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Fiona Brinkman receives award for scientific excellence from Life Sciences BC

July 10, 2025

91ܽ distinguished professor Fiona Brinkman has received the .

This annual award honours an individual who has received significant national or international recognition in the field of genomics/omics, including bioinformatics and systems biology.

A Thompson Reuters “Highly Cited Researcher,” Brinkman has developed and maintained multiple world-class microbial genomics bioinformatics tools, advising national and international data integration efforts to better monitor population health and infectious disease. Her work supports and encourages collaboration between government, the private sector and academics across a variety of fields.

In 2024-2025 she led the landmark 500-author publication of the Canadian VirusSeq Data Portal, a key translative output from the pandemic that provides open resources for COVID-19 viral sequences and genomic epidemiology. This is the first national microbial sequence database of its kind in Canada, supporting academic-government-hospital collaboration in infectious disease monitoring, and enabling real-time monitoring and predictive modeling of disease waves.

She continues to expand these efforts to more widely support human and ecosystem health, including a Genome Canada project that coordinates 12 diverse environmental DNA (eDNA) projects funded under a new eDNA Surveillance Program.

Her dedication to communicating science with the public and contributions to public health policy were recognized with a 2024 Faculty of Science Excellence in Science Public Engagement and Outreach Award.

All Life Sciences BC award winners will be recognized in person at the Life Sciences BC Awards Gala on October 2, 2025.  

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