Rate My Professor Martin Gagnon

Dr. Martin Gagnon is the Director of Research and Enterprise at the University of Otago, a role he assumed in July 2018. He has also served as Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) during 2025. In these leadership positions, he directs the Research and Enterprise Office, which promotes research excellence by supporting funding pursuits, collaborations with government, NGOs, and businesses, grant applications, and research contracts. Gagnon possesses a BSc in Biochemistry from the Université de Sherbrooke and a PhD in Pharmacology and Therapeutics from McGill University, completed between 1996 and 2002. His doctoral studies emphasized drug design, contributing to the creation of novel therapeutics for cancer and phosphatase inhibitors.

Prior to his current appointments, Gagnon held the position of Chief Operating Officer at Exactis Innovation, overseeing a pan-Canadian clinical and molecular patient registry focused on cancer research. He co-founded Chlorion Pharma, a neuroscience biotechnology company, where he functioned as Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Research, advancing innovative treatments for neuropathic pain and epilepsy. Over his career, he has secured more than $100 million in research financing. Gagnon's research specializations center on pharmacology and therapeutics, particularly mechanisms involving neuronal chloride extrusion and GABAA receptors in pain pathology. Key publications include "Enhancing neuronal chloride extrusion rescues α2/α3 GABAA receptor function in neuropathic pain" (Nature Communications, 2020) and "Treating pathological pain: Is KCC2 the key to the gate?" (2013), part of his 12 publications that have accumulated 541 citations. He contributes to academic governance as an ex officio member of the University of Otago Research Committee, a committee member for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands in the Australasian Research Management Society (ARMS), and a Governance Board Member at the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic Innovation.