Marjolaine Giroux

Marjolaine has been lending her expertise to the Insectarium de Montréal’s entomological-information service since 1990. Her challenge: helping people live better with insects. She’s given numerous media interviews and lectures, and been involved in such activities as “Insect Tastings” (1993–2000) and “An Official Insect for Québec” (1998). In 2012 she was selected by the magazine Elle-Québec as one of the 27 Québec personalities working to rescue biodiversity. Marjolaine holds a doctorate in Diptera (flies) systematics from McGill University. She continues to conduct research on those insects, the Sarcophagidae (flesh flies) in particular. Training in forensic entomology at Pennsylvania State University also led her to take an interest in one of the most important services performed by Diptera: the decomposition of organic matter. Since 2000 she’s collaborated with the parasitology team at the Laboratoire de santé publique du Québec to identify flies associated with certain human-health problems.