1952

A revolutionary idea for biomedical research takes shape.

In 1952, when the Executive Director of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, Sister Marie-Louise Allard, noted that research was being given an increasingly important place in avant-garde hospitals, she created facilities for research and offered Dr. Jacques Genest the opportunity to create a clinical research department within the hospital under his direction. Jacques Genest accepted with the following conditions: autonomy, educational freedom, and access to patients within the framework of his research. The Montreal Clinical Research Institute was born of this vision.

1955

The Clinical Research Department of the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Montreal is formed.

In 1955, the Clinical Research Department of the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Montreal was, at that time, the only French-Canadian hospital where young doctors could receive recognized clinical training and an introduction to research while remaining in contact with patients. 

1964

The first independent clinical research institute emerges.

« A free and independent research institution that will become a world-renowned center for discovery and excellence. »

In March 1964, the Ministère de la Santé of the Government of Quebec granted the funds necessary to create a clinical research institute. It provided $1.2 million for construction, the purchase of equipment and furnishings, as well as $100,000 per year for eight years to cover the future institute’s costs for research, administration, and maintenance. 

With the help of lawyer Marcel Piché, Dr. Genest founded the Centre médical Claude-Bernard corporation, which became the Institut de diagnostic et de recherches cliniques de Montréal in 1965. The institute officially became the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM) in 1986.