Full professor
School of Psychology
Faculty of Social Sciences

Dr. Savard is a professor of psychology at Université Laval and researcher at CHU de Québec-Université Laval Research Center and Laval University Cancer Research Center. She is member of the Équipe de recherche Michel-Sarrazin en oncologie psychosociale et soins palliatifs (ERMOS). She completed her Ph.D. in psychology at Université Lava, and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psycho-oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center (Philadelphia).

Dr. Savard’s research focuses on the development, evaluation, and implementation of psychological interventions to help cancer patients to better cope with their illness. More specifically, her studies are centered on sleep disorders, depression, and fear of cancer recurrence, as well as on the efficacy of cognitive-behavioural therapy. She is also interested in the relationships between cancer-related psychological factors and some biological indicators such as immune functioning and infectious risk.

In 2010, she published Faire face au cancer avec la pensée réaliste (Flammarion Québec), a self-help book to provide cancer patients and their caregivers with effective strategies to cope with cancer.

In 2015, she was elected fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) and fellow of the Canadian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies in 2022. In 2014, she was awarded the Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology Award for Education Excellence. More recently, she received the CPA Health Psychology & Behavioural Medicine Section’s 2024 Senior Career Award and in 2022 she received the Adrien-Pinard Award of the Société québécoise pour la recherche en psychologie.