Thomas J. Hudson

Thomas James Hudson, O.C., (born June 12, 1961) is a Canadian genome scientist noted for his leading role in the generation of physical maps of the human and mouse genomes and also his role in the International HapMap Project whose goal is to develop a haplotype map of the human genome.

As director of the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre, which he established, Hudson and his team have made a number of discoveries in human genetics. These include genes mutated in rare diseases and genes involved in complex diseases such as asthma, type II diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease.

In July 2006, he was appointed president and scientific director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. He is also editor-in-chief of the journal Human Genetics.

Thomas Hudson is married and has five children.

Beginnings and early career

Hudson was born in 1961 in Arvida, Quebec, where his father was a chemist for Alcan. He has six sisters including a twin sister. and Leigh syndrome French-Canadian Type (also known as lactic acidosis), that affect many families from the Saguenay region, of which he is a native.

One of his publications on inflammatory bowel disease in 2001 was the catalyst that led to the launch of the International HapMap project. More than 200 researchers from six different countries, including Hudson and his team, worked on the project. The HapMap, which was completed in October 2005, is a catalog of genetic variations - called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) - and will help in discovering how these variations correlate with risk of developing complex diseases.

Leadership in Canada

Hudson has been a key player in many national organizations. He was Associate Director of the Canadian Genetics Disease Network from 2001 to 2005, and he has helped launch Genome Canada and Genome Quebec, of which he was the first scientific director in 2002. In addition, he has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for many public organizations or private companies.

New horizons

In July 2006, Hudson announced that he was leaving Montreal to lead the newly created Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in Toronto, Ontario which will focus on the genomics of cancer. Hudson remained acting scientific director of the McGill University and Genome Quebec Innovation Centre, until his successor Mark Lathrop succeeded him in 2011. Currently, Hudson is serving as Senior Vice President, R&D, and Chief Scientific Officer at AbbVie.

Awards

Hudson's accomplishments have been recognized by numerous awards and honors:

In 1998, he was a recipient of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 In 2000, he received the Scientist of the Year award by Radio-Canada In 2001, he received the Robert H. Haynes Young Scientist Award by the Genetics Society of Canada In 2002, he received a Burroughs-Wellcome Clinician-Scientist Award