Biography

Title

• Full Professor, Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal
• Investigator, Centre de recherche Azrieli du CHU Sainte-Justine
• Head, Centre of Psycho-Oncology, Centre de Cancérologie Charles-Bruneau
• Head, Quality of Life lab, CHU Sainte-Justine

• Habilitation in Psychology (2003), Université Paris 10 – Nanterre (France)
• PhD, Psychology (1999), Université Paris 10 – Nanterre (France)

Following my experience as head of a research unit in psycho-oncology and health psychology at Université Paris Descartes, I have been appointed at the departments of psychology and pediatrics at U of Montreal. My lab is at the Cancer Care Centre at CHU Sainte-Justine.

My research encompasses core topics in psycho-oncology. We study psychosocial factors associated with the cancer trajectory in children, families and friends. I focus on 1) Evaluating and improving emotional distress and quality of life; 2) Understanding and improving clinical empathy in care.

• Psycho-Oncology
• Health psychology
• Cancer
• Quality of Life
• Intervention development
• Intervention evaluation
• Measures of behavioural and affective functioning

Awards and Distinctions

• Award of excellence FNRS (Belgium, UCLouvain) (2025) 
• Award of excellence for professoral career, Faculté des Arts et des Sciences, Université de Montréal (2025)
• Award of excellence in teaching, Rector of Université de Montréal (2024)
• Award of excellence, Programme québécois de cancérologie (2024)
• International Award, Global Affairs Canada (2020)

Publications

1. Sultan, S. et al. (2024) Training healthcare professionals in hypnosis-derived communication to mitigate procedural pain in children
   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-91267-7
2. Robichaud LA, Felipe J, Duval M, Michon B, Olivier-D'Avignon M, Perreault S, Tyo-Gomez M, Marquis MA, Sultan S. Quality-of-Life Assessment in Pediatric Advanced Cancer: Development of the Patient-Reported Outcome Measure Advance QoL. Curr Oncol. 2024 Apr 19;31(4):2289-2304. doi: 10.3390/curroncol31040170. PMID: 38668073; PMCID: PMC11049209.
   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11049209/
3. Levesque, A., Curnier, D., Marcil, V. et al. Exploration of the impact of participation in a multidisciplinary family lifestyle intervention on exercise and diet quality during treatment for childhood cancer: the VIE program. BMC Pediatr 25, 452 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-025-05727-0
   https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-025-05727-0
4. Pascale Chapados, Jennifer Aramideh, Kristopher Lamore, Émilie Dumont, Tziona Lugasi, Marie-José Clermont, Sophie Laberge, Rachel Scott, Caroline Laverdière, Serge Sultan. (2021)  Getting ready for transition to adult care: Tool validation and multi-informant strategy using the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire in pediatrics. Child, 47:5.
   https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12872
5. Martin Lamothe, Émélie Rondeau, Michel Duval, Pierre McDuff, Yves D. Pastore, Serge Sultan, Changes in hair cortisol and self-reported stress measures following mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR): A proof-of-concept study in pediatric hematology-oncology professionals, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice,
   Volume 41, 2020, 101249, ISSN 1744-3881,
   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2020.101249.
6. Annélie S. Anestin, Sarah Lippé, Philippe Robaey, Laurence Bertout, Simon Drouin, Maja Krajinovic, Bruno Michon, Émélie Rondeau, Mariia Samoilenko, Caroline Laverdière, Daniel Sinnett, Serge Sultan. (2018). Psychological risk in long-term survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and its association with functional health status: A PETALE cohort study. Pediatric Blood & Cancer, 65, 11. 
   https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.27356