Ariel Fenster teaches at McGill University, where he is a founding member of the Office for Science and Society, an organization dedicated to disseminating up-to-date information in the areas of food, food issues, medications, and the environment and health topics in general. Dr. Fenster is well known as an outstanding communicator and an exceptional promoter of science with an extensive program, developed over three decades. In that period he has given well over 800 public presentations in English and in French across North America and Overseas. He appears regularly on TV and radio to discuss health, environmental and technology issues and has presented numerous science segments for children’s television.
His contributions to teaching, and to the popularization of science, have been recognized by numerous awards. Among them: the 'McNeil Medal for the Public Awareness of Science' from the Royal Society of Canada (1992, inaugural award) and the Michael Smith Award for the Promotion of science in Canada from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2005). A native of the wine-growing region of Bergerac, France, Dr. Fenster holds a Master's degree from the University of Paris and a Ph.D. from McGill University.