It is my pleasure to officially announce that our highly respected colleague, Dr. Nathalie Lamarche-Vane, is the appointed Interim Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology in the McGill University Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Lamarche-Vane replaces Dr. John Bergeron after his stellar 13-year career of passionate commitment to the department.
Dr. Lamarche-Vane is known internationally for her research in understanding how cell migration and cell adhesion properties are critically important in the drive to identify novel drug targets for tumor therapy and neurodegenerative diseases. She was appointed Assistant Professor within the department in 1998 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2004. She has also held the position of Chair of Graduate Studies in the department, where she worked on both a personal and professional level with successive cohorts of graduate students.
In her new position as Interim Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Dr. Lamarche-Vane has assumed responsibility for a broad array of academic and administrative functions. This includes the oversight of educational programs for the department’s undergraduate and post graduate students. She will provide recommendations to my office on academic appointments, promotions and the awarding of tenure. She is also responsible for the ongoing management of research initiatives and for the recruitment of academic faculty in the department, as well as strategic planning and budget allocations.
Dr. Lamarche-Vane received her BSc in Biochemistry from the Université de Montréal in 1987 and her PhD from the same university in 1993. From 1994 until 1998, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology at University College London in the United Kingdom. She has received a number of honours, awards and special recognition, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Award and the Chercheur-Boursier from the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec.
She is widely published in a variety of academic journals, including the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology and the Journal of Cell Biology. Dr. Lamarche-Vane has also lectured and spoken at numerous medical centres in Canada, the United States and Europe.
Richard I. Levin, MD
Vice-Principal (Health Affairs)
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
McGill University