Québec City Honors Event and Convention Ambassadors

At the Homage to the Ambassadors event held January 15 at Salle des Promotions du Séminaire de Québec, 17 members of the Ambassadors' Club were honored by Québec City Tourism, the Québec City Convention Centre, the city’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIQ), and Québec International.

Ambassador of the Year

This designation recognizes outstanding effort on the part of an ambassador whose involvement, perseverance, and resolve over the years have significantly helped promote the Québec City region as a business destination.

Dr. Simon Duchesne has been named 2015 Ambassador of the Year. He is an engineer, Ph.D, associate professor, co-head of the research section of the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Université Laval’s Faculty of Medicine. He is a researcher at Centre de recherche de l’Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Québec and heads the neuroimaging platform at the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging.

Mr. Duchesne has been particularly active as organizer and copromoter of 13 events held around the world called "The Breast Practices". To date, this series of conferences, along with over 30 webinars, has trained over 3,500 healthcare professionals from more than 60 countries in breast cancer detection, intervention, and treatment.
He also chairs the local organizing committee for the 20th International Conference of the MICCAI Society to be held in Québec City in 2017. The conference is predicted to draw some 1,000 medical imaging specialists.

Event of the Year

This distinction recognizes outstanding work on the part of the ambassador who was responsible for holding the North American or international event that generated the highest returns for the Québec City region in the past year.

Optelis president André Morin earned the 2015 Event of the Year Award for holding the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing in Québec City. The event drew some 1,371 attendees to the Québec City Convention Centre in September and generated some $1.7 million in tourist revenue in the region. 

Laureate – Events Held in 2015

LADD ERICK JOHNSON
Université Laval – Department of Biology
Benthic Ecology Meeting 
March, Fairmont le Château Frontenac

DAVE LAVEAU
Québec Aboriginal Tourism
4th International Aboriginal Tourism Conference 
March, Fairmont le Château Frontenac

MOHAMED AMEZIANE MADÈNE
Université Laval – Department of Industrial Relations
International Conference on Immigration, Integration and Inclusion
May, Tryp Québec Hôtel Pur

GUYLAINE DEMERS
Université Laval – Bachelor’s in Sports Intervention Program
The 2015 Conversation on Women and Sport 
June, Université Laval

LAURENT BOURDEAU
Université Laval – Department of Geography
6th Sustainable Tourism Science Days 
June, Université Laval

ROGER HERNANDEZ PENA
Université Laval – Department of Wood and Forest Sciences
22nd International Wood Machining Seminar 
June, Université Laval

CRISTINA RATTI
Université Laval – Department of Soils and Agri-Food Engineering
12th International Congress on Engineering and Food 
June, Québec City Convention Centre

BERNARD LONG
Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)
International CT Scan Conference 
June, Hilton Québec

JEAN-PIER DESPRÉS                
Québec Heart and Lung Institute
JEAN-CLAUDE COUBARD
International Chair on Cardiometabolic Risk
5th ICCR Conference on Chronic Societal Cardiometabolic Diseases 
July, Québec City Convention Centre

MATHIEU LIPARI 
Farm Management Canada
20th International Farm Management Congress
July, Université Laval

PIERRE BLANCHET
Université Laval – Department of Wood and Forest Sciences
5th International Scientific Conference on Hardwood Processing 
September, Université Laval

PETER VANROLLEGHEM
Université Laval – Department of Civil and Water Engineering
10th International Urban Drainage Modeling Conference 
September, Château Mont-Sainte-Anne

ANDRÉ MORIN
Optelis
IEEE International Conference on Image Processing 
September, Québec City Convention Centre

YVES DE KONINCK
Université Laval – Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences
4th International Frontiers in Neurophotonics Symposium
October, Musée de la civilisation

ÉMILE MARTEL 
Centre québécois du PEN international
81st PEN International Congress 
October, Québec City Convention Centre

DAOUD AÏT-KADI
Université Laval – Department of Mechanical Engineering
11th International Industrial Engineering Conference 
October, Université Laval

About the Ambassadors' Club

The Ambassadors' Club is a meeting, convention and event ambassadors' club that aims at attracting meetings in Québec City. It is managed by the Québec City Convention Centre, Québec City Tourism Office, Québec International and Québec City Chamber of Commerce and Industry. cercledesambassadeurs.com

Photo credits: Guy Rainville, 2016