Director of The Centre for Applied Genomics at The Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto

Dr. Stephen Scherer, PhD and FRSC, is Director of The Centre for Applied Genomics at The Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto. His research examines the composition of the human genome for studies of genetic disease. His recent work characterizes structural variation in the human genome, and examines the role genetics has in autism. Long-standing endeavors include the study of human chromosome 7 as a model of the chromosomal basis of disease, and building genomics infrastructure to facilitate biomedical research. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles (cited >12,000 times) and won numerous awards including the 2004 Steacie Prize in the Natural Sciences and an International Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholarship. He holds the GlaxoSmithKline-Canadian Institutes of Health Research Endowed Chair in Genetics and Genomics, is a Scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and chairs Genome Canada's Science Advisory Board.

Known for co-discovering the phenomena of global copy number variation (CNVs) of DNA and genes as the most common type of genetic variation in the human genome, Dr. Scherer leads one of world's busiest laboratories. His group has discovered numerous disease susceptibility genes and most recently has defined CNV and other genetic factors underlying autism spectrum disorder. He collaborated with Craig Venter's team to decode human chromosome 7 and to generate the first genome sequence of an individual. Over 250 peer-reviewed papers document his work. Dr. Scherer has won numerous honours including the 2004 Steacie Prize in the Natural Sciences, an International Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholarship, and the 2008 Premier Summit Award for Medical Research. In 2001 he accepted an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Windsor and in 2007 he was awarded the University of Waterloo's first Science Distinguished Alumni Award. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of Combimatrix Diagnostics and Autism Speaks, and he is on the Board of Trustees of Genome Canada and the Human Genome Organization (HUGO). He holds the GlaxoSmithKline-Canadian Institutes of Health Research Endowed Chair in Genetics and Genomics and is a Scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.