Dr Gilles Julien

A renowned social pediatrician, Dr. Gilles Julien is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Dr. Julien Foundation. He has been practising social pediatrics for more than 40 years and has extensive expertise in the development of children from disadvantaged families.

After receiving his medical degree from Université Laval and completing his pediatric training at the Université de Montréal, Dr. Julien held a variety of positions in Quebec and around the world. From 1974 to 1976, he was head of pediatrics at Hôtel-Dieu in Lévis, Quebec. In 1981, he went to work in the Comoro Islands, with the support of the United Nations Population Fund. On his return to Quebec, he, in association with Université Laval, went to serve the Inuit population of Nunavik. Between 1983 and 1990, he was the medical coordinator for the Northern Quebec Inuit health sector; at the same time, from 1987 to 1990, he became director of the Community Health Department at Hôtel-Dieu in Montmagny.

In 1990, he returned to Montréal, working primarily at the Côte-des-Neiges and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve CLSCs while heading the Community Health Department at Sainte-Justine Hospital. Since 1991, he has been senior clinical lecturer in the Department of Pediatrics at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Medicine and associate professor at McGill University’s Department of Pediatrics and Family Medicine.

In 2007, he established the Dr. Julien Foundation, a charitable organization created to ensure the continued practice of social pediatrics in disadvantaged areas of Montréal, such as Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Côte-des-Neiges.

Dr. Julien has received numerous awards during his career, including a Gold Medal from the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, the Léo-Guindon award bestowed by the Alliance des professeures et professeurs de Montréal, the Médaille du mérite from the Association des médecins de langue française du Canada and the 2008 Innovation and Leadership Award from the Quebec Medical Association. He has been named an Ashoka Fellow, an international recognition conferred on social entrepreneurs for their innovative solutions to social problems.

Dr. Gilles Julien was inducted into the Academy of Great Montrealers in the Social category in 2010 and was named a Commander of the Ordre de Montréal in 2016.

Source: Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal

The picture and biographical information appearing on this page were current at the time this person was admitted to the Academy of Great Montrealers.