Rate My Professor Arezu Jahani-Asl

Dr. Arezu Jahani-Asl is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Ottawa and a member of the Brain and Mind Research Institute. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Neurobiology of Disease and serves as an Affiliate Investigator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Dr. Jahani-Asl earned her BSc in Basic Medical Sciences, Human Biology from the University of Toronto in 2000, her MSc in Cellular and Molecular Medicine from the University of Ottawa, and her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Ottawa in 2009. She completed postdoctoral training in neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining the University of Ottawa in 2021, she held faculty positions at McGill University, where she was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021, with her laboratory at the Lady Davis Institute. Her research centers on molecular mechanisms regulating glioblastoma pathogenesis, brain tumor stem cell biology, and neurodevelopmental disorders, with key contributions published in journals such as Nature Neuroscience, Molecular Cell, Neuron, Nature Communications, and Cell Reports. Notable work includes studies on OSMR signaling in glioma stem cells and the role of carbohydrate binding proteins in glioblastoma. Dr. Jahani-Asl has received CIHR funding, FRQS Investigator awards, and other grants from the Cancer Research Society and NSERC. She serves on the Board of Reviewing Editors at eLife and has participated in numerous national and international peer review committees, including those for CIHR. She has supervised over 20 trainees and contributed to public outreach through media interviews.