Dr. Korneluk is professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He is also scientific director of the Apoptosis Research Centre at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Canada. He received a Ph.D. in developmental biology from the University of Toronto and conducted postdoctoral research at the Research Institute of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He has been a fellow of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists since 1986. Dr. Korneluk received the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine Award of Excellence in 1992 and a Governor General of Canada 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal in 1993. In 1995, he was presented with an Ottawa Life Sciences Applied Research Award and was named Researcher of the Year by the University of Ottawa in the following year. In 1998, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Canada and was named a senior scientist by the Medical Research Council of Canada. In 2003, he was awarded the McLaughlin Medal of The Royal Society of Canada and received the Career Achievement Award from Ottawa Life Sciences. In 2004, the Partners in Research and Friends of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research honored him with the Biomedical Science Ambassador Award.

Robert Korneluk and colleagues have identified a family of mammalian proteins called the inhibitors of apoptosis (IAPs) and have been investigating their function in normal and disease states. Their focus is on examining the basic role of the IAPs in the development and differentiation of muscle cells and in related diseases.