier is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; and Director of the Mood Disorders Research Unit at the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre in Ottawa. He also holds positions as; Membre Conseil Médecin, Centre Hospitalier Pierre Janet in Hull, Québec, Canada; Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montréal, Québec, Canada; and Courtesy Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

He has previously held academic positions as assistant, associate, and full professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University from 1988 until 2000. He then relocated to the University of Florida at the Brain Institute as a full professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Neuroscience.

Professor Blier has authored and co-authored more than 310 scientific abstracts and 245 scientific publications. He has received numerous research awards from Fond de la recherche en Santé du Québec and the Medical Research Council of Canada, as well as honorific awards from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology. From the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology, he received the Rafaelsen Fellowship Award in 1990 and the Max Hamilton Memorial Prize in 1998 for outstanding contributions in psychopharmacology. His research has been supported by numerous peer-reviewed research grants and he is now the recipient of the Endowed Chair in Mood Disorders Research from the University of Ottawa and the Tier I Canada Research Chair in Psychopharmacology from the Canadian Government.

Professor Blier is a member or fellow of a number of scientific and professional associations, including the Society of Biological Psychiatry; the Canadian, American, European, and International Colleges of Neuropsychopharmacology; the Canadian Psychiatric Association; the British Association of Psychopharmacology; and the International Society of Affective Disorders. He also serves on 11 editorial boards of scientific journals. He is co-editor of the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the official journal of the British Association of Psychopharmacology; he is the section editor for Translational Medicine for the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, the official journal of the CINP; he has been for many years an associate editor for The Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, the official journal of the CCNP. Finally, he has served as an internal reviewer for several national and international granting agencies.

In summary, Dr. Pierre Blier has made significant contributions to the field of neuropsychopharmacology and is a very worthy recipient of the 2010 Heinz Lehmann Award. Congratulations to Dr. Blier!