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Samuel Asfaha is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University. He completed undergraduate training in molecular biology, followed by MD and PhD degrees from the University of Calgary, with his PhD focused on mucosal inflammation. His clinical training included residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Alberta and a fellowship in Gastroenterology at the University of Calgary. He then completed postdoctoral research training at Columbia University, where he was promoted to Instructor in the Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases and conducted research on the cellular origins of colorectal and gastric cancer.
Dr. Asfaha was recruited to Western University and the Lawson Health Research Institute as an Assistant Professor and Schulich Clinician-Scientist. He practices general gastroenterology with a special interest in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal malignancy. His research focuses on gastrointestinal stem cell biology, inflammation, and the cellular origins of colorectal cancer, utilizing transgenic mouse models and patient-derived organoids. He was appointed the inaugural Verspeeten Chair in Translational Cancer Research at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, effective March 2026. His work has been supported by funding including a CIHR Clinician Scientist Award. Selected publications include studies on macrophage-driven cell plasticity in colitis-associated cancer (Gastroenterology, 2023), reevaluating stemness in the intestinal crypt (Gastroenterology, 2025), and prostaglandin E2 promoting stemness in Apc mutant cells (Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2025). He has contributed to numerous high-impact papers on intestinal stem cells, tissue regeneration, and carcinogenesis.
Discover how LHSC Research Institute and Western University researchers uncovered junk DNA's protective role against colorectal cancer in IBD patients via viral mimicry.
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