The Douglas Mental Health University Institute is proud to announce that its researcher and neurobiologist, Michael Meaney, C.M., Ph.D., C.Q., FRSC, is the 2014 laureate of the prestigious prix Wilder-Penfield.

This award applauds the career of a scientist working in the field of biomedicine. Michael Meaney is one of the first researchers to show how maternal care can modify the cognitive development of offspring. The mother-child relationship influences the expression of genes responsible for behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to stress, as well as hippocampal synaptic development.

The prix Wilder-Penfield is one of the 14 prizes awarded to outstanding Quebecers by Quebec.

Michael Meaney is a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. At McGill University, he is both the Director of the Program for the Study of Behaviour, Genes and Environment as well as James McGill Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery. In addition, he heads the Ludmer Centre, the world’s first to integrate genomic, epigenetic, and mental health research as well as informatics.
“Michael Meaney is a giant in the field of mental health and epigenetics. The Wilder-Penfield Prix D'Excellence du Québec is a fittting tribute to his work. The Douglas Institute teams are very proud to witness Dr Meaney receive this wonderful recognition and offer him our warmest congratulations.” says Lynne McVey, Executive Director of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.

A career marked by honours

Throughout his research career, Michael Meaney has received numerous prizes and distinctions, including the recent Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize, a testament to his innovative discoveries in biology and child development. Among other achievements, he is a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec (2007) and a member of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2009, he and colleagues Gustavo Turecki, MD, PhD, a Douglas Institute psychiatrist and McGill University Professor of Psychiatry, and Moshe Szyf, PhD, a McGill researcher in epigenetics and psychobiology, received the Scientist of the Year Award from the Les années lumière radio show on Radio-Canada. In 2007, Dr. Meaney was recognized as the “Most Highly Cited Scientist in the Area of Neuroscience” by the Institute for Scientific Information.

About the prix Wilder-Penfield
The prize is named after Wilder Penfield (1891-1976), a world-renowned neurosurgeon and neurologist who founded the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1934 and led this Institute for 25 years.

For information and interviews:
Florence Meney
Media Relations
Communications and Public Affairs Directorate
Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Dobell Pav.- 6875 LaSalle Blvd., B-2122 - Montreal, QC H4H 1R3
T. 514-761-6131, ext. 2769
Florence_dot_meney_At_douglas_dot_mcgill_dot_ca