Director, The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children
Associate Chief, Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children
Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Interim Director, McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine, University of Toronto
Known for contributions to discovering the phenomena of global copy number variation (CNVs) of DNA and genes as the most abundant type of genetic variation in the human genome, Dr. Scherer leads one of Canada'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 (cited >15,000 times). Dr. Scherer has won numerous honors including the 2004 Steacie Prize in the Natural Sciences, an International Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholarship, and the $5M- 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 is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. 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.
