Dr. Michel Vekemans (MD, PhD) is Full Professor of Human Genetics at Université Paris Descartes and Director of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades. He received his MD from Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) in 1974 and his PhD in Genetics and Teratology from McGill University in Montreal (Canada) in 1981. He specialized in Medical Genetics and became a Fellow of the Canadian College of Medical Genetics and the American College of Medical Genetics in 1983. His research interests focus on the etiopathogenesis of human congenital malformations. He is the author or the co-author of more than 450 publications in peer-reviewed journals (h-index 51). He is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, the European Society of Human Genetics and the Teratology Society. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Birth Defects Research and is a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Clinical Genetics. He was awarded as Medical Scientist of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In 2012, he was decorated as a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the highest order of merit for French civilians.