2013 Speakers

Bill Barrable has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Rick Hansen Institute since January 2010. Bill was the Chief Executive of BC Transplant from 1994 to 2009, during which time it was honoured with the Canada Award for Excellence from the National Quality Institute. In 2001 he became the founding Chair of the Board of Directors of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. In 2008 he co-founded Natalus Life Science Capital (VCC) Inc., an angel fund which invests in BC Biotechnology start-up companies. 

At BC Transplant he led the creation of the first online digital signature organ donor registry in partnership with a BC company, Recombo Incorporated. He also championed the passage of legislation which enshrined the rights of organ donors into the Human Tissue & Gift Act of BC.

He has been a member of numerous governing boards of various kinds and holds a BA from Queen’s University, and a Master of Health Science from the University of Toronto. In 2010, he received the alumni leadership award from the University of Toronto’s Society of Graduates in Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. He was previously named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40.  

Sandra has a 25-year career within the BC Public Service and has held a variety of executive positions. She was appointed as Chief Operation Officer (COO) with the Ministry of Health in May 2012, providing corporate leadership for the health system innovation and change agenda. She is also the lead on health labour and negotiations and provides leadership and oversight for the Medical Services and Health Human Resources, Health Sector IM/IT and Pharmaceutical Services divisions. Prior to her appointment as COO, she was Assistant Deputy Ministry of Economic Development, Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy and Planning and Assistant Deputy Minister of Partnerships within the Ministry of Transportation. Sandra has worked on a number of key initiatives including leading the federal and provincial negotiations within the Economic Stimulus Program.

Sandra has received the Premier’s Award in Excellence for the delivery and implementation of the Drive BC program and also received the Premier’s Award for Organizational Excellence for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Sandra has an Associated Arts Diploma in Business and a recent a graduate from the Advanced Leadership Program with the Canadian School of Public Service.

Rajeev Dadoo is a Partner of SR One, the venture arm of GSK, having joined SR One in 2003. He serves as a director on the boards of NeuroTherapeutics Pharma and Synovex and is an observer on the boards of Ipierian and Concert Pharmaceuticals. He has also been involved with SR One's investments in Cydex, Hypnion, Predix Pharmaceuticals, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Octoplus, Trigen, Nucleonics, and Pinnacle Pharmaceuticals. In addition to his role at SR One, Dr. Dadoo spent time with the Competitive Excellence group within GSK working on company-wide strategic projects for GSK’s Corporate Executive Team. Prior to SR One, Dr. Dadoo worked at Genentech, where his role included technology and clinical development, and at Bio-Rad Laboratories in a product development role, at Genome Therapeutics in a business development role and earlier was a co-founder of Unimicro Technologies, a company created to develop and commercialize instrumentation for biomedical analysis. Dr. Dadoo holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a PhD in chemistry from Stanford University, and a BA in chemistry and mathematics from Knox College.

A highly-recognized Canadian life sciences leader, Karimah Es Sabar brings 30 years of dynamic global business experience to her role as President and CEO of The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She previously held the position of Senior Vice-President, Business and Strategic Affairs at CDRD, responsible for ensuring the organization’s long-term sustainability, while leading its business functions and successfully building the many national and international alliances and strategic partnerships which are now contributing significantly to advancing the goals of CDRD.

Prior to joining CDRD, Ms. Es Sabar took on the role of leading BC Biotech in 2005, re-engineering and rebranding the organization to LifeSciences BC. As President, she led the organization to its greatest levels of success as a strong business development organization for the life science industry and the scientific research community. Ms. Es Sabar has also held senior management positions with international multinational companies, most notably as Director International Division, and later Director Marketing and Business Development at Connaught Laboratories Limited [Sanofi Pasteur] based in Toronto. Ms. Es Sabar also served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for a Vancouver medical devices company, Medsurge Medical Inc., and was the founder and Managing Director of SAL Healthcare Limited, a leading healthcare organization in Kenya specializing in pharmaceutical marketing, distribution and healthcare consulting services. The company set new standards in the marketing and distribution of biopharmaceutical products in the region.

Ms. Es Sabar currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Providence Healthcare Research Institute, and also sits on the Boards of a number of organizations including the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR); the Prostate Centre Advisory Board, Vancouver General Hospital; the Prostate Centre’s Translational Research Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and Development (PC-TRIADD); NRC – IRAP Advisory Board; and also Chairs MOSAIC, a multilingual non-profit organization dedicated to addressing issues that affect immigrants and refugees in the course of their settlement and integration into Canadian society. She has also lent her leadership expertise by participating in a number of advisory committees for organizations such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); MITACS; the British Columbia Institute of Technology / University of British Columbia Biotechnology Degree Program; The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE); India Market Advisory Committee, and the British Columbia Asia-Pacific Trade Council. She is also a former board member of the Aga Khan National Economic Planning Board of Canada and Aga Khan National Health Boards in Canada and Kenya.

