Leah Cowen

Leah Cowen is Vice President, Research at the University of Toronto (UofT), Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, co-Director of the CIFAR Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities program, and co-Founder and CSO of Bright Angel Therapeutics, a company that leverages state-of-the-art technologies for development of novel antifungal therapeutics. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia, a PhD from UofT, and pursued postdoctoral studies at the Whitehead Institute. She has an outstanding track-record of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. She has published >110 high impact research articles and been recognized with many awards including a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award, Grand Challenges Canada Star in Global Health Award, Merck Irving S. Sigal Memorial Award, E.W.R. Steacie Award, and Canada Research Chair in Microbial Genomics & Infectious Disease. She has been elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and American Association for the Advancement of Science.