Marco Marra is  Director and Distinguished Scientist, Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency; Professor and Head Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia; and UBC Canada Research Chair in Genome Science.  He completed his PhD in Genetics at Simon Fraser University and pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, were he worked on the Human Genome Project.  He has been involved throughout his career in the development and application of efficient high-throughput genomics approaches, with special emphasis on large-scale DNA sequencing and bioinformatics.  Dr. Marra’s contributions to genome science led to an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Simon Fraser University in 2004, and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Calgary in 2005.

Dr. Marra’s current activities include the development and application of “next generation” analysis approaches to characterize genomes, with the aim of comprehensive identification of the genetic changes that drive cancer progression.  Dr. Marra and his laboratory participate in the Office of Cancer Genomics Cancer Genome Characterization Initiative and Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments projects.