In 2007, Ms. Es Sabar received Canada’s Gold Award for Business Excellence (CABE) while at Sanofi Pasteur, was the recipient of the YWCA Women of Distinction Award in 2010 for Industry, Science and Technology, was included amongst “The Vancouver Power 50” listing of the most influential people in BC by Vancouver Magazine, and in “BC’s Top 100 Women of Influence” by the Vancouver Sun. Ms. Es Sabar holds a BSc. Joint Honours degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of Salford, England, and a MSc. degree in Neurochemistry from the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, England.

A highly-recognized Canadian life sciences leader, Karimah Es Sabar brings 30 years of dynamic global business experience to her role as President and CEO of The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She previously held the position of Senior Vice-President, Business and Strategic Affairs at CDRD, responsible for ensuring the organization’s long-term sustainability, while leading its business functions and successfully building the many national and international alliances and strategic partnerships which are now contributing significantly to advancing the goals of CDRD.

Prior to joining CDRD, Ms. Es Sabar took on the role of leading BC Biotech in 2005, re-engineering and rebranding the organization to LifeSciences BC. As President, she led the organization to its greatest levels of success as a strong business development organization for the life science industry and the scientific research community. Ms. Es Sabar has also held senior management positions with international multinational companies, most notably as Director International Division, and later Director Marketing and Business Development at Connaught Laboratories Limited [Sanofi Pasteur] based in Toronto. Ms. Es Sabar also served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for a Vancouver medical devices company, Medsurge Medical Inc., and was the founder and Managing Director of SAL Healthcare Limited, a leading healthcare organization in Kenya specializing in pharmaceutical marketing, distribution and healthcare consulting services. The company set new standards in the marketing and distribution of biopharmaceutical products in the region.

Ms. Es Sabar currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Providence Healthcare Research Institute, and also sits on the Boards of a number of organizations including the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR); the Prostate Centre Advisory Board, Vancouver General Hospital; the Prostate Centre’s Translational Research Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and Development (PC-TRIADD); NRC – IRAP Advisory Board; and also Chairs MOSAIC, a multilingual non-profit organization dedicated to addressing issues that affect immigrants and refugees in the course of their settlement and integration into Canadian society. She has also lent her leadership expertise by participating in a number of advisory committees for organizations such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); MITACS; the British Columbia Institute of Technology / University of British Columbia Biotechnology Degree Program; The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE); India Market Advisory Committee, and the British Columbia Asia-Pacific Trade Council. She is also a former board member of the Aga Khan National Economic Planning Board of Canada and Aga Khan National Health Boards in Canada and Kenya.

In 2007, Ms. Es Sabar received Canada’s Gold Award for Business Excellence (CABE) while at Sanofi Pasteur, was the recipient of the YWCA Women of Distinction Award in 2010 for Industry, Science and Technology, was included amongst “The Vancouver Power 50” listing of the most influential people in BC by Vancouver Magazine, and in “BC’s Top 100 Women of Influence” by the Vancouver Sun. Ms. Es Sabar holds a BSc. Joint Honours degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of Salford, England, and a MSc. degree in Neurochemistry from the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, England.

As president & CEO of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Diane draws on an exceptional record of academic and leadership experience to champion the growth of British Columbia’s health research enterprise.

From 2000 to 2008, Diane served as the inaugural scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism & Diabetes, where she led the focus on the strategic priority of obesity and healthy body weight. She also served as executive director of the CAPTURE Project (Canadian Platform to Increase Usage of Real-World Evidence), where she led a national strategic initiative to build a system to support the collection and use of practice-relevant evidence.

Diane is an internationally recognized scientist, innovator, communicator, strategic visionary, and proven leader in health research. As a scientist, she has made seminal contributions to our understanding of the causes of diabetes through the use of mathematical modeling. Her recent work has focused on understanding the complex biological, social, cultural, and environmental systems involved in regulation of body weight in individuals and populations. 

Among her numerous honours and recognitions, Diane has received the Canadian Obesity Network’s Mentorship Award (2011), the Canadian Diabetes Association’s Frederick G. Banting Award (2008), and was named one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women by Women’s Executive Network (2006).

Diane obtained her doctoral degree in physiology and biophysics from the University of Southern California and has bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering from the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. She is a professor in the Department of Biomedical Physiology & Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University.

Dr. Flaim holds a doctorate in Human Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California at Davis. He held faculty positions in Medicine and Physiology at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and senior management roles at the Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, the Squibb Institute for Medical Research, Alliance Pharmaceutical Corporation, Trega Biosciences, Inc. and Galileo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Dr. Flaim is Founder and President of Flaim Partners Consulting, a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, and the Royal Society of Medicine. He is a board member of Pivotal Biosciences, Inc. and AnaBios Corporation, Chairman of the Board for Leading Biosciences, on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, a Technology and Business advisor to the William J. von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement at the University of California, San Diego, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Tech Coast Angels, Past President of the San Diego Network of Tech Coast Angels, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with CONNECT, Chairman of the Board of Directors for the John G. Watson Foundