Dr. Philip Awadalla - Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

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Dr. Philip Awadalla

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Dr. Philip Awadalla

Director, Computational Biology, OICR

pawadalla@oicr.on.ca

Jessie Shen
Administrative Coordinator, Computational Biology
j2shen@oicr.on.ca

Director, Computational Biology, OICR

Dr. Philip Awadalla is the Director of Computational Biology and Senior Investigator at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Professor of Population and Medical Genomics at the University of Toronto and Executive Scientific Director of the Ontario Health Study (OHS). He is also the Director of the Genome Canada Canadian Data Integration Centre (Genome-CDIC) and National Scientific Director of Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath).

Dr. Awadalla and his team focus on the development of genomics approaches, model-based tools and population-based approaches to study mutation rates, genome biology and cancer. His team’s research has enabled the development of tools to capture rare or de novo variants and pathways, critical to cancer disease phenotypes and response to therapies. Dr. Awadalla’s main research interests include identifying genomic determinants of blood disorders and cancers, understanding mutation and recombination biology and genomic epidemiology of age-related disorders in population cohorts. He leads Canada’s largest longitudinal population cohorts to develop precision medicine research and understand the genetic and environmental contributors to disease development.

Experience & Education

Executive Scientific Director and Principal Investigator, CARTaGENE, CHU-Ste Justine
Associate Professor, Ste Justine Hospital Research Centre, Department of Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal
Wellcome Trust International Travelling Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh and University of California Davis
National Science and Engineering Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow and Killam Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia
PhD, University of Edinburgh

Current Affiliations

Director, Computational Biology, OICR
Senior Investigator, OICR
Executive Scientific Director, Ontario Health Study
National Scientific Director, Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (CanPath)
Principal Investigator and Director, Genome Canada Canadian Data Integration Centre
Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Professor, Division of Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
Adjunct Professor, CHUM, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal

Select Publications

Ang Houle A, Gibling H, Lamaze FC, …, Awadalla P. Aberrant PRDM9 expression impacts the pan-cancer genome landscape. Genome Res. 2018; In press.
Dummer T, Awadalla P, Boileau C, …, CPTP Regional Cohort Consortium. The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project: a pan-Canadian platform for research on chronic disease prevention. CMAJ. 2018;190(23):E710-E717.
Favé M, Lamaze F, Soave D, …, Awadalla P. Gene-by-environment interactions in urban populations modulate risk phenotypes. Nature Commun. 2018; 9(1):827.
Hussin JG, Hodgkinson A, Idaghdour Y, …, Awadalla P. Recombination affects accumulation of damaging and disease-associated mutations in human populations. Nature Genet. 2015;47(4):400-4.
Hodgkinson A, Idaghdour Y, Gbeha E, …, Awadalla P. High-resolution genomic analysis of human mitochondrial RNA sequence variation. Science. 2014; 344(6182):413-5.
Hussin J, Sinnett D, Casals F, …, Awadalla P. Rare allelic forms of PRDM9 associated with childhood leukemogenesis. Genome Res. 2013; 23(3):419-30.
Awadalla P, Boileau C, Payette Y, …;
CARTaGENE Project. Cohort profile of the CARTaGENE study: Quebec’s population-based biobank for public health and personalized genomics. Int J Epidemiol. 2013; 42(5):1285-99.
Conrad DF, Keebler JE, DePristo MA, …, Awadalla P; on behalf of the 1000 Genomes Project. Variation in genome-wide mutation rates within and between human families. Nature Genet. 2011;43(7):712-4.

See Dr. Awadalla’s recent publications on Google Scholar.

Research Areas

Biology Cancer Origins Informatics and Data Standards Prevention

Disease Areas

All

Awards

Queens Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine Distinguished Lecturer 2018
Academy of Sciences of South Africa, Distinguished Scholar, 2016
The Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation Young Investigator Award, 2012
Genome Quebec, Recruitment Award, 2010-2015
FRSQ, 2008-2011; 2012-2016
Sigma Xi, 2005

Opportunities to Collaborate

The Ontario Health Study

The Ontario Health Study (OHS) is a long-term health study following the health of more than 230,000 Ontarians collecting data through questionnaires, blood samples and physical measurements. The goal is to build a platform that researchers can use now and decades into the future to better understand the causes of cancer and chronic disease.

The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project

The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project (CPTP) is Canada’s largest group of volunteer research participants (population cohort), built to address key questions about what causes cancer and chronic disease. Over 300,000 Canadians aged 30-74 years have joined CPTP. With a rich collection of data and biosamples, CPTP is an invaluable tool for scientists working to answer important questions for Canadians—questions that could not be addressed otherwise. Access to these data and biosamples is controlled by a set of policies, and managed by the CPTP Access Office.

The Canadian Data Integration Centre

Advances in genomics over the past several years have given rise to enormous amounts of data. Genomic data from population and clinical cohorts, coupled with vast health and lifestyle data can generate important biological insights in human health, but only if that data can be stored and analyzed in new and more sophisticated ways. Indeed, advances in genomics will be made – or hindered – by bioinformatics analytical capacity.

The Canadian Data Integration Centre (CDIC) will offer “soup to nuts” analytical and bioinformatics support to genomic researchers by providing the software and analytic systems to collect and harmonize data, analyze it and electronically publish the results.

Visit OICR’s Collaborative Research Resources directory for more opportunities to collaborate with OICR researchers.

Programs

Ontario Health Study

A landmark study with over 224,900 participants that is helping researchers better understand the environmental, lifestyle, and genetic factors that cause cancer and other chronic diseases.

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Software