Former UBC postdoc is named a Canada Research Chair

On June 14, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, announced an investment of over $275 million for 346 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at 52 institutions across Canada. Dr. Miranda Kirby, former UBC postdoctoral fellow and now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics, at Ryerson University, was among the new nominated chairs.

Her research focuses on developing novel image analysis tools to better understand lung disease pathogenesis and progression. According to Dr. Kirby, right now, medical imaging plays a very limited role in the management and treatment of patients with lung diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and cystic fibrosis.

Her lab is developing new ways that we can extract information from medical imaging technologies, like computed tomography (CT or “CAT scan”) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), that can tell us something about the underlying disease in the lung, where it is located and how severe it is – information that is not available with conventional clinical tools.

During her time at UBC Dr. Kirby was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow and the president of the Postdoctoral Fellows Associations. For more information about her research, visit Dr. Kirby’s website

For a full list of this year’s new and renewed Canada Research Chairs, visit this page.

Article written with information from the Government of Canada website.