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Tania Bubela, JD, PHD

Professor and Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences


Dr. Bubela is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2019) and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2018). Previously she was Professor, School of Public Health and Adjunct Professor, Alberta School of Business at the University of Alberta, Canada. She holds a PhD in biology from the University of Sydney and a JD from U Alberta. She joined the faculty of U Alberta in 2004 after clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada and being admitted to the Law Society of Alberta in 2005. Her research program in intellectual property and health law related to translational biomedical research brings together her legal training and a PhD in biology and expertise in genetics and molecular biology. It focuses on large collaborative science networks in genomics, gene therapy, and stem cell biology, addressing barriers to the effective translation of new technologies. These are varied and include ethical issues, effective communication of risks and benefits among stakeholder groups, commercialization and regulation. She provides advice for government health and science agencies as well as life sciences research communities, and patient organizations. Her research is funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Stem Cell Network, Genome Canada, and Alberta Innovates, BioCanRx, and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, among others. She co-leads CLEONet, funded by Genome Canada and others, on implementation of precision oncology in Canada. She has over a hundred publications in law, ethics and biomedical journals including Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Cell Stem Cell, PLoS Biology, Trends in Biotechnology, American Journal of Bioethics, Science and Science Translational Medicine.