Dr. Wyeth Wasserman has been appointed the Executive Director of the Child & Family Research Institute (CFRI) and The University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Medicine Associate Dean, Research, CFRI.
Wyeth Wasserman
Dr. Wasserman is a senior scientist, professor of medical genetics, and an internationally renowned member of our community. He is committed to driving forward the agenda of research to improve the health of children and families in British Columbia and beyond.
This joint appointment is important for both UBC and PHSA. Dr. Wasserman will help advance the development of the academic health sciences centre on the Oak Street campus, in partnership with the site hospitals and research partners. In his role as Associate, Dean, Research for CFRI, Dr. Wasserman will represent the research needs of faculty members at the CFRI campus and participate in fostering innovative research and advancing the health research strategy for the UBC Faculty of Medicine across the province.
Having worked in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, both in North America and Europe, Dr. Wasserman’s research focuses on projects with applied biomedical impacts. His bioinformatics laboratory develops computer algorithms for the analysis of DNA sequences.
Originally established at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and since 2002 at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Wasserman’s lab provides international leadership in the computational study of the transcriptional control of gene activity, for which he holds several patents.
Recent work from his lab addresses emerging challenges for personalized medicine, including the creation of software for analyzing, interpreting, and delivering DNA sequence data to clinicians to access and interpret patient genetic profiles. With undergraduate degrees in mathematics and molecular cell biology from the University of Washington and a PhD in oncology from the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Wasserman brings a quantitative perspective to genetics research.
He has published over 75 peer-reviewed papers and participated in over $15-million of funded research. He is a Professor in the UBC Department of Medical Genetics and a Scientist at the Child & Family Research Institute.
Dr. Wasserman will continue leading an active research program and as a member of the Centre for Molecular Medicine & Therapeutics at CFRI and UBC.
The appointment was announced November 18, 2013 by Dr. Gavin Stuart, Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Vice Provost Health, The University of British Columbia, and Carl Roy, Chair, CFRI Board of Directors, and Interim President and Chief Operating Officer, Provincial Health Services Authority.