Henry Friesen has a record of extraordinary achievement as a creative scientist and a distinquished leader. Dr. Fiesen is a medical graduate of the University of Manitoba. He began his career in research in endocrinology with a fellowship at the New England Medical Center, Boston. His academic appointments include McGill University from 1965 to 1973 where he was appointed Professor. He then took the position of Professor and Head of the Department of Physiology at the University of Manitoba where he developed an outstanding international department. His innovative research resulted in the discovery of the human pituitary hormone prolactin, defining its role in health and disease and for which he was awarded a Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1977. Dr. Friesen has published over 400 papers and has received many distinquished awards including the McLaughlin Medal, the Order of Canada, six honorary degrees and will be inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame in 2001.

In the last decade, Dr. Friesen has served Canada with great distinction as the seventh President of the Medical Research Council of Canada. He has proved to be an outstanding advocate of biomedical and health research, ensuring grassroots involvement in the planning processes, and has been an eloquent and persuasive voice in government for the funding of research. He established partnerships with numbers of voluntary agencies with the private sector assisted in the creation of a venture capital fund and was the guiding force that led the government to create the Canadian Health Services Foundation. His efforts led to substantial improvements in the credibility, profile and scope of the Medical Research Council, setting the stage for the transformation of the organization. Dr. Friesen was both architect and champion for a bold new vision for health research in Canada. Through imaginative leadership and tireless effort he set the stage in 2000 for the establishment of a new agency designed to encompass all aspects of health research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He is currently Chair of the new Genome Canada, designed to spearhead the development of genome research and its impact in Canada.