Genome British Columbia Award for Scientific Excellence
Dr. B. Brett Finlay, UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor, Michael Smith Laboratories and the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of British Columbia
Dr. B. Brett Finlay is a Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories, the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Microbiology and Immunology at UBC. He obtained a B.Sc. (Honors) in Biochemistry at the University of Alberta, where he also did his Ph.D. (1986) in Biochemistry under Dr. William Paranchych, studying F-like plasmid conjugation. Dr. Finlay’s post doctoral studies were performed with Dr. Stanley Falkow at the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he studied Salmonella invasion into host cells.
In 1989, Dr. Finlay joined UBC as an Assistant Professor in the Biotechnology Laboratory, where his research interests are focused on host-pathogen interactions, at the molecular level. By combining cell biology with microbiology, he has been at the forefront of the emerging field of cellular microbiology, making several fundamental discoveries in this field and publishing over 400 papers. Dr. Finlay’s laboratory researches several pathogenic bacteria, with salmonella and pathogenic E. coli interactions with host cells being the primary focus.
Dr. Finlay is recognized internationally for his work, and has won several prestigious awards including the E.W.R. Steacie Prize, the CSM Fisher Scientific Award, CSM Roche Award, a MRC Scientist, five Howard Hughes International Research Scholar Awards, a CIHR Distinguished Investigator, BC Biotech Innovation Award, the Michael Smith Health Research Prize, the IDSA Squibb Award, the Jacob Biely Prize, the prestigious Canadian Killam Health Sciences Prize, the Flavelle Medal of the Royal Society, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences and is the UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor. He is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and Order of British Columbia.
Dr. Finlay is a co-founder of Inimex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Director of the SARS Accelerated Vaccine Initiative. He also serves on several editorial and advisory boards, and is a strong supporter of communicating science to the public.