Catrina Loucks

Dr. Catrina Loucks is an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia (Departments of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics) and an investigator at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. She has experience uncovering genetic causes for rare disorders from her MSc work at the University of Calgary, under the supervision of Drs. Micheil Innes and Jillian Parboosingh. She then sought to explore functional impacts of uncovered genetic mutations by pursuing a PhD under the supervision of Dr. Michel Leroux at Simon Fraser University, using the simple roundworm, Caenorhabditis elegans, as a model. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, Catrina worked with Dr. Bruce Carleton and the Canadian Pharmacogenomics Network for Drug Safety to understand how genetic variation contributes to variable responses to medication. Her current research program, the CFI-JELF funded Loucks Pain Management Pharmacogenomics Lab, is developing a pipeline from genetic discoveries to predictive genetic testing to help select the safest and most effective pain relievers for children.