Dr. William Hsiao joined the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University as an associate professor in September 2020. He is also an affiliated scientist at the BC Centre for Disease Control Public Health Laboratory (BCCDC PHL) and at Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, and a genomic consultant with the BC Ministry of Agriculture Animal Health Centre. Prior to joining FHS, Dr. Hsiao was the chief bioinformatician and a senior scientist at the BCCDC PHL for 8 years and a clinical associate professor at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Hsiao obtained his PhD in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Genome Sciences at University of Maryland School of Medicine. During his formal training, his research focused on microbial genomics and metagenomics. During his time at the BCCDC PHL, he incorporated data science and knowledge engineering into his research and developed expertise in public health data sharing, integration, and harmonization. With experience conducting and applying genomics and data science research both in academia and in government laboratories (public health and animal health), Dr. Hsiao brings to FHS a special perspective on integrating basic and applied research to improve our public health system.