Dr. Tanya Brown
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Tanya is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Windsor, Ontario with the School of Environment. Prior to her current position, she was a Research Scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) with the Ocean Sciences Division in West Vancouver from 2019-2023. During which time she led DFO's Whale Contaminant Program in support of the Government of Canada's Whales Initiative. She has been studying marine mammals and marine mammal and fish ecotoxicology since 2005. Her past research has focused in large part on understanding the influence of habitat use and feeding ecology that drive contaminant exposure in marine mammals and the impacts on their health.
Tanya leads a team of graduate students and researchers seeking to identify principal routes of exposure to priority contaminants and to understand how environmental changes and anthropogenic stressors are impacting valued ecosystem components, such as killer whales, beluga whales, ringed seals, Arctic char and Pacific salmonids.
Her research uses habitat use modelling, dietary tracers, and ‘omics technologies to identify the principal routes of exposure for these contaminants and to assess the health of fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Through her labs research she aims to help improve the marine environment and recover at-risk species.