The BCCDC Foundation is indebted to its dedicated Board of Directors, and it’s Advisors. This week, we’d like to shine the spotlight on one of our advisors: Dr. Jennifer Gardy.
Dr. Gardy is a Senior Scientist at the BC Centre for Disease Control, and an Associate Professor in SPPH at UBC, where she holds the Canada Research Chair in Public Health Genomics and a Michael Smith Scholar award. She obtained her BSc in Cell Biology & Genetics from UBC in 2000 and completed her PhD at Simon Fraser University in 2006 under Dr. Fiona Brinkman, working on bacterial genomics and bioinformatics-based predictive methods. She completed three years of postdoctoral training in the R.E.W. Hancock laboratory at UBC, using systems biology techniques to study the mammalian innate immune response and working on visualization tools to facilitate scientists’ exploration of biological network data.
Dr. Gardy joined BCCDC in 2009, where she works in the emerging field of genomic epidemiology, combining whole genome sequencing with both new and old epidemiological techniques to understand the origins, evolution, and transmission dynamics of outbreak organisms, including tuberculosis. In 2018, she was recognized as one of BC’s most influential women in STEM by BC Business magazine, building on other accolades, including a YWCA Women of Distinction award in the Science, Technology, and Research category. Dr. Gardy is also a passionate science communicator involved in a number of science media projects, including regular appearances on CBC Television’s documentary series The Nature of Things. Her first children’s book, “It’s Catching: the Infectious World of Germs and Microbes” was published by Owlkids Books in 2014.
Dr. Gardy has been an advisor to the BCCDC Foundation Board of Directors since 2011. For more information on our Board of Directors and advisors, please visit our website.
