Congratulations go again to Michael Meaney, PhD — associate director of Douglas Research Centre, a University Institute in Mental Health— for being elected to the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). Meaney, along with 78 other newly nominated fellows, will be inducted into the Society on Saturday, November 17, 2007 in Edmonton. This is the second honour for Meaney this summer, who was also recently named a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.

“Michael Meaney is achieving great success as a researcher and is very much deserving of this recognition” says Rémi Quirion, O.C., PhD, FRSC, C.Q, scientific director of the Douglas and of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). “He is continuing to excel and we are immensely proud of his achievements and their impact on our Institute. I congratulate him on this and all his previous accomplishments.”

Meaney is a James McGill Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery as well the Director of the Program for the Study of Behaviour, Genes and the Environment at McGill. He was one of the first researchers to describe how maternal care influences gene expression of the offspring; in particular genes which regulate responses to stress.

Meaney and his team are currently pursuing this research by conducting studies examining the molecular mechanisms by which maternal care alters gene expression and the subsequent effects on neuron growth, function, and health. Meaney is the Director of the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurolodevelopment Project, funded by CIHR, that includes longitudinal, developmental studies of high-risk children in Quebec and Ontario. The project represents a collaboration of over 20 groups across Canada.