Dr. Marie-Claude Rousseau holds a bachelor's degree in biochemistry (1991) from the Université du Québec à Montréal, and degrees from M.Sc. (1998) and Ph.D. (2003) in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University McGill. She received a fellowship from the National Cancer Institute of Canada and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in environmental epidemiology with Dr. Jack Siemiatycki's group at the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Université de Montréal (2003-2004). She joined the INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier in 2005 as a professor. Its research activities, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC), and the Quebec Health Research Fund (FRQS), are epidemiological in nature and on the etiology of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases (asthma, allergies, diabetes, cancer) . The etiological factors to which Dr. Rousseau is interested include:

Non-specific stimulation of the immune system by vaccination with Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) and development of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases Contributors: Dr. Mariam El-Zein, INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier Dr. Marie-Élise Parent, INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier Dr. Richard Menzies, McGill University Dr. Andrea Benedetti, McGill University Several studies suggest a possible link between vaccination, infantile infections and maturation of the immune system. The BCG vaccine is an immunostimulant involved in the sensitization of Th1 lymphocytes to produce cytokines. Epidemiological findings on the effects of BCG vaccination are contradictory. Some studies have suggested a lower incidence of asthma, allergies and type 1 diabetes in vaccinated individuals. The BCG vaccine has also been suggested as a potential preventive factor for leukemia and melanoma, but as a risk factor for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease.