Dr. Philippe Després

Biography

Philippe Després is a tenured professor in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics at Laval University. He is also a member of the Cancer Research Centre at Laval University, a medical physicist at CHU de Québec - Laval University, and a researcher at the University Institute of Cardiology and Pulmonology of Quebec (IUCPQ-UL). After completing his Master's degree at Laval University (2000, Physics) and his doctorate at the University of Montreal (2005, Physics), he pursued a postdoctoral fellowship (2005-2007) at the University of California, San Francisco in biomedical engineering and molecular imaging. His research projects primarily focus on medical imaging, particularly on tomographic reconstruction and the use of artificial intelligence for detection and classification. He has been a pioneer in high-performance computing on graphics processing units (GPUs), leading to the development of innovative applications in medical physics, including an ultra-fast Monte Carlo radiative transport code. He is also interested in data utilization in the medical field, particularly in infrastructures, standards, and best practices (including FAIR principles) necessary for the responsible use of clinical information. He acts as a co-lead of CIRRUS, the Health Information Integration and Management Centre for secondary use at IUCPQ-UL, and serves as the director of the Big Data Research Centre (CRDM) at Laval University, as well as a researcher at the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technologies. He sits on the Researchers' Council of the Canadian Digital Research Alliance.

Research Interests

Awards