Philippe Després is a full professor in the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics at Université Laval. He is also a member of the Cancer Research Center at Université Laval, a medical physicist at the CHU de Québec-Université Laval and a researcher at the Institut universitaire de cardiologie et de pneumologie de Québec-Université Laval (IUCPQ-UL). After a master's degree at Université Laval (2000, Physics) and a doctorate at the Université de Montréal (2005, Physics), he completed a postdoctoral fellowship (2005-2007) at the University of California, San Francisco in the field of biomedical engineering and molecular imaging. His research projects focus primarily on medical imaging, particularly tomographic reconstruction and the use of artificial intelligence for detection and classification. He was a pioneer in advanced computing on graphics processing units (GPUs), leading to the development of innovative applications in medical physics, including an ultra-fast Monte Carlo radiative transport code. He is also interested in data valorization in the medical field, particularly the infrastructure, standards, and best practices (including the FAIR principles) required for the responsible use of clinical information. In this capacity, he is co-leader of CIRRUS, the Center for the Integration and Management of Health Information for Secondary Use at IUCPQ-UL. He is also the director of the Big Data Research Center (CRDM) at Université Laval and a researcher at the International Observatory on the Societal Impacts of AI and Digital Technology. He sits on the Research Council of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.