Guy Boivin MD, MSc, FRCPC, FCAHS, FRSC.

Dr. Guy Boivin is a medical virologist/infectious disease specialist working at “Québec City University Hospital Center” in Canada since 1994. Dr. Boivin is also a professor of Pediatrics at Laval University and a senior researcher in Virology at the “Research Center in Infectious Diseases” of the same University.

Dr. Boivin holds a MD from Laval University, a master (MSc) degree in microbiology from University of Montréal and a 3-year specialized research training (Fellowship) in Molecular Virology from University of Minnesota.

Dr. Boivin was the holder of the Canada Research Chair on Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses (2006-2020). His research is supported by a prestigious 7-year Foundation grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR, 2016-23, CDN $ 4 million) and by several private contracts. His research interests concern the diagnosis, pathogenesis, prevention and treatment of respiratory virus diseases caused notably by influenza, human metapneumovirus and coronaviruses as well as herpesvirus infections caused by cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex viruses. He is mostly recognized for his work on the mechanisms of resistance of influenza to neuraminidase inhibitors and of cytomegalovirus to ganciclovir. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his team was awarded a CIHR grant of one million CDN $ to discover compounds against SARS-CoV-2 by transcriptomic analysis of infected cells and 3D modeling of viral proteins (patent submitted for two new antivirals). He was also the co-PI of a large trial of colchicine in 4150 COVID-19 patients (Lancet Resp Med 2021).

Dr. Boivin has published more than 370 peer-reviewed manuscripts (H factor: 80) and presented more than 85 invited conferences and 285 abstracts. He served on the Editorial board of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, in which he has published more than 45 articles. He is co-founder of two companies: Signia Therapeutics for the development of immunomodulatory compounds against respiratory viruses and Vaxxel for the generation of live-attenuated chimeric vaccines against pneumoviruses. He was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2018 and of the Royal Society of Canada in 2020.