Dr. Jean De Serres Named President and CEO of Héma-Québec

Montréal, March 16, 2011 — The chairman of the board for Héma-Québec, Mr. Jean-Pierre Allaire FCA, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jean De Serres as president and CEO of Héma-Québec. As of April 1, Dr. De Serres will replace Dr. Francine Décary, who is moving on to other professional challenges after serving three terms at the helm of the organization.

“Dr. Décary’s contribution has been exceptional, and we owe her our acknowledgement for raising Héma-Québec so quickly to the level of excellence,” said Mr. Allaire. “Dr. De Serres, for his part, has had a prominent career in the field of life sciences and we are convinced that he will contribute to the central mission that Héma-Québec has assumed for all of Québec society.”

Dr. Jean De Serres stated, “Since its founding, Héma-Québec has been able to develop practices that place it at the forefront of the management of blood, human tissues and stem cells, and I am proud now to be a part of this organization, which nine of ten Quebecers say they trust. I am very enthusiastic about taking up the challenge of my new position and contributing to the development of Héma-Québec as it fulfills its mission.”

With a solid background in both medicine and management, Dr. De Serres has worked in the field of public health, as well as with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

After starting his career in 1985 as a general practitioner, Dr. De Serres worked and taught actively in family medicine for 11 years. From 1995 to 1997, he served as president of the Quebec section of the Canadian College of Family Physicians. At the same time, he also served as Director of Public Health for the Outaouais region from 1995 to 1999.

His career then led him into the pharmaceutical industry, where he worked for CSL Behring, a world leader in biotherapies based on plasma proteins. As medical director and director of CSL Behring’s Canadian division from 1999 to 2005, he played an active role in implementing and developing this multinational pharmaceutical company’s Canadian activities in immunology and hematology.

Before joining Héma-Québec, Dr. De Serres served as vice-president of research, regulatory affairs and in-licensing for Jubilant Draximage, a multinational company specializing in the development, production and sale of radiopharmaceuticals for nuclear medicine. Later, he served as vice-president of research for Jubilant HollisterStier, an allergy/immunology firm.

Still in the life sciences field, Dr. De Serres contributed to the founding of various biotechnology companies, including MedDiscovery SA (2006), a Swiss firm developing new medications against uro-genital cancers, and Biomilestones Inc. (2008), a biopharmaceutical consulting firm.

In addition to his training in medicine, Jean De Serres also has a master’s degree in community health and an MBA in bio-industry management from UQAM.

About Héma-Québec