Dr. Mark Samuels was a Presidential Scholar in the United States in 1975.He received his A.B. degree summa cum laude in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, and his Ph.D. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he worked in the laboratory of Prof. Phillip Sharp. Dr. Samuels has studied the molecular mechanisms of cellular function and development for over 20 years. He has worked in the fields of basic gene expression, sex-determination in Drosophila, and most recently in the genetics of human disease. As a molecular geneticist he has participated in novel discoveries of genes involved in cholesterol metabolism, eye development, sensory neuronal function, and hemochromatosis.

He has held positions in industry, first at Myriad Genetics, Inc. and more recently as Director of Genetics for Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Canadian biotechnology company using mammalian genetics as a platform to identify novel therapeutic opportunities.

Dr. Samuels is now Associate Professor in Medicine at the University of Montreal, and Adjunct Professor in Pathology at Dalhousie University. He is a senior co-investigator of the Atlantic Medical Genetics and Genomics Initiative, a comprehensive research program bringing together clinical and molecular geneticists in the Maritime and the Atlantic Canadian provinces, funded for four years at $9.3 million by Genome Canada and Genome Atlantic. His laboratory is studying the molecular biology of ocular disorders and peripheral neuropathies as follow-up to gene discoveries in these areas.