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Abdallah Daar FRS (C), D.Phil (Oxon), FRCP (Lon), FRCS, FRCSC, is Professor of Public Health Sciences at the Dalla Lana Faculty of Public Health, University of Toronto, with a cross-appointment in the department of Surgery. He is Senior Scientist at University Health Network/Toronto General Research Institute, and is Director of Ethics and Commercialization at the Sandra Rotman Centre. At Grand Challenges Canada, in addition to being a member of the Board of Directors, he is the Chief Science and Ethics Officer and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board.
He was the founding Chair of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (2009-2011) and is Chair of the Advisory Board of the United Nations University International Institute of Global Health. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Genome Canada. His academic career has spanned biomedical sciences, organ transplantation, surgery, global health, and bioethics.
He has worked in various advisory or consulting capacities with the UN, the World Health Organization and UNESCO, and was a member of the African Union High-Level Panel on Modern Biotechnology. He is a Fellow of several Academies of Sciences, is a member of UNESCO's International Bioethics Committee, and was for many years a member of the Ethics Committee of the Human Genome Organization. His major research focus is on the use of life sciences to ameliorate global health inequities, with a particular focus on building scientific capacity and increasing innovation in developing countries. He has over 360 publications in peer-reviewed journals and as book chapters, and has published 6 books, the last being “The Grandest Challenge - Taking Life-saving Science From Lab to Village.” He is currently working on his seventh book, entitled "Garment of Destiny".