Dr. George Iwama was Quest’s president from 2017 to 2022 and brings a wealth of experience in Canadian universities, both as a scholar as well as a senior administrator. Dr. Iwama received his PhD in Zoology from UBC with a specialty in fish physiology. After postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Texas and Dalhousie University, he returned to UBC, where he led a significant research program as a tenured professor, in the areas of health and stress.

He was an early pioneer of the Block Plan in Canada, introducing it in the Biology Department at Acadia University. He helped advise Dr. David Strangway during the initial stages of planning for Quest.

Dr. Iwama was previously Dean of Science and Vice President Academic at Acadia; Dean of Science at Carleton University; and President of the University of Northern British Columbia. At UNBC, he strengthened the school’s position within the University of the Arctic consortium. He also spearheaded campus sustainability efforts, sharing the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education award with Harvard University in 2010.

He has served as Executive Vice President, as well as Provost, of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, in Japan. Upon returning to Canada in 2016 he held various posts at UBC including Special Advisor to the Vice President Research and Innovation in Interdisciplinary Fisheries; Assistant Director of the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries; and Vice Dean for Aquaculture and Strategic Initiatives in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.

He joined Quest in 2017, first as Chancellor, and then as our President and Vice-Chancellor until 2022. A deep believer in Quest’s mission, vision and values, Dr. Iwama is excited to work with the Quest community, both on and off campus, to continue transforming lives through our ground-breaking innovative education.

(There is even more to George, he is a man of adventure.)