Dr. Prat trained at University of Montreal in biochemistry (B.Sc. 1990) and Medicine (MD-M.Sc. 1995) and completed his Ph. D. in Neuroscience (2001) and Neurology residency training (2003) at McGill University (Montreal Neurological Institute with Dr Jack P. Antel). His PhD work focused on the role of the human Blood-Brain Barrier in MS. In 2000, he received the prestigious S. Weir Mitchell Award of the American Academy of Neurology and in 2015 he was elected at the college of researchers of the Royal Society of Canada. Dr Prat is a staff neurologist at the MS clinic of the CHUM, a senior researcher at CRCHUM (since 2003) and full professor of Neuroscience at Université de Montréal. In 2015, he has been appointed as Deputy Director for Academic Development at the CRCHUM. In the past, Dr Prat held the Donald Paty Research Chair of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (2003-2008), was a junior and then a senior research Scholar of the FRQ-S (2004-2016). He currently holds a senior (Tier 1) Canada Research Chair, on the topic of Multiple Sclerosis.

The current research interests of the Prat lab include the immunological roles of the BBB and the mechanisms of monocytes and lymphocyte migration across the BBB. The research activities of the Prat lab include a special emphasis towards the biology of human and mouse TH1 and TH17 lymphocytes, as well as the important role of B lymphocytes in MS. Dr Prat has published over 70 research articles in the last 13 years, in journals such as Science, Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology, PNAS, The Journal of Neuroscience, The Journal of Immunology, Annals of Neurology, PLOSone, TINS and Brain. Dr Prat’s work was cited over 4000 times and his H index is 39. A total of 24 students and post-docs have trained in his lab and currently, the research team of Dr Prat is composed of 5 post-doctoral fellows, 5 Ph.D. students, 4 M.Sc. students and 2 research assistant and they hold prestigious National or International studentship/fellowships. The lab is supported by 3 operating grants from the CIHR, 2 CIHR team grants, 1 ERANET Neuron EU-CIHR-FRQS International team grant, 2 operating grants from the MS Society of Canada and one large operating grant from the MS Research Foundation of Canada.