Liam Brunham
Liam Brunham, an Assistant Professor of Medicine and 2008 alumnus of the Faculty of Medicine’s MD/PhD program, has been named one of “Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.”
Dr. Brunham, a Principal Investigator at the Centre for Heart+Lung Innovation, focuses on understanding how changes in specific genes contribute to differences in drug-response as well as to alterations in plasma lipid levels and their relationship to metabolic and cardiovascular disease.
Top 40 was founded in 1995 by executive search firm Caldwell Partners, and bills itself as the “country’s most coveted award for young business leaders.” The recipients, selected from more than 900 nominations, were selected by an advisory board that includes CIBC chief executive Victor Dodig, WestJet CEO Gregg Saretsky and FirstEnergy co- founder W. Brett Wilson, among others.
BNN will be airing a special interview series on the recipients at 10:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. PT on Tuesdays and Thursdays this summer called Canada’s Next Leaders. The series will feature the 40 under 40 recipients and explore the challenges and opportunities they face going forward.
Dr. Brunham’s laboratory at St. Paul’s Hospital uses cutting-edge approaches in human genetics including genome-wide association studies and next-generation sequencing to investigate the role of genetic variation in these phenotypes. His laboratory also uses genome-editing tools and stem-cell based cellular models to dissect the functional impact of genetic variants and investigate molecular mechanisms underlying adverse drug reactions.
Dr. Brunham is a general internist with a focus on clinical lipidology and is an attending physician at St. Paul’s Health Heart Program Prevention clinic, one of the largest specialty lipid clinics in Canada.
Dr. Brunham completed his PhD under the supervision of Professor of Medical Genetics Michael Hayden and was awarded the Governor’s General’s gold medal, the most prestigious award offered to graduating doctoral students at Canadian universities.