The Graham Boeckh Chair in schizophrenia was created in 1996 at the Douglas Institute of McGill University, in memory of Graham Boeckh. The inaugural Chairholder, Dr. Guy Rouleau (who held the Chair from 1998 to 2004), took a molecular genetics approach to understanding schizophrenia and related illnesses.
Dr. Bruno Giros succeeded Dr. Rouleau and held the position of Graham Boeckh Chair in Schizophrenia from 2007 to 2017. He is one of the world’s leading figures in the study and treatment of schizophrenia. Dr. Giros created the Neurobiology and Psychiatry Laboratory at France’s Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM).
Dr. Giros, has been a pioneer in the molecular characterization, cloning and study of a large number of dopamine and glutamate receptors and transporters. These represent some of the main targets for widely used psychotropic drugs. He is also one of the leading scientists developing the first genetic models in mice that could allow us to link these molecules to integrated brain functions and enable us to model certain types of psychosis.