Dr. John R. McLaughlin

Dr. John McLaughlin is a leader in Canadian health research. He has published extensively and leads interdisciplinary teams in large, population-based studies to identify risk factors that can be targeted in disease prevention strategies. In particular, he focuses on how the interaction of environmental and genetic factors leads to illness across populations. He is currently leading large cohort studies and continues his studies related to colorectal, ovarian and other cancers. As an active scientist, he has more than 300 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. McLaughlin's leadership extends well beyond his own group. While serving as a Senior Investigator at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, and as Head of Henry S. Rosenberg Program in Epidemiology & Biostatistics, he established and was the inaugural leader of the Prosserman Centre for Health Research, which is renowned for its leadership in molecular and genetic epidemiology. Researchers at the Prosserman Centre perform large-scale epidemiological studies of cancer and other important diseases, aiming to make new discoveries that translate to improved disease control strategies.

He works to improve cancer prevention and to promote health by applying existing knowledge and building new ways for prevention research to be done in Canada. For example, while serving as Vice President at Cancer Care Ontario, he directed teams that launched the Ontario Health Study, the Occupational Cancer Research Centre, and the nation's first population-based colorectal screening program. As Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, he also teaches and supervises graduate students. Since 2012 he has provided scientific leadership to Ontario’s public health system, where he serves as Chief Science Officer at Public Health Ontario.