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Dr. Joe Schwarcz
Director, McGill Office for Science and Society |
Brief Biography
Joe Schwarcz (PhD McGill 1973) is one of North America’s foremost
educators and is the Director of McGill University’s Office for
Science and Society which is dedicated to demystifying science for the
public, the media and students. He is also a professor in the chemistry
department and teaches nutrition and alternative medicine in McGill’s
Medical School. He is well known for his informative and entertaining
public lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to the science
of aging. Professor Schwarcz has received numerous awards for teaching
chemistry and for interpreting science for the public. Among these are
the Royal Society of Canada’s McNeil Award and the American Chemical
Society’s prestigious Grady-Stack Award. Previous winners of the
Grady-Stack have included famed science writer Isaac Asimov, New York
Times columnist Walter Sullivan and Don Herbert of TV’s “Mr.
Wizard” fame. Dr. Schwarcz is the only non-American ever to be
honored with this prize.
“Dr. Joe” appears on the Canadian Discovery Channel, TV Ontario,
Global Television, CBC-TV, CTV-TV and various radio stations. He hosts the "Dr.
Joe Show" on Montreal's CJAD every Sunday from 3-4 PM. He was also the host
of “Science To Go,” a 13 episode show on the Discovery Channel that
focused on common foods. Dr. Schwarcz writes a weekly newspaper column in the
Montreal Gazette entitled “The Right Chemistry” as well as a monthly
column in Canadian Chemical News. He was the chief consultant on the Reader’s
Digest best sellers “Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal” (2004) and “The
Healing Power of Vitamins, Minerals and Herbs” (1999). His book “Radar,
Hula Hoops and Playful Pigs,” published in 1999 was a Canadian best-seller. “The
Genie in the Bottle,” also a best-seller, was published in May, 2001. “That’s
The Way The Cookie Crumbles” was released in November, 2002 and made the
best-seller list in its very first week. It also received the 2003 Independent
Publishers Award for science books. “Dr. Joe and What You Didn’t
Know” another best-seller, was released in December of 2003. “The
Fly in the Ointment” is his newest work, published in August, 2004.
Dr. Schwarcz was awarded an honorary Doctorate degree from Athabasca
University in the spring of 2002.
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