Marco A. Marra

Dr. Marra is a UBC Professor of Medical Genetics and the Michael Smith Laboratories. Formerly Head of Medical Genetics (UBC) and co-founder and Director of Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre for more than two decades, Dr. Marra is known for his work in genomics and precision cancer genomic medicine.

Dr. Marra earned BSc and PhD degrees from SFU. During a post-doctoral fellowship in St. Louis, working on the Human Genome Project, Dr. Marra devised approaches to build sequence-ready maps of the human genome and led the team that created the map, fueling the production of the human genome sequence. Dr. Marra was recruited to Vancouver by Nobel Laureate Dr. Michael Smith, where he led teams that contributed to sequencing model organism genomes.

From Vancouver, Dr. Marra sought to drive the expansion of genomics in Canada. Dr. Marra led or co-led numerous cancer projects, revealing new mutations, biomarkers, and therapeutic targets in ovarian cancers, B cell lymphomas, brain cancers, breast cancers, medulloblastomas, leukemias, rhabdoid tumours and cervical cancers. In 2003, he led the effort that generated the first sequence of the agent causing SARS, revealing it to be a coronavirus and demonstrating that genome sequencing of a pathogen could be a key part of a rapid response to an emerging infectious disease. Dr. Marra currently co-leads the first program to demonstrate the use of whole genome and transcriptome sequencing to personalize cancer medicine. The program team, including 80% of the medical oncologists in BC, recruited 2,000 patients with advanced cancer and published >50 manuscripts describing how whole genome and transcriptome sequencing can influence clinical treatment decision making to bring benefit to cancer patients and their families.

A committed educator, Dr. Marra co-founded, co-directed and co-funded UBC’s Genome Sciences and Technology Graduate Program and was a founding member of the Bioinformatics Program. These programs have graduated hundreds of students, establishing BC as a nexus for advanced genomics and bioinformatics training. Dr. Marra supervised 54 undergraduates, 28 graduate students and 19 postdoctoral fellows and served as an advisory committee member to 46 graduate students. His trainees have started companies, practiced medicine and established laboratories at Universities and Institutes.

Recognitions granted to Dr. Marra include: UBC University Killam Professor (2025), Officer of the Order of Canada (2024), Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (2020), the Don Rix Lifetime Achievement Award (2019), the Outstanding Achievements in Cancer Research Award (2017), the Chew Wei Memorial Prize in Cancer Research (2015), the Terry Fox Medal (2010), the Order of British Columbia (2010) and the Merck Frosst Prize (2007). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2007) and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2009). His contributions to genome science were recognized with honorary degrees from Simon Fraser University (2004) and the University of Calgary (2005).