Dr. Henry Friesen is a Canadian who has achieved international acclaim for his research into the human hormone system and his commitment to keeping Canada on the leading edge of medical discovery. For the past seven years he has served as the President of the Medical Research Council of Canada. Dr. Friesen’s relentless and imaginative leadership of the MRC led to the establishment of the Canadian Institutes of Health earlier this year, whose Chairmanship he retired from in order to spearhead the development of genome research in Canada as Chair of the new Genome Canada.
Dr. Friesen will discuss the extraordinary promise of genomic research, including the decoding of the entire human genome in June of this year – as well as the challenges Canada faces in order to remain a force in this brave new world of medical research in the years to come.
A Gairdner Foundation International Award winner, Dr. Friesen is also an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Foreign Fellow of the American National Academy of Sciences, and a member of the board of directors of the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation.
