Profile
Amalia Issa
Professor Amalia M. Issa, PhD, MPH is a pioneer in precision medicine decision science, with a focus on transforming complex data into actionable, ethical healthcare decisions. In 2001, she launched one of the world’s first initiatives dedicated to precision medicine—Personalized Precision Medicine & Targeted Therapeutics (P2MT2) and continues to serve as its director.
With academic appointments in both the U.S. and Canada, including an adjunct professorship in McGill University’s Department of Family Medicine, Dr. Issa bridges research and real-world impact. Her work bridges science and society, exploring how innovations such as AI-powered diagnostics, genomics, and digital therapeutics can be responsibly and meaningfully integrated into clinical practice and everyday healthcare.
A pioneer in developing frameworks and tools to study decision-making in precision medicine, Dr. Issa also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development, where she helps guide the global conversation on translating scientific breakthroughs from bench to bedside.
Dr. Issa holds a PhD in Neuroscience from McGill University, an MPH from the UCLA School of Public Health, and completed post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School. Earlier in her career, she worked as a hospital ethicist, guiding patients and clinicians through high-pressure “decision-making emergencies” often in real time and under immense uncertainty.
Dr. Issa’s prolific scholarship appears in leading journals such as The Journal of Neuroscience, Personalized Medicine, Cancer, and JAMA. Her influential work has garnered wide media coverage and numerous accolades and awards, including being named one of the Women in Global Health.
A sought-after international speaker and frequent collaborator, Dr. Issa’s mission is consistent across every role: enabling smarter healthcare decisions in high-stakes environments.
When she’s not navigating the complexities of healthcare innovation and decision making, Dr. Issa applies the same precision to fencing as she does to research—only on the strip, the stakes are a little lower (and the swordplay way more fun). And when not advancing science or wielding a sword, she’s happiest spending time with family and friends.
