2024 Robert I. Levy Memorial Lecture - Jean-Pierre Després, CQ, PhD, FAHA

 

Jean-Pierre Després, CQ, PhD, FAHA, is a professor in the department of kinesiology at Université Laval in Québec City. He established himself as a research scholar at Université Laval in 1986.

He was assistant director of the Centre for Research on Lipid Diseases at the CHUL Research Centre from 1991 to 1999 and director of research in cardiology at the Québec Heart and Lung Institute from 1999 to 2018. He is currently scientific director of VITAM – Centre de recherche en santé durable (Research Center on Sustainable Health) affiliated with Université Laval (appointed in 2018) and is co-recipient of the Research Chair on Sustainable Health funded by FRQS.

He is one of the most cited researchers in the world in his field (784 scientific articles and 60 book chapters with over 201,767 Google Scholar citations; H-index: 168) and is the most cited active scientist at Université Laval.

His research interests include obesity, adipose tissue distribution, lipids, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and prevention of chronic diseases through physical activity and healthy lifestyles. He was involved in the development of the cardiometabolic risk concept, and he is a past chair of the American Heart Association Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health. He is now heavily involved in education and mobilization activities to prevent chronic societal diseases and to promote health democracy.

He has received numerous prestigious awards such as “Grand Québécois” from the Québec Chamber of Commerce and Knight of the Ordre national du Québec (the highest distinction of the Québec government).