On September 26, 2017, Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau announced that after a selection process, Nemer was chosen as Canada's newChief Science Advisor – the first national science advisor since 2008.[5][6][7]
Nemer was born inBeirut, Lebanon in 1957 where she found her passion for chemistry.[8] At the age of 17, she and her classmates successfully advocated to create a science stream at her all-girls school.[9]
She left Lebanon during thecivil war[8] and moved to Kansas where she obtained a bachelor's degree in 1977, majoring in chemistry with minors in French and mathematics atWichita State University.[10] In the summer of 1977, Nemer visitedMontreal with friends. The visit convinced her to attend graduate school in the city.[8] She went on to complete a PhD inbio-organic chemistry fromMcGill University in 1982[8][10] under the supervision ofKelvin Ogilvie.[11]
Nemer's research focused oncardiac formation and function – specifically the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that register the genetic expression of cardiac cells. She is best known for isolating genes that regulateventricular hypertrophy which manifests itself in an increase volume of the heart and a thickening of the myocardial wall.[12] Her work has contributed to the development ofdiagnostic tests for heart failure and the genetics of cardiacbirth defects. Nemer has published over 150 scientific research articles to date, with over 10,000 citations and an h-index of 63.[12] She has also trained over 100 students from Canada and other countries.[8]
Nemer served as Vice-President, Research at the University of Ottawa from 2006 to 2017, and also served as the Director of the Cardiac Development Research Unit at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM).[13][14]
Nemer founded the University of Ottawa's annual greeting card design competition.[15]
On Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, following a selection process, Nemer was appointed as Canada's new Chief Science Advisor for a three-year appointment.[7][8][16][17][18] This role was previously eliminated in 2008 by the previous government, led by Prime MinisterStephen Harper.[17] As Chief Science Advisor, Nemer is responsible for providing impartial scientific advice to the Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau) and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (François-Philippe Champagne) and Cabinet. She is also responsible for providing guidelines for to ensure that government science is publicly accessible, that scientists can speak freely about their work as well as for promoting Canadian science both nationally and internationally.[6][7] In addition, Nemer reports annually on the activities of her office and the state of federal government science in Canada.[6][18]
Following 100 days as the Chief Science Advisor, Nemer released a letter outlining her office's plans for 2018, which included developing scientific integrity policies and guidelines, recommending guidelines to ensure government scientists can speak freely about their research and preparing a framework to allow for open public access to federal government science.[19]
On July 30, 2018, Nemer's office published theModel Policy on Scientific Integrity in order to safeguard through collective agreements government scientists' right to speak.[20][21] This was developed in partnership with theProfessional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), officials at theTreasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the federal research community.[20] Her office has also established an Independent Expert Panel on Aquaculture Science, chaired by Nemer, to provide appropriate scientific evidence in policy decisions related toaquaculture and impacts on the marine environment.[22][23]
As part of her mandate to provide guidelines to ensure that government science is fully available to the public, the Chief Science Advisor and her office worked with international and domestic colleagues to develop the Roadmap for Open Science announced byNavdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, on February 26, 2020.[24]
In February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Canada, Mona Nemer as the Chief Science Advisor rapidly assembled the COVID-19 Expert Panel, a group of distinguished researchers and practitioners in infectious disease research and treatment, disease modeling and the behavioural sciences. This group of experts along with several other groups and task forces, has enabled throughout the pandemic emerging scientific information about COVID-19 to flow swiftly through to the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The Chief Science Advisor and the expert groups have published several reports focusing on emerging issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic such as long-term care homes, COVID-19 in children, the role of ventilation and the considerations for using vaccine certifications.[25]
On 27 March 2020, Nemer told the host ofCBC Radio'sQuirks and Quarks that the country needs randomly to test at least one per cent of the population to determine whetherCOVID-19 is as lethal as the population is led to believe.[29] Nemer's "observations are right at the centre of a global clash of scientists over COVID-19 data and estimates of the seriousness of the pandemic," saysTerence Corcoran, a writer at theNational Post.[30] Corcoran observed that the grim warnings ofNeil Ferguson's team atImperial College have been contradicted byOxford University epidemiologists led bySunetra Gupta.[31] On 3 April, Corcoran pointed out that only proper sampling such as that advocated by Nemer will reveal the truth, and that in the omnishambles caused by reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, governments already have "adopted massive and unprecedented interventions into the economic and daily lives of every individual".[32]
Bruneau, Benoit G.; Nemer, Georges; Schmitt, Joachim P.; Charron, Frédéric; Robitaille, Lynda; Caron, Sophie; Conner, David A.; Gessler, Manfred; Nemer, Mona (2001–09). "A Murine Model of Holt-Oram Syndrome Defines Roles of the T-box Transcription Factor Tbx5 in Cardiogenesis and Disease".Cell.106 (6): 709–721. doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(01)00493-7.
Genest, Jacques; McPherson, Ruth; Frohlich, Jiri; Anderson, Todd; Campbell, Norm; Carpentier, André; Couture, Patrick; Dufour, Robert; Fodor, George (2009–10). "2009 Canadian Cardiovascular Society/Canadian guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of dyslipidemia and prevention of cardiovascular disease in the adult – 2009 recommendations".Canadian Journal of Cardiology.25 (10): 567–579. doi:10.1016/s0828-282x(09)70715-9.
Durocher, Daniel; Charron, Frédéric; Warren, René; Schwartz, Robert J.; Nemer, Mona (1997-09-15). "The cardiac transcription factors Nkx2‐5 and GATA‐4 are mutual cofactors".The EMBO Journal.16 (18): 5687–5696. doi:10.1093/emboj/16.18.5687.
Burns, Kimberly; Duggan, Brenda; Atkinson, Eric A.; Famulski, Konrad S.; Nemer, Mona; Bleackley, R. Chris; Michalak, Marek (1994–02). "Modulation of gene expression by calreticulin binding to the glucocorticoid receptor".Nature.367 (6462): 476–480. doi:10.1038/367476a0.
Paradis, Pierre; Dali-Youcef, Nassim; Paradis, François W.; Thibault, Gaétan; Nemer, Mona (2000-01-18). "Overexpression of angiotensin II type I receptor in cardiomyocytes induces cardiac hypertrophy and remodeling".Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.97 (2): 931–936. doi:10.1073/pnas.97.2.931.
Drouin, J.; Sun, Y.L.; Chamberland, M.; Gauthier, Y.; De Léan, A.; Nemer, M.; Schmidt, T.J. (1993–01). "Novel glucocorticoid receptor complex with DNA element of the hormone-repressed POMC gene".The EMBO Journal.12 (1): 145–156. doi:10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb05640.x.
Grepin, C.; Nemer, G.; Nemer, M. (1997-06-15). "Enhanced cardiogenesis in embryonic stem cells overexpressing the GATA-4 transcription factor".Development.124 (12): 2387–2395.
Sepulveda, Jorge L.; Belaguli, Narashimaswamy; Nigam, Vishal; Chen, Ching-Yi; Nemer, Mona; Schwartz, Robert J. (1998-06-01). "GATA-4 and Nkx-2.5 Coactivate Nkx-2 DNA Binding Targets: Role for Regulating Early Cardiac Gene Expression".Molecular and Cellular Biology.18 (6): 3405–3415. doi:10.1128/MCB.18.6.3405.
Viger, R. S.; Mertineit, C.; Trasler, J. M.; Nemer, M. (1998-07-15). "Transcription factor GATA-4 is expressed in a sexually dimorphic pattern during mouse gonadal development and is a potent activator of the Mullerian inhibiting substance promoter".Development.125 (14): 2665–2675.
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