chemistry

Mona Nemer

Mona Nemer is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mona Nemer rather than just read about it. In short: Mona Nemer, (born 1957) is a Lebanese-Canadian scientist specializing in molecular genetics and cardiac regeneration. She was formerly a professor of pharmacology at the University of Montreal and the Director of the Cardiac Development Research Unit at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM) where she held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Cell Differentiation.

Key takeaways

Mona Nemer belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mona Nemer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mona Nemer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mona Nemer, (born 1957) is a Lebanese-Canadian scientist specializing in molecular genetics and cardiac regeneration. She was formerly a professor of pharmacology at the University of Montreal and the Director of the Cardiac Development Research Unit at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM) where she held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Cell Differentiation. She is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine, and also served as vice-president, Research at the University of Ottawa from 2006 to 2017. On September 26, 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that after a selection process, Nemer was chosen as Canada's new Chief Science Advisor – the first national science advisor since 2008.

Early life Nemer was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1957 where she found her passion for chemistry. At the age of 17, she and her classmates successfully advocated to create a science stream at her all-girls school. She left Lebanon during the civil war and moved to Kansas where she obtained a bachelor's degree in 1977, majoring in chemistry with minors in French and mathematics at Wichita State University. In the summer of 1977, Nemer visited Montreal with friends. The visit convinced her to attend graduate school in the city. She went on to complete a PhD in bio-organic chemistry from McGill University in 1982 under the supervision of Kelvin Ogilvie.

Career Nemer's research focused on cardiac formation and function – specifically the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that register the genetic expression of cardiac cells. She is best known for isolating genes that regulate ventricular hypertrophy which manifests itself in an increase volume of the heart and a thickening of the myocardial wall. Her work has contributed to the development of diagnostic tests for heart failure and the genetics of cardiac birth defects. Nemer has published over 150 scientific research articles to date, with over 10,000 citations and an h-index of 63. She has also trained over 100 students from Canada and other countries.

VP Research, University of Ottawa Nemer served as Vice-President, Research, at the University of Ottawa from 2006 to 2017, and also served as the Director of the Cardiac Development Research Unit at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM). Nemer founded the University of Ottawa's annual greeting card design competition.

Chief Science Advisor of Canada On Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, following a selection process, Nemer was appointed as Canada's new Chief Science Advisor for a three-year appointment. This role was previously eliminated in 2008 by the previous government, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. As Chief Science Advisor, Nemer is responsible for providing impartial scientific advice to the Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau) and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (François-Philippe Champagne) and Cabinet. She is also responsible for providing guidelines for to ensure that government science is publicly accessible, that scientists can speak freely about their work as well as for promoting Canadian science both nationally and internationally. In addition, Nemer reports annually on the activities of her office and the state of federal government science in Canada. Following 100 days as the Chief Science Advisor, Nemer released a letter outlining her office's plans for 2018, which included developing scientific integrity policies and guidelines, recommending guidelines to ensure government scientists can speak freely about their research and preparing a framework to allow for open public access to federal government science. On July 30, 2018, Nemer's office published the Model Policy on Scientific Integrity in order to safeguard through collective agreements government scientists' right to speak. This was developed in partnership with the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), officials at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the federal research community. Her office has also established an Independent Expert Panel on Aquaculture Science, chaired by Nemer, to provide appropriate scientific evidence in policy decisions related to aquaculture and impacts on the marine environment.

Open Science As part of her mandate to provide guidelines to ensure that government science is fully available to the public, the Chief Science Advisor and her office worked with international and domestic colleagues to develop the Roadmap for Open Science announced by Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, on February 26, 2020.

COVID-19 In February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Canada, Mona Nemer as the Chief Science Advisor assembled the COVID-19 Expert Panel, a group of researchers and practitioners in infectious disease research and treatment, disease modeling and the behavioural sciences. This group of experts along with several other groups and task forces, has enabled throughout the pandemic emerging scientific information about COVID-19 to flow swiftly through to the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Chief Science Advisor and the expert groups have published several reports focusing on emerging issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic such as long-term care homes, COVID-19 in children, the role of ventilation and the considerations for using vaccine certifications.

Mandate renewal On October 1, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Nemer's reappointment for another two years, effective September 25, 2020. On July 11, 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Nemer's reappointment for another two years, effective September 25, 2022. On July 4, 2024, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Nemer's reappointment for another three years, effective September 25, 2024.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mona Nemer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mona Nemer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mona Nemer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mona Nemer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mona Nemer

In research: Mona Nemer appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mona Nemer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mona Nemer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1957 births, 21st-century Canadian chemists, 21st-century Canadian women scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mona Nemer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mona Nemer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mona Nemer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mona Nemer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mona Nemer in simple terms?

Why does Mona Nemer matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mona Nemer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mona Nemer.