Jean-pierre Despres PhD, FAHA, FIAS, CQ

Dr. Despres is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada. He established himself as an FRQS research scholar at Universite Laval in 1986. He is currently the Scientific Director of VITAM – Centre de recherche en santé durable (Research Centre on Sustainable Health) affiliated with Université Laval (appointed in 2018). Since 2005, he is the Scientific Director of the International Chair on Cardiometabolic Risk also based at Université Laval.

Dr. Despres's research interests include obesity, adipose tissue distribution, visceral obesity, type 2 diabetes, lipids, lipoproteins, cardiovascular disease, and their prevention through physical activity and healthy living. Thirty years ago, he was the first to report that an excess of fat in the abdominal cavity (visceral obesity), is particularly harmful to health. He is personally involved in major education and mobilization activities to prevent chronic societal diseases. Dr. Despres is one of the most cited researchers in the world in his field (749 scientific articles and 59 book chapters with over 142,000 Google Scholar citations; H index: 152) and is the most cited active scientist at Université Laval.