2nd prize: Mélanie Drolet, CHU de Québec-Université-Laval Research Center
Mélanie Drolet earned a PhD in epidemiology from Université Laval. Since 2008, she has worked as the senior epidemiologist and coordinator of the Groupe de modélisation mathématique des maladies infectieuses at the Centre de recherche at the CHU de Québec. Her main scientific contributions are focused on the prevention of diseases associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) and COVID-19.
She has authored or co-authored 70 scientific articles (26 as first author). In 2019, she published an article in the Lancet on the population impact of HPV vaccination that ranked among the 100 most discussed articles worldwide. Her expertise in the field is internationally recognized, and she is often invited to speak at international conferences and collaborate with organizations such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
Since 2020, Mélanie Drolet has been actively involved in the fight against COVID-19. She conducted the CONNECT study to document Quebecers’ social contacts and is the lead epidemiologist of the ULaval/INSPQ COVID-19 modeling group, which generates projections of the evolution of the pandemic in Québec. Transferring the knowledge she gains through the projects is a key part of her contribution: she has authored and co-authored 36 reports, 100 presentations and two scientific articles, in addition to giving media interviews and appearing in a feature on the television series Découverte.