Full professor
Department of Molecular Medicine
Faculty of Medicine

Professor Donald Poirier received his basic training in chemistry (B. Sc., 1980) and organic chemistry (Ph. D., 1985) at Laval University (Québec, QC). After a short stay at the Faculty of Agronomy (UL), he specialized in endocrinology and medicinal chemistry (postdoctoral fellow at the CHUL Research Center, 1986–1990, MRC fellow).

He has been a professor in the department of Molecular Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of Université Laval since 1991 and a full professor since 2002. He has established a research program that focuses on the development of inhibitors of enzymes of steroidogenesis and antitumor agents to treat various cancers and diseases (endometriosis) sensitive to steroid hormones.

In addition to chemical synthesis and biological evaluation of small molecules, particularly steroid derivatives, for therapeutic purposes, he is also interested in other aspects of organic chemistry such as solid-support synthesis, development of new methodologies, NMR analysis, etc.

A particularity of his research group is that he is interested in several stages of the development of a new drug: design, chemical synthesis, in vitro biological tests (enzymatic tests, cell proliferation, etc.) and in vivo (estrogenic activities and androgenic in female and male mice, plasma concentration, metabolic stability, cancer cell xenograft, etc.).

Professor Poirier supervised the work of 5 postdoctoral students, 11 doctoral students (Ph.D.), 27 master’s students (M.Sc.) and 40 baccalaureate interns (B.Sc.). He holds 14 patents, has published 265 scientific articles and contributed to more than 455 oral or poster presentations.

Director of the Organic Synthesis Service (SSO) of the CHU of Quebec Research Center since January 2008, a service created in collaboration with René Maltais to support the needs for small bioactive molecules of researchers in the health sector.

Editor of the Journal Steroids and member of the editorial board of the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Current Enzyme Inhibition and Current Organic Synthesis.