February 9, 2022 | 9:30 – 10 am EST
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Honourable Victor Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade,
Ontario government
The Honourable Victor Fedeli is a lifelong entrepreneur, successful business person, and philanthropist, and serves Premier Ford’s government as Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.
His business experience led his firm Fedeli Corporation to be ranked in the Top 50 Best Places to Work in Canada.
It also served him well, when he was elected to two terms as Mayor of North Bay. As Mayor, Vic focused on fiscal prudence and economic development, restoring hope and restoring solvency to North Bay.
In 2011 Vic was elected to the Ontario Legislature, and is now serving his third term as MPP for Nipissing.
He is married to local humour writer Patty, and is always seen in one of his trademark yellow ties.
February 10, 2022 | 9 - 10:30 am EST
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Joe Macinnis
Joe MacInnis is a physician-scientist and storyteller whose pioneering research on undersea science and engineering projects earned him his nation’s highest honour, the Order of Canada.
Joe MacInnis is a medical doctor with a lifelong interest in human performance. He’s led or participated in fifty science and engineering projects under the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. His pioneering research in human performance in high-risk environments earned him the Order of Canada.
For the past 20 years, Dr. Joe has been studying the psychology of leadership in high-risk environments. He’s dived three miles under the ocean with marine science teams, spent time in Afghanistan with military teams fighting the Taliban and worked with astronaut teams preparing to fly to the international space station. He’s collaborated with Canada’s special forces and the Russian Academy of Sciences. His latest book, Deep Leadership: Essential Insights from High-Risk Environments, was published by Random House.
Recently, Dr. Joe began interviewing scientists, artists, politicians, business executives and journalists on the subject of high-risk leadership. He’s interviewed fifty people including Jane Goodall, James Cameron, Margaret Atwood and Maria Ressa.
February 11, 2022 | 10 - 10:30 am EST
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Iain Stewart, NRC President
In August 2016, Iain Stewart was appointed the 12th President of the National Research Council of Canada, the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. His current term extends to September 2025.
In September 2020, Mr. Stewart took a one-year leave of absence to become President of the Public Health Agency of Canada. He returned to the NRC in October 2021, after the successful implementation of Canada's national COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Prior to joining the NRC, Mr. Stewart was Associate Secretary of the Treasury Board Secretariat, and Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, at the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED). At ISED, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and as Assistant Vice‑President of Research at Dalhousie University, Mr. Stewart has held a range of executive positions focused on supporting business innovation and university research.
David Lisk, Vice-President of the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP)
Prior to this assignment, David was the Executive Director for IRAP Ontario region and also served as an Industrial Technology Advisor (ITA) with IRAP Business Advisory responsibilities in the Ontario region from 2009 to 2012.
David is a seasoned industry veteran with approximately 35 years of experience in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry with emphasis on semiconductor manufacturing, hardware system development, operations and business. Prior to IRAP, David spent four years as CEO of DFT Microsystems, a venture backed semiconductor test equipment firm in Montreal.
Previous to DFT, David served as VP of Operations at Tundra Semiconductor with responsibility for manufacturing, QA, systems, product engineering, production testing and customer service. David joined Newbridge Microsystems in 1993 and played a key role as the company spun-out from parent Newbridge Networks (now Alcatel Canada) to become Tundra Semiconductor in 1995. He was involved in Tundra's subsequent successful IPO in 1998.
In addition, David worked at Canadian Marconi Company for five years in the cockpit display group and at General Dynamics (formerly Computing Devices) for five years in the ported coax intrusion detection system group.
David holds an MBA from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
February 9, 2022 | 12 – 1 pm EST
Panel: What it takes to scale a successful regenerative medicine company
Angela Behboodi
Angela Behboodi is the Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy at Amgen and has 20 years experience in the biotech policy and regulatory field. Her previous work includes therapeutic policy development in oncology, personalized healthcare, rare diseases, multiple sclerosis, anti-microbial resistance, and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Cate Murray, BA
Cate Murray is the Executive Director & COO for Canada’s Stem Cell Network (SCN) and has so far secured $69M in federal funding for stem cell and regenerative medicine research. She is leading and driving change for SCN through the implementation of a new and expanded strategic plan that will see SCN supporting the broader field of regenerative medicine research – a field traditionally fueled by stem cells.
Lee Johnson, PH.D., B.C.L/LL.B.
Lee Johnson is a partner in the San Diego office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he provides counsel and assistance to clients in intellectual property matters, including patent counseling, drafting, and prosecution. He regularly acts on behalf of both investors and growth-stage innovative companies and transactional IP counsel in licensing and technology transfer matters, research collaborations and partnerships, initial public offerings (IPOs), mergers, and acquisitions.
Philip Tagari, MA
Philip Tagari is currently Vice President of Research at Amgen. His impressive track record spans 35 years, including 20+ years at Amgen Inc. His work produced a major impact in the field of biopharmaceutical research, worldwide. Research labs under his direction have advanced over 30 innovative molecules to the clinical development stage in recent years.
Tamer Mohamed, PH.D.
Tamer Mohamed co-founded Aspect in 2013 and has played a leading role in our overall corporate, business, and technology development. Under his leadership, we have secured significant funding, entered strategic collaborations with best-in-class pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and developed our commercial products.
February 10, 2022 | 1 - 2 pm EST
Panel: Pivoting and Adapting to the Changing Environment
Adam Buckley, MBA, B.Sc.
Adam Buckley co-founded VBI Vaccines in 2002. He has been responsible for a number of roles through VBI’s development stages, including business development, corporate development, finance and operations. His efforts included attracting seed capital to VBI, developing its first business plan, protecting intellectual property and structuring the company. He had an active role in the company’s Series A financing, raising $35.7 million (U.S.), and has led several key technology acquisitions for the company, including the acquisition of Epixis S.A. in 2011 which provided VBI with one of its core platform technologies. Most recently, Adam led VBI’s COVID financing efforts, securing CAD $56M from Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund and USD $33M from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, and concluded a licensing transaction with Brii Biosciences for VBI’s HBV immunotherapeutic (VBI-2601), securing up to $128M USD for rights to the asset in China. Mr. Buckley is a recent recipient of the Ottawa Business Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40” award and obtained his M.B.A. and B.Sc. at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Christopher Tan, PH.D.
Christopher Tan is a Director in Business Development & Licensing based in in Cambridge, MA, USA. His primary responsibility is to serve as a Merck spokesperson and scientific prospector for identifying, evaluating, and championing new Infectious Diseases and Vaccines research collaborations, preclinical compounds, clinical compounds and/ or technologies in Eastern Canada and the New England US States, through licensing, acquisition, collaborations, co-development agreements, and strategic alliances.
KEN HUGHES, PH.D.
Ken is the Chief Operating Officer at Microbix Biosystems Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company based in Mississauga, Ontario. Microbix is an infectious disease diagnostics specialist that is very active in COVID-19 pandemic response. The company develops proprietary solutions for human health, with 100 employees and over $18 million in sales for fiscal 2021. It makes a wide range of critical biological materials for the global diagnostics industry, notably antigens for immunoassays, its DxTM™ brand IVD viral transport medium and its laboratory quality assessment products (QAPs™) that support clinical lab proficiency testing, enable assay development and validation, or help ensure quality clinical diagnostic workflows.
Ken is an biomedical scientist and executive with more than 25 years of experience in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries. Previously he was President & CEO of iTP Biomedica (an innovative diagnostics company), Vice President, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs at Innovative Medicines Canada (the Industry Association for Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, formerly know as Rx&D) and is a Co-founder and Advisory Board member of the innovative biotechnology company PlantForm Corporation. He is also the founder and President of Roker Biotechnologies Inc., a company that provides consulting services to the Biotechnology and Biopharmaceutical industries.
Ken received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of London (UK).
Natalia Martin Orozco, Ph.D.
Dr. Natalia Martin Orozco is Chief Scientific Officer for Providence Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. since January of 2022. She joined Providence in 2018 as VP of Drug Development and in 2021 she served as Chief Development Officer. Natalia has more than 15 years experienced in drug development in both industry and academia. Prior positions include leading target discovery, development teams at multiple companies, through regulatory approvals for clinical trials for personalized cell therapies and biologics for cancer and autoimmunity. Before joining Providence, Natalia served as Principal Scientist at EMD Serono, and LION Biotechnology (now IOVANCE). Earlier in her career, Natalia spent 9 years at MD Anderson Cancer Center working on translational immunology research for immunotherapies and inflammation.
Natalia earned her PhD in Immunology from Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and did postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and Hospital for Sick Children.
Par Nijhawan, MD, FRCPC, AGAF
Dr. Nijhawan is the Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of Edesa, positions he has held since forming the company in 2015. Dr. Nijhawan is a seasoned pharmaceutical entrepreneur with 19 years of experience in cross-functional roles including finance, marketing and business development. Prior to Edesa, Dr. Nijhawan was the founder and CEO of Medical Futures Inc which was sold to Tribute Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Nijhawan founded and led Digestive Health Clinic into becoming Canada’s largest provider of private endoscopy services. He is also the founder of Exzell Pharma. Dr. Nijhawan was Inducted into the CHLA BD Hall of fame in 2018 and Awarded Business Development Deal of the Year 2017. Dr. Nijhawan received his MD (University of Ottawa), Internship (Yale), Residency IM (Mayo), Fellowship GI (Mayo).
February 11, 2022 | 11 am - 12 pm EST
Panel: Positioning Canada to develop world-leading capabilities in biomed/medtech manufacturing
Benjamin Rovinski, Ph.D.
With over 30 years of investment, operational, managerial and research experience in the healthcare industry, Benjamin has helped build life sciences companies at all stages of development. With a proven track record of delivering results both as a senior scientist and a business executive, Beni has held several senior management positions in the biotechnology sector, including 13 years at Sanofi Pasteur (formerly Aventis Pasteur) where he led global research and development programs in the areas of HIV/AIDS and therapeutic cancer vaccines, bringing several of them through to clinical stage. In May of 2020, the Government of Canada asked Beni to join its COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force drawing on his expertise in vaccine development and commercialization. As a Managing Director at Lumira Ventures, Beni’s investment focus is on North American private and public companies involved in drug discovery and development. Beni has served on the board of directors of several North American life sciences companies.
Chris Procyshyn, B.Sc.
Chris is a leading authority on biomedical manufacturing, with one of his most recent activities as a member of Canada's Covid-19 Vaccine Task Force. Chris was the Chief Executive Officer of Vanrx Pharmasystems, a founder, and a member of its Board of Directors. With over twenty‑five years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Chris has led teams in the development of complex injectable products in the fields of ophthalmology, oncology and reproductive health. Globally experienced, he has negotiated the implementation of new technologies with many major regulatory agencies. Previously with QLT Inc., a pioneering Canadian biopharmaceutical company, he led the Manufacturing, Engineering and Process Sciences groups in the development of many advanced pharmaceutical processes and their implementation into manufacturing facilities in multiple countries. Chris is a microbiologist by education and training, and a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan.
Darcy Bachert, B.E.Sc., P. Eng.
Darcy is the Founder and CEO of Prolucid Technologies Inc., a Canadian software and systems integration company, with extensive expertise in vision and imaging applications, machine learning integration, and commercial grade Industrial IoT solutions. Founded in 2008, Darcy has helped take Prolucid from an early stage startup to a team of 25, working to deliver hundreds of successful projects for some of the world’s largest brands. Working professionally in Software Engineering since 2001, his extensive experience in delivering mission critical applications across a wide variety of industries has enabled the team at Prolucid to use technology to solve real world problems and make a positive impact on the people, companies, and industries that they support. Darcy graduated from Western University with a degree in Software Engineering.
Janet Grove, B.Sc., LLB.
Building on her experience and knowledge from years spent in corporate development and legal roles within the industry - including eight years in-house at a global biopharmaceutical company then listed on the TSX and NASDAQ, Janet Grove helps clients in the technology and health sciences sectors – IT, health sciences, telecommunications and clean-tech. She is sought out for her expertise and business approach to structuring and negotiating both merger and acquisition transactions and complex commercial relationships to develop, commercialize and acquire technology. This includes assisting with a variety of research and development, supply and licensing arrangements and developing and advising on novel programs and collaborations involving technology. Janet’s client base includes a wide range of organizations from early-stage technology and biotechnology clients to large public and private companies, educational institutions, healthcare authorities, hospitals and research institutions throughout Canada.
Linda Hasenfratz, MBA, B.Sc.
Linda is the CEO of Linamar Corporation, an advanced manufacturing company where the intersection of leading-edge technology and deep manufacturing expertise is creating solutions that power vehicles, motion, work and lives for the future. Linamar has more than 29,000 employees in 60 manufacturing locations, 8 R&D centres and 25 sales offices in 17 countries in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Linda's contributions to Canadian business through her work at Linamar, her position on many boards, and her involvement in charitable organizations is well recognized. Among her many roles, Linda was the Canadian Chair of the North American Competitiveness Council in 2008, a trilateral group of executives from Canada, the US and Mexico convened by the countries’ Leaders to debate and advise on key recommendations regarding enhancement of the NAFTA region. In 2012 Linda became the inaugural Chair of the Philanthropy Leadership Cabinet of the Guelph General Hospital. In 2016 Linda was named to Fortunes 50 Most Powerful Women International list. In 2017, Linda was named as the Canadian Chair of the Canada-US Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders. And in 2018, Linda was recognized as Canada’s Outstanding CEO of the Year and was named to the Order of Canada.
Scott Phillips, B.A.Sc.
Scott holds a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of British Columbia. Prior to starting StarFish, he worked in diverse areas such as lithium battery development and manufacturing, UV spectroscopy instrumentation and hi-fi audio speakers. Under his leadership StarFish has grown into a premier Medical Device Design service provider with a full complement of design, development, and manufacturing services with offices in Vancouver and Toronto. Starfish partners with innovative companies (both large and small) to create breakthrough products for a number of medical specialty areas. Scott is a Chair of the LifeSciences British Columbia board, member of the 2022 VIATEC Board of Directors, Fellow of The Canadian Academy of Engineering, winner of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2017 Pacific Awards Technology category, and 2017 recipient of the VIATEC Technology Champion award.
Simon Kennedy, AMP, M.Sc.
Simon Kennedy was named Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, effective September 3, 2019.
Previously, he served as Deputy Minister of Health from January 2015. During his tenure at Health Canada, that department took on a national leadership role in responding to the opioids crisis; negotiated agreements with the provinces and territories to allocate $11 billion in new funding to home care and mental health services; and launched important reforms to pharmaceutical pricing, nutrition labelling, and vaping and tobacco product packaging. Mr. Kennedy also oversaw Health Canada's implementation of the government's initiative to legalize and regulate cannabis, including passage of the Cannabis Act.
Mr. Kennedy began his career with the public service in 1990 and has served in a variety of progressively senior roles in seven different organizations, including in six deputy minister–level appointments at the Privy Council Office; Industry Canada; Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada; Health Canada; and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. As the Canadian lead on the bi-national Beyond the Border Working Group, he negotiated with the White House the 2011 Canada-U.S. Action Plan for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness. He also served as the Prime Minister's personal representative, or "Sherpa," to the G20 from 2012 to 2014.
He holds a Bachelor of Public Relations from Mount Saint Vincent University and a Master of Science in Communications Management from Syracuse University and is a graduate of INSEAD's Advanced Management Programme. Mr. Kennedy also received his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) and is co-chair of the ICD Ottawa Chapter. He has served on the boards of a variety of organizations, most recently the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, among others.
February 11, 2022 | 2:30 - 3:30 pm EST
Panel: The investment landscape and the continuum of capital
Anique ter Braake, Ph.D.
Anique ter Braake, PhD, is an Investment Associate in the Biotechnology team based in Amsterdam at the M Ventures head office. From its headquarters in the Netherlands and offices in Germany, USA and Israel, M Ventures invests globally in transformational ideas driven by innovative entrepreneurs. M Ventures focuses on identifying and financing novel solutions to some of the most difficult challenges, through company creation and equity investments in fields that will impact the vitality and sustainability of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany ’s current and future businesses.
Jacki Jenuth, Ph.D.
Jacki has over 20 years of life science, IT and business development executive-level experience, Jacki is a key member of the senior investment team sourcing, conducting diligence on, structuring deals terms for and working closely at the board level with portfolio companies. Jacki focuses on early to mid-stage private companies involved in all aspects drug discovery and development utilizing a variety of platforms from complex biologics to small molecules in a variety of indications including oncology, neurology, rare disorders and inflammatory diseases.
Maha Katabi, Ph.D.
Maha Katabi is an experienced investor with over two decades in managing public and private biotech companies through bull and bear markets. She is focused on investing in development stage biopharmaceuticals and is currently a member of the board of directors of Aerovate (AVTE), Gyroscope, Northsea, Quanta and Vera (VERA). Prior to joining Sofinnova, she was a partner and portfolio manager at Sectoral where she formed and led a dedicated investment team and advisory board to drive investments in private companies and was a Portfolio Manager for a family of funds invested in small cap healthcare companies.
Sam Ifergan, MBA, B.Eng
Sam is the Founder and Managing Partner of iGan Partners and has over 20 years of entrepreneurial, technology and venture capital experience. Sam founded iGan Partners in 2013 and is now the largest healthcare venture capital investor in Canada. Sam is actively involved in evaluating, structuring and executing iGan’s investments. Collectively iGan has supported the creation of over 20 successful medical device and tech companies in Canada.
Scott Weiner, MBA, B.Sc.
Scott has been a buy side investor in the life science sector for over 20 years. He joined Amzak Health as a Partner in 2020 and leads the Firm’s activities to expand and manage its biotech portfolio. Prior to that he was a Partner at Pappas Capital where he spent 13 years focused on life science venture investing. Scott was previously an Investment Analyst at Silverback Asset Management, a Vice President at Chicago Growth Partners, and an Investment Banking Analyst at Lehman Brothers where he worked in New York, London and Hong Kong.