Nilifa Desilva is the Manager of the Research Quality, Patient Engagement, and Registries unit at SPHERE, where she leads research quality initiatives, regulatory compliance, audit readiness, and strategic research process improvement. Nilifa is an accomplished research and regulatory leader with over a decade of experience in clinical research operations, quality assurance and compliance across Canadian and U.S. academic institutions.
She has extensive expertise in FDA and Health Canada regulations, GCP, risk-based monitoring and the oversight of complex clinical trials and registries. Her previous roles include managing research operations within CAMH’s Schizophrenia Division and coordinating federally funded and industry-sponsored studies in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.
Nilifa holds an MPH from Rutgers University where she earned multiple awards for academic and research excellence. She has authored peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters in psychiatry, and previously served as Managing Editor of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.
