Sunday Times 2
Renowned clinician-scientist to lead Faculty of Medicine at University of British Columbia
View(s):Dr Sharmila Anandasabapathy, a leading clinician-scientist whose work spans cancer detection, biomedical engineering and global health, will be joining the University of British Columbia (UBC) Canada as the new Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Vice-President, Health.
Dr Anandasabapathy, of Sri Lankan parentage, is currently serving as Vice President and Senior Associate Dean, Global Programs, and professor of medicine in gastroenterology, at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She will begin her five-year term on Nov 1. Her appointment was recently approved by the UBC Board of Governors following an international search.
Sharmila Anandasabapathy
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada.
She is an alumnus of Notre Dame high school, Grymes Hill, Staten Island, New York, with a BA degree majoring in English at Yale University. Her credentials include medical school at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, followed by specialising in Medicine and Gastro- enterology and training in advanced endoscopy at Mt Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Dr Anandasabapathy’s research focuses on bench-to-bedside development, validation and implementation of novel technologies for diagnosis of early gastrointestinal cancer. She is currently a Principal Investigator on four grants funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute, and several clinical trials of novel, lower cost technologies for the early de-tection of gastrointestinal cancers.
“We live in extraordinary times, both in terms of the challenges to human health but also the capabilities of modern science and medicine,” says Dr Anandasabapathy. “UBC is an extraordinary place: the culture, people, academic depth and breadth, and global vision. I am truly humbled by the opportunity to be a part of the UBC community and work collaboratively to deliver meaningful impact. I look forward to supporting our faculty, clinical faculty, staff and learners in an environment that is interdisciplinary, highly innovative and poised to address the most consequential challenges facing human health today.”
She is the daughter of Rani
and Dr Indra Anandasabapathy of Staten Island, New York.