Nominee: Barbara Papadopoulou
Professor, CHU de Quebec Research Center-University Laval
Brief Biosketch provided for the nominee:
Dr. Barbara Papadopoulou is currently Professor in the Department of Microbiology-Infectious Disease and Immunology at Laval University, Quebec, Canada. She is a world-renowned leader in the field of molecular parasitology and Leishmania RNA regulation. Her laboratory has contributed pioneering work in Leishmania post-transcriptional regulation that led to the discovery of novel classes of developpmentally-regulated genes/families, new pathways of mRNA decay and translation, and new classes of 3’UTR elements and RNA-binding proteins associated with these pathways. Her leadership and innovation in research brought recognition nationally and internationally with several prestigious awards, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Award in Molecular Parasitology and her nomination as Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. She currently serves on several national and international advisory boards and committees, including the Institute of Infection and Immunity Advisory Board at CIHR, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Pathogenesis advisory committee, the advisory international scientific committee of WorldLeish and the scientific advisory Trypanosomatid TriTrypDB committee.
Justification provided for the nominee:
I hereby express my interest in being part of the new RNA Canada ARN Board of Directors and continuing to serve the RNA community in Canada to the best of my abilities. I endorsed from the start the mission of RNA Canada and the importance of working together to harness the power of RNA research and innovation, and I mobilized the ARN community around me with all my strength. I currently serve on the C2R2/RNA Canada Board, and I am one of the founding members of RNA Quebec. I have devoted more than 25 years of my career to study RNA regulatory mechanisms in parasitic protozoa. Over the past ten years, I have served on several Boards of Directors and Boards’ committees or advisory committees at the provincial, national, and international level. As a few examples, I was a member of the Governance Committee (2011-2017) and Vice-President of the Board of Directors of Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé (FRQS) (2015-2017), member of Board of Directors of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2015-2016), member of Board of Directors of the CHU de Quebec Research Center-U. Laval and Director of the Division of Infectious Disease and Immunity (2010-2020), and member of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Pathogenesis advisory committee (2016-2022). I currently serve on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Infection and Immunity at CIHR, the advisory international scientific committee of World Leishmaniasis, the advisory TriTrypDB committee, and the EDI committee of the faculty of medicine at U. Laval. In summary, I consider that I have the experience, expertise, and abilities to fulfill my role as a member of this Board.