Websites:
The Centre for Applied Genomics
The Chromosome 7 Project
Database of Genomic Variants
McLaughlin Centre
Steve Scherer's Wiki
News:
Press Releases and Articles
Lay Reviews/Opinions/Editorials
Media/Scientific News Articles
Interviews
Video presentation and interview
Integrative research at
TCAG [Video]
Contact Info:
Stephen W. Scherer
The Centre for Applied Genomics
The Hospital for Sick Children
Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning
686 Bay Street, Room 13.9800
Toronto, Ontario, M5G 0A4, Canada
(416) 813-7613 (office)
(416) 813-8319 (fax)
Elaine Chang
Dr. Scherer's Assistant
Phone: (416) 813-7654 x301574
Fax: (416) 813-8319
Research Biosketch
Professor Scherer’s research includes understanding the composition of the human genome for studies of
genetic disease built around three themes:
(1) gene copy number and structural variation in the human genome, (2) determining the genetic architecture
in autism spectrum disorders and using this information to help families, and (3) developing infrastructure
and capacity in Canada for translational genomic research. He has co-published 595 papers and many of these
have been in the highest impact periodicals, such as Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine, the New
England Journal of Medicine, and Science. His research discoveries have also headlined in the New York
Times, Globe and Mail, The Independent, Time, Newsweek, Scientific American, and he often appears on the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and other national media explaining scientific breakthroughs.
He achieved the distinction of Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher (current Web of Science h-index=124;
70,606 citations; Google Scholar h-index=148; 110,405 citations). In 2014, he was selected as a Thomson
Reuters Citation Laureate for seminal contributions to the field of Physiology or Medicine “For the
discovery of large-scale copy number variation and its association with specific diseases”, placing his name
on the lifetime Thomson Reuters Hall of Laureates (http://sciencewatch.com/nobel/hall-citation-laureates).
He was also awarded the $5M Premier’s Summit Award, appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has won a Howard Hughes Medical Institute
International Scholars Award, the Steacie Prize, the Killam Prize in Health Sciences, and three honorary
degrees (Windsor, Waterloo, Western), amongst other distinctions. He represented Canada on the Boards of
Trustees of the Human Genome Organization and the American Society of Human Genetics.
He holds leadership positions on numerous grants, and funding to his program has exceeded >$319M, impacting
basic science and knowledge translation. He is Director of The Centre for Applied Genomics, managing $89M of
revenues in the past 5 years, and Director of the University of Toronto McLaughlin Centre, a $50M endowment
that funds research and education in genomic medicine. Through this dynamic translational research program,
he has supervised 20 graduate students, 49 post-doctoral fellows, 54 visiting fellows and >200 undergraduate
students; and these scientists are now working in 20 countries around the world. He has also delivered >400
invited presentations in 28 countries.
Dr. Scherer holds the Northbridge Chair in Paediatric Research, a joint Hospital-University Chair between the University of Toronto, The Hospital for Sick Children, and the SickKids Foundation. For these many contributions to science he is recognized as a distinguished
‘University’ Professor at the University of Toronto, the very highest distinction held by only a few its
faculty, at a time. He is also a Senior Fellow at Massey College in the University of Toronto.
Appointments
- Chief of Research, The Hospital for Sick Children
- Senior Scientist, Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children
- Director, The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children
- Professor, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto
- Professor, Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto
- Director, McLaughlin Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
