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Rod McInnes promoted to Officer of the Order of Canada
 Roderick McInnes, senior investigator and past
director of the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI) of the Jewish
General Hospital (JGH), was promoted to Officer of the Order of Canada for his
continued contributions to the field of neurogenetics and for his strong
leadership within Canada’s research community.
The Order of Canada is one of the country’s highest
civilian honours and it recognizes those who make extraordinary contributions
to the nation as exemplified in its motto Desiderantes Meliorem Patriam – “They
desire a better country.” Since its creation in 1967, about 7,500 people have
received the honour. The appointment to Officer of the Order of Canada
recognizes achievement and merit of a high degree, especially service to Canada
or to humanity at large.
Roderick McInnes, OC, OOnt, MD, PhD, is
the Alva Chair in Human Genetics (since 2010), and a Professor of Human
Genetics and Biochemistry at McGill University. Until 2017, he also held the Canada
Research Chair in Neurogenetics. He is an internationally recognized leader in
the fields of eye development and inherited eye disease. His discoveries have
included the identification of major regulatory genes of eye development, the
association of these genes with inherited blindness, and the co-discovery of
retinal stem cells.
Dr. McInnes has made many notable
contributions to our understanding of the molecular basis of retinal and eye
development, the identification of genes and processes associated with retinal degeneration,
and knowledge of synaptic proteins that modulate ion channels in the nervous
system. This work has earned him many honours, including appointments to the
Order of Ontario (2008), and to the Order of Canada, initially as a Member
(2009).
Over the years, many national and
international scientific organizations have benefited from his leadership. After
serving for a decade as the inaugural Scientific Director of the Institute of
Genetics of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), he moved from
the University of Toronto and the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) to
become the first Director in the LDI’s history recruited from outside of McGill.
From 2009 to 2021, under his leadership, the national and international stature
of the LDI, and of the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) as a leading clinical and
fundamental research facility, grew markedly.
In 2017-2018 Dr. McInnes served as the
Acting President of CIHR, overseeing the national health research funding
agency in a particularly challenging period. For this and his other
contributions to health research, he received the 2018 Award of Honour of
Friends of CIHR, the 2019 Research Canada Leadership in Advocacy Award, and the
2019 Paul Armstrong Lecture Award of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
(CAHS).
Dr. McInnes is also a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada and of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and Past
President of the American Society of Human Genetics (2010).
“On behalf of the entire LDI community,
we congratulate Dr. McInnes on receiving Canada's highest honour for his
outstanding achievements and leadership in health research throughout his
remarkable career,” said Stephen Robbins, Director of the LDI.
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