Dr. Serge Marchand

Dr. Marchand has training in psychology (B.A.), kinesiology - Physical Activity Sciences (M.Sc.), neurological sciences (Ph.D. from the Université de Montréal) and a post-doctoral training in neuroanatomy of pain from the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF), completed in 1994.

Before joining the Neurosurgery Service in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS) in 2002, Dr. Marchand was the director of the research laboratory on pain at the Université du Québec in Abiti-Témiscamingue (UQAT). He is still in charge of this laboratory and holds a chair in pain, which is shared between UQAT and UdeS. Dr. Marchand's work on the role of endogenous mechanisms of pain control and on the development and treatment of pain are recognized at a national and international level. He is the author of a book, of numerous book chapters and of several articles dealing with the mechanisms involved in pain perception and pain treatment. In addition, Dr. Marchand has just received the Édouard-Montpetit Medal, a distinguished award emphasizing his engagement in research on pain treatment in Quebec.

His fundamental and clinical training on the neurophysiological and psychological origins of pain allows Dr. Marchand to fully investigate the multidimensional facets of pain. Since his arrival at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Université de Sherbrooke, Dr. Marchand runs both a fundamental and a clinical research laboratory on the neurophysiological mechanisms of pain. As director of these labs, he supervises a large number of students at different levels of their academic careers, from the summer trainee to the post-doctoral professional. Finally, he is also the director of the research team on pain and director of the new neuroscience and pain division of the CHUS' (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke) clinical research center.

Dr. Marchand's research seeks to understand the neurophysiological mechanisms responsible for the development and persistence of chronic pain states. In collaboration with his colleagues from UQAT and Université de Sherbrooke, his projects deal as much with pain at the early developmental stages of life as they do with pain in the elderly. The techniques he uses include immunohistochemistry on nerve tissue, animal models of pain and electrophysiological recordings among chronic pain patients. After demonstrating that odours play an important role on pain perception, a finding which has aroused a great deal of interest in the media, he currently uses animal models to better understand the role played by sex hormones on the central nervous system's response to pain. His concern in the role played by sex hormones in the development and persistence of pain is also present in his clinical studies, for which he is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). These projects could lead to important advances concerning the specific role played by gender in the development of certain chronic pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia.

Pain research is rapidly growing at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Université de Sherbrooke, which is in fact one of this institutions' top priorities. Dr. Marchand is setting up a team of fundamental and clinical researchers specialized in the field of pain. The hope is that solutions can be found to a problem that often represents the main reason why patients consult and which becomes chronic for as much as 20% of all Canadians.

For further information, please contact Dr. Serge Marchand using the Email contact form or by phone at 819 820-6868 ext 15889