Alumni Profile: Stephen W. Scherer

Stephen W. Scherer
Stephen W. Scherer, PhD, DSc, FRSC​

BSc Biology ‘87

Director, The Centre for Applied Genomics

Director, McLaughlin Centre

Hospital for Sick Children and
University of Toronto

Toronto, ON


Dr. Stephen Scherer, has transformed the understanding of human genetic variation and its role in disorders such as autism. He holds the GlaxoSmithKline-Canadian Institutes of Health Research Chair in Genome Sciences at The Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto. He is scientific lead of the massive Autism Speaks-led MSSNG Open Science Project sequencing the genomes of thousands of individuals with autism, and their families.

His research is documented in 500 publications and he is one of the most highly cited scientists in the world. Dr. Scherer is a distinguished Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Canada.

In June of this anniversary year, Dr. Scherer, received an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of Waterloo.