Please join us for a panel to explore career and opportunities in the combined field of Computer Science and Life Sciences/Microbiology. This event is organized by the Department of Microbiology & Immunology & the Department of Computer Science at UBC. Experts from company, academia, data sciences and the health care industry will come and share their knowledge on bioinformatics, entrepreneurship & technology.
All departments and majors we welcome!
Please sign up at: https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5umxsrnuyIlC7bw
The event is Over Zoom (You will receive the Zoom link a day prior to the event upon registration through the link above)
Moderator: Dr. Steven Hallam, Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, UBC
If you have any questions, please email parvin@mail.ubc.ca
Panelists:
Dr. Vladimir Choi
Consultant (Data, Strategy and Innovation) at the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific in Manila, Philippines
(MBIM Alumni, BSc 2007) Dr. Vladimir Choi has fond memories of his undergraduate years, representing the department on the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) Council, and cultivating friendships that have lasted to this day. After UBC, he obtained further degrees in medicine (UK), health informatics (Sweden), and public health/epidemiology (USA), building up a broad understanding of the cellular/molecular, clinical, and population perspectives of health. He also completed a diploma in tropical medicine (UK) to fulfill his longstanding interest in parasitology and entomology. Having conducted antimicrobial resistance research during medical school in London and undertaken clinical practice as a junior doctor in Singapore, he has since forged a varied career at the intersection between digital technology and global health. In Singapore, where he also worked as a medical informatician, his microbiology degree proved useful when laying the foundation for electronic lab reporting across the country. In recent years, he has worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Kenya, Cambodia, and The Philippines on strategy, standards, governance, architecture, and user-centered design for data and information systems in the health sector. He is currently Consultant at the Data, Strategy and Innovation group, WHO Regional Office in the Western Pacific, in Manila, Philippines, where he is supporting digital projects for COVID-19 and driving the innovation agenda forward.
Dr. Kim Dill-McFarland
Bioinformatician at the University of Washington, School of Medicine
(MBIM Alumni, Postdoctoral Fellow) Dr. Kim Dill-McFarland is a bioinformatician at the U of Washington, School of Medicine. She completed her BS in molecular biology at the U of Puget Sound and PhD as well as postdoctoral work in microbiology at U of Wisconsin-Madison. Kim then came to UBC, Department of Microbiology & Immunology as Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Hallam Lab where she led the Experiential Data science for Undergraduate Cross-disciplinary Education (EDUCE) initiative, integrating data science into MICB courses and workshops. Transitioning back from teaching to research, she now works with several labs at U Washington, where she provides bioinformatic consultation and analysis. Kim's current research includes projects in asthma therapy, tuberculosis vaccines, and brain-lung communication.
Dr. Abhishek Mukhopadhyay
Senior Scientist at Zymeworks Inc.
Dr. Abhishek Mukhopadhyay is a senior scientist in the Molecular Simulations and Modeling team at Zymeworks Inc in the early research and development unit. Zymeworks in a clinical stage biotech company that that develops protein therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Prior to joining Zymeworks in 2015, Abhishek received his PhD in Computational Physics from Virginia Tech, USA with primary focus in statistical mechanics and methodology development for molecular dynamics. At Zymeworks, Abhishek has developed several computational tools to facilitate efficient protein design objectives using physics based, statistical models and machine learning based approaches.
Dr. Annett Rozek
Chief Scientific Officer | Terramera
(MBIM Alumni, Postdoctoral Fellow) Dr. Annett Rozek is Chief Scientific Officer at Terramera. Alongside the Founder and CEO, she launched Terramera’s inaugural Proof and Cirkil products and developed the company’s revolutionary Actigate Targeted Performance Technology with the goal of reducing global synthetic pesticide loads 80%, increasing global farm productivity 20% and increasing soil organic carbon 100% by 2030 to protect plant and human health and ensure an earth that thrives and provides for everyone. She holds an M.Sc. from Humboldt University, Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University, and did her postdoc at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in Dr. Robert Hancock lab at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Roger Tam
Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine; School of Biomedical Engineering, Director, Engineers in Scrubs Program
Dr. Roger Tam obtained his PhD in Computer Science at UBC in 2004, in the area of computational shape modelling. He was a Research Associate in the UBC Division of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine for three years before joining the Department of Radiology as a faculty member in 2007. He is currently jointly appointed in Radiology and the School of Biomedical Engineering, having joined the latter as a founding member in 2018. Roger's research interests are in the areas of medical image analysis, machine learning, and personalized medicine.
We hope to see you at the event!