JP was born and bred in Nova Scotia. He did his undergraduate degree at University of Western Ontario, and completed his honours degree and PhD at Dalhousie University in Marine Biology and Oceanography respectively. His Doctoral work involved determination of primary production efficiency in phytoplankton using fluorescence measurements. His field program was in the South-Eastern Bering Sea where these measurements can be used to assess oceanic health. It is important to investigate these relationships in order to understand the dynamic nature of plant abundance in global fishing areas. Before moving to Montreal and joining John Abbott in 2006, he conducted research as a post-doctoral fellow at the Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire (University of Louis Pasteur) in Strasbourg, France (2003-2005) where he studied gene expression patterns that regulate development of the zebra fish. I have been a member of the John Abbott community in the Biology Department since 2006.