Dr. Pierre Gagnon is a psychiatrist specialized in psychoncology, in
psychosomatic medicine and geropsychiatry psychiatry. Clinician at three
different centers, the CHU de Québec – Université Laval, the
CUISSS-Capitale-Nationale and the Maison Michel Sarrazin, Dr. Gagnon
works as a researcher at the Laval University Cancer Research Center and
the Research center of the CHU de Québec – Université Laval, but he is
also the head of the department of psychiatry and neurosciences at the
Faculty of medicine at Laval University.
After a two years of fellowship at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (NY), Dr. Gagnon first started his career as an investigator in 1994. He received a clinical research award from National Cancer Institute Canada (NCIC) and because of his significant contribution to oncology – palliative care – delirium researches he won the Dorothy J. Lamont Scientist Award from NCIC. When he still was a professor at the Faculty of pharmacy, he was the principal investigator of major operating grants from Canadian Cancer Society as well as the principal investigator of a grant to elaborate a new palliative care team at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Since 2000, Dr. Gagnon manage the ERMOS’s team (Équipe de Recherche Michel-Sarrazin en Oncologie psychosociale et Soins palliatifs) as well as the new Réseau québécois de recherche en soins palliatifs et de fin de vie (RQSPAL) since its creation in 2017. His researches focus on delirium associated to cancer, psychotherapy mostly existential psychotherapy, palliative care, risk of psychiatric complications associated with cancer, as well as on the use of psychotropic substances associated with palliative care and oncology. Dr. Gagnon is also involved in teaching and graduate education regarding psycho-oncology and palliative care.