Jean Gagnon, MPs, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, a neuropsychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the Université de Montréal. His field of teaching is psychological assessment and personality theories. He is a full member of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal (CRIR) at the Centre de recherche en neuropsychologie et cognition (CERNEC).

My research lies at the crossroads of health psychology and clinical psychology.

In my current work, two lines of research can be distinguished. First, I am trying to identify the psychological repercussions of disease, taking account of the central aspects of quality of life and adjustment to the illness.

I am interested in measuring and detecting the emotional distress and psychopathological repercussions of disease. This modelling and the subsequent measurement are an essential step leading to psychological intervention. Second, I study relations between patients and caregivers, through concepts like empathetic understanding. I am trying to define and measure clinical empathy, to understand the factors promoting and inhibiting empathy, and to assess the health effects of clinical empathy.

In particular, I am developing research in the field of cancer and psychosocial oncology, taking account of the impact of and adjustment to illness for the individual, couples and family. Accordingly, my work concerns both child and adult psychology.

My work is based on a constant back and forth between research and practice, so as to ask clinically relevant research questions and to enrich clinical activity with new data.

My laboratory is based at the CHU Sainte-Justine research centre, where I am responsible for the quality of life theme of the Centre of Excellence in Immunology-Hematology-Oncology. This team also welcomes doctoral candidates, post-doctoral fellows, and MSc and honours thesis students.