A leading U.S. clinician-scientist whose work spans cancer detection, biomedical engineering and global health will be joining the University of British Columbia as the new Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Vice-President, Health.
Dr. Sharmila Anandasabapathy -- currently Vice President and Senior Associate Dean, Global Programs, and professor of medicine in gastroenterology, at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas -- will begin a five-year term on Nov. 1, 2025. Her appointment was recently approved by the UBC Board of Governors following an international search.
"We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Anandasabapathy to UBC," said Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon, President and Vice-Chancellor of UBC. "She brings the kind of visionary, collaborative leadership that aligns perfectly with our values and ambitions. Her global perspective and track record of innovation in health equity will strengthen UBC's ability to serve the people of British Columbia and Canada -- advancing research and education that improves lives right here at home and around the world."
"It is hard to think of someone whose work embodies UBC's emphasis on translational medicine and interprofessional care more than Dr. Anandasabapathy," says Dr. Gage Averill, Provost and Vice-President, Academic, at UBC Vancouver. "Her delivery of health care throughout scores of sites across the globe speaks to a powerful sense of service and a commitment to equity."
"Dr. Anandasabapathy brings a rare combination of academic excellence, clinical insight, and global leadership," said Dr. Lesley Cormack, Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UBC's Okanagan campus, home of the Faculty of Medicine's Southern Medical Program and distributed health research initiatives in B.C.'s interior. "Her appointment will help UBC continue to grow our impact across the province -- expanding access to health education, strengthening community partnerships, and ensuring research translates into real-world improvements for British Columbians, Canadians and global populations."
An expert in translational research and health equity, Dr. Anandasabapathy is known for developing and validating low-cost, scalable technologies to improve early detection of gastrointestinal cancers. She leads several global clinical trials and holds four major research grants funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute.
"We live in extraordinary times, both in terms of the challenges to human health but also the capabilities of modern science and medicine," said Dr. Anandasabapathy. "UBC is an incredible place: the culture, people, academic depth and breadth, and global vision. I am truly humbled by the opportunity to be a part of the UBC community, and work collaboratively to deliver meaningful impact. I look forward to supporting our faculty, clinical faculty, staff and learners in an environment that is interdisciplinary, highly innovative and poised to address the existential challenges facing human health today."
A gastroenterologist by training, Dr. Anandasabapathy's work bridges education, training, clinical practice and innovation -- from bench-to-bedside diagnostics to community-based implementation. She also oversees Baylor's global programs, affiliations and partnerships, with a focus on developing culturally and environmentally appropriate solutions for underserved regions.
Dr. Anandasabapathy holds an adjunct appointment in Bioengineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She earned a BA in English Literature from Yale University and an MD with Distinction in Research from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her postgraduate training includes internal medicine at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, followed by a gastroenterology fellowship at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
Dr. Anandasabapathy will succeed Dr. Dermot Kelleher, who has served as Dean since 2015, and as the inaugural Vice-President, Health, since 2018. Over the past decade, Dr. Kelleher led the expansion of medical and health professional training across the province -- helping to grow the number of doctors and health professionals serving urban, rural, remote and Indigenous communities.
Under his leadership, Dr. Kelleher also helped strengthen UBC's research ecosystem to address Canada's most urgent health challenges and drive biomedical innovation in B.C. His accomplishments include co-developing Canada's first School of Biomedical Engineering, launching the COVID-19 Clinical Research Coordination Initiative, and bringing together national and international partners to establish Canada's Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub.
Leading UBC Health in his role as Vice-President, Health, he helped establish UBC as a provincial leader in collaborative health education and research, and has made UBC Health a space for health systems partners to come together to collaboratively address the challenges facing our communities.
On behalf of the UBC community, President Bacon thanked Dr. Kelleher for his extraordinary service to the university and to the health community in British Columbia and across Canada.
