Three Researchers from The Neuro Elected Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
Election to the CAHS is among the highest honours in Canada’s health sciences community
The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) is proud to celebrate the election of three of its distinguished researchers to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS): Dr. Edward Fon, Director of The Neuro, Professor Michael Petrides, and Professor Robert Zatorre.
Fellows are nominated and elected by their peers in recognition of distinguished achievements and sustained contributions to advancing knowledge, improving health, and shaping healthier societies. The election of three members of The Neuro from the 2026 cohort reflects the institute’s longstanding leadership in neuroscience research, clinical innovation, and scientific discovery.
Dr. Edward Fon: Advancing Research on Parkinson’s Disease
Dr. Edward Fon is Director of The Neuro, a clinician-scientist and neurologist specializing in movement disorders. He earned his M.D. from the Université de Montréal and completed training at McGill University and the University of California, San Francisco. Since joining The Neuro faculty in 1999, he has held several leadership roles, including Scientific Director from 2015 to 2026.
Named among the world’s top 1% most-cited researchers, Dr. Fon leads internationally recognized research on Parkinson’s disease and the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration.
“It is an honour to receive such a prestigious recognition from the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences,” said Dr. Fon. “I’m proud to join so many distinguished leaders of Canadian medicine as a Fellow of the Academy.”
Professor Michael Petrides: Understanding the Brain Circuits Behind Cognition
Professor Petrides is a world leader in neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. His research is characterized by detailed explorations of function in relation to specific brain circuits and is widely acknowledged for its creative methodological approach to reveal the functional role of the various prefrontal cytoarchitectonic areas in the context of specific neuroanatomical circuits.
His creativity is evident in the development of new neuropsychology tasks to examine specific functional processes following brain damage, such as the Self-Ordered Pointing task which examines the role of the mid-dorsolateral prefrontal cortical region in the executive process of monitoring information in working memory.
Professor Robert Zatorre: Revealing How the Brain Processes Music and Speech
Robert Zatorre holds the Canada Research Chair in Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience at The Neuro. Since the 1980s, he has studied speech and music to reveal fundamental principles of auditory cognition, plasticity, and emotion. His research has shown how hemispheric specialization, auditory–motor pathways, and reward circuits interact to shape human perception and learning.
His monograph From Perception to Pleasure: The Neuroscience of Music and Why We Love It (Oxford University Press, 2024) synthesizes decades of work into a comprehensive model of how predictive responses in auditory cortices interact with reward pathways to generate pleasure and emotion.
About the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences brings together Canada’s top-ranked health and biomedical scientists and scholars to make a positive impact on the urgent health concerns of Canadians. Our Fellows, drawn from all disciplines across our nation’s universities, healthcare and research institutes, evaluate Canada’s most complex health challenges and recommend strategic, actionable solutions.