Founding President

Dr. Yves Lamontagne
Founding president
President from 1980 to 1991

In 1980, Dr. Yves Lamontagne, then director of the Research Centre at the Hôpital Louis-H. Lafontaine, created the Mental Illness Foundation, which was known as the Fondation québécoise pour la recherche sur les maladies mentales. At the time, the Foundation’s objective was to give researchers in Quebec a centre where they could further their knowledge of psychiatric disorders without having to go abroad. Under his leadership, the Foundation collected the funds needed to build the Centre de recherche Fernand-Seguin, which was inaugurated on September 23, 1992.

Upon completing his medical studies, Dr. Lamontagne worked in Africa as the head of the camps for Biafran children during the devastating conflict in that region. He then undertook studies in psychiatry, which he completed at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. In addition to authoring nearly 200 articles in Canadian, American and European medical journals, he has published 31 books and 26 chapters included in other works. Over the years, he has simultaneously pursued careers in research, education, communication and administration.

Dr. Lamontagne’s work has earned him more than 25 awards and honorary decorations in Quebec, Canada and the United States, including the Order of Canada in 1988, the National Order of Québec in 1996 and the 2001 Medal of Merit from the Association des médecins de langue française du Canada. In 2003, he was named “Grand Montréalais” by the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, and in 2008, he received the medal of the Ordre du mérite de l'Association des diplômés de l'Université de Montréal.

Elected president of the Collège des médecins du Québec in October 1998 and re-elected in October 2002, Dr. Lamontagne was initially a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Montréal, and president of the Association des médecins psychiatres du Québec.

More than 25 years have passed since the first Board of Directors gathered and he is still with us. He even ventures to regale the audience with a few songs at some of Foundation’s benefit shows. To this day, Dr. Lamontagne remains one of the key pillars supporting the achievements of the Mental Illness Foundation, and the Foundation would like to take this opportunity to express its gratitude to him.