Lisa Strug

Associate Director
The Centre for Applied Genomics

U of T Positions

Professor (status), Department of Statistical Sciences

Director, Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute
Ontario Region (CANSSI Ontario@U of T), Extra Departmental Unit C

Dr. Strug is a Senior Scientist in the Genetics and Genome Biology program at SickKids Research Institute. She is also Associate Director of The Centre for Applied Genomics (TCAG), which is a CFI-MSI-funded genome centre contributing to Canada’s national genome sequencing infrastructure for research. At U of T, Strug is an Associate Professor of Statistical Sciences and Biostatistics.  She is also the Lead of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Gene Modifier Study and Co-Lead of the International CF Gene Modifier Consortium.   
 
Dr. Strug is a statistical geneticist and her team pioneered statistical tools for modifier gene discovery.  With these tools her team has identified some of the first established CF modifier loci, demonstrated that modifiers can predict who will respond to CFTR therapies for precision medicine, and is now in partnership with industry to champion the search for modifier-directed therapies for CF and other lung diseases.  Dr. Strug has received several honors including an Early Research Career Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation; the 2016 CF Canada Senior Scientist Research Training award, and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Genome Data Sciences. 

Research

Dr. Strug develops statistical methodology to identify genetic causes of disease, often motivated by challenges encountered in her role leading the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Gene Modifier consortium (GMC).  
 
Using novel methodology tailored to the study of modifier genes in Mendelian disease, her team has made great progress in identifying the genetic contributors to CF disease severity. Her research program in statistical genetics brings novel methodology to the genetics community through open-source software. Currently, Dr. Strug is a co-lead of CGEn, a federally funded national platform for genome sequencing and analysis, that has recently received $20M to rapidly sequence the genomes of 10,000 Canadians with COVID-19 and build a national databank for research. 

Education and experience

• 2001–2003: PhD in Biostatistics, Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. Supervisors: Dr. Charles Rohde (Johns Hopkins University) and Dr. Paul N. Corey (University of Toronto)
• 1998–2001: ScM in Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. Supervisor: Dr. Charles Rohde
• 1996–1998: BS in Statistics, Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 1993–1996: BA in Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

Postgraduate Research Training

• 2003–2005: Postdoctoral Fellowship in Statistical Genetics as part of the Genetics of Complex Diseases Training Program, Departments of Biostatistics and Psychiatry, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Supervisor: Dr. Susan E. Hodge

Current Appointments

• 2019: Associate Professor, Statistical Sciences (Status), Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
• 2019: Director, Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute (CANSSI), Ontario Region
• 2019: Director, Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute (CANSSI Ontario@UofT), Extra Departmental Unit – C, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Toronto
• 2016: Associate Director, The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital For Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2015: Associate Professor of Biostatistics (Status), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2014: Senior Scientist, Program in Genetics and Genome Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada

Past Appointments

• 2008–2015 Assistant Professor of Biostatistics (Status), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2007–2014 Scientist, Program in Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2008–2012 Associate Member, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
• 2005–2007 Assistant Professor of Clinical Biostatistics, Division of Statistical Genetics, Department of Biostatistics, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.

Achievements

• 2019: Top Downloaded Article 2017-2018, Wiley. Article: Strug, 2018. “The evidential statistical paradigm in genetics” has been recognized as a top 20 most read papers published in Genetic Epidemiology.
• 2018–2025: Canada Research Chair, Tier I in Genome Data Sciences
• 2017: Associate Editor with npj Genomic Medicine
• 2016: Senior Scientist Research Training Award, Cystic Fibrosis Canada
• 2009: Robbie Award for most promising research grant, Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Canada
• 2009: Early Research Career Award, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, Ontario Provincial Government, Canada

1. Derkach A, Chiang T, Gong J, Addis L, Dobbins S, Tomlinson I, Houlston R, Pal DK, Strug LJ.  2014.  Association analysis using next generation sequence data from publicly available control groups: The robust variance score statistics. Bioinformatics, 30: 2179-88.
2. Sun L, Rommens JM, Corvol H, Li W, Li X, Chiang TA, Lin F, Dorfman R, Busson PF, Parekh RV, Zelenika D, Blackman SM, Corey M, Doshi VK, Henderson L, Naughton KM, O'Neal WK, Pace RG, Stonebraker JR, Wood SD, Wright FA, Zielenski J, Clement A, Drumm ML, Boëlle PY, Cutting GR, Knowles MR, Durie PR, Strug LJ.  2012. Multiple apical plasma membrane constituents are associated with susceptibility to meconium ileus in individuals with cystic fibrosis.  Nat Genet. 44(5):562-9.  
3. Soave D, Corvol H, Panjwani N, Gong J, Li W, Boelle, PY, Durie P, Paterson AD, Rommens JM, Strug LJ, Sun L. 2015.  A joint location-scale test improves power to detect associated SNPs, gene-sets and pathways. Am J Hum Genet. 2;97(1):125-38. 
4. Gong J, Wang F, Xiao B, Panjwani N, Lin F, Keenan K, Avolio J, Esmaeili M, Zhang L, He G, Soave D, Mastromatteo S, Baskurt Z, Kim S, O’Neal WK, Polineni D, Blackman SM, Corvol H, Cutting GR, Drumm M, Knowles MR, Rommens JM, Sun L, Strug, LJ.  Genetic association and transcriptome integration identifies contributing genes and tissues at cystic fibrosis modifier loci.  PLOS Genetics 15(2): e1008007. February 26, 2019.
5. Corvol, H, Blackman, SM, Boelle, PY, Gallins, PJ. Pace, RG, Stonebraker, JR, Accurso, FJ, Clement, A, Collaco, JM, Dang, H, Dang, AT, Franca, A, Gong, J, Guillot, L, Keenan, K, Li, W, Lin, F, Patrone, MV, Raraigh, KS, Sun, L, Zhou, Y, O’Neal, WK, Sontag, MK, Levy, H, Durie, PR, Rommens, JM, Drumm, ML, Wright, FA, Strug, LJ*, Cutting, GR*, Knowles, MR*.  Genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies five modifier loci of lung disease severity in cystic fibrosis.  Nature Communications. 6:8382. 2015.  *Co-SRA. 

See a full list of Lisa Strug's publications