Genomic and environmental influences on Canadian health phenotypes and chronic disease outcomes

In this talk, Drs. Philip Awadalla and Marie-Julie Favé describe the intricate interplay between genetic and environmental factors and their influence on chronic diseases and phenotypes, utilizing data from CanPath, Canada’s largest population health cohort. By integrating genomic, environmental, and lifestyle data, Drs. Awadalla and Favé uncover how gene-environment interactions shape health outcomes.

These findings provide insights into disease mechanisms and potential interventions, highlighting the importance of large and deep population cohort data. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics that contribute to chronic disease development and the critical role of comprehensive population health studies in identifying at-risk populations and individuals, supporting both personalized and public health strategies.

Dr. Philip Awadalla joined CanPath as a Principal Investigator in 2010, initially as the Director of the CARTaGENE study in Quebec until March 2015 and then as Executive Scientific Director of the Ontario Health Study in July 2015. He was named National Scientific Director of CanPath in March 2018. Dr. Awadalla is a Director of Computational Biology at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). He is also a Population and Medical Genomics Professor at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Marie-Julie Favé completed a PhD at McGill University in population genetics and developmental biology. She then joined Dr. Philip Awadalla’s group at the CHU Sainte-Justine for a postdoctoral fellowship until 2017, where she applied bioinformatics and statistical genetics approaches to multi-omics data from the CARTaGENE cohort. She moved with the Awadalla Lab to the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, where she continued her postdoctoral research and worked as a data science research associate. She has recently been appointed as a faculty member at Concordia University.

Follow us on social media!
  / canpath  
  / wearecanpath  
  / canpath