Richard Carpentier

Biography

For more than 35 years, I have devoted myself to research ethics issues, mainly those related to local, national and international governance. I have held positions at all these levels as chair and director of research ethics boards in NPOs, hospitals and the federal government. For almost 15 years, I held the position of Director of the National Council on Ethics in Human Research at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, where I worked on the pan-Canadian scene. I was also the Canadian and U.S. representative for an international program, managed by the WHO and then UNESCO, aimed at upgrading research ethics in developing and emerging countries. I had the opportunity to lecture and advise governments around the world. I have reported on missions to the White House.

My current research is related to my experience, in that it involves trying to put in place a structure such that a single ethics approval would be required for pediatric research projects in Canada. We will be applying in a competition to extend this project to all research. Throughout my life, I’ve been heavily involved in volunteer activities, having set up a suicide prevention center in Montreal and, now, a support structure for people with Alzheimer’s and neurocognitive diseases that serves nearly 300 sufferers and their families in Magog, Quebec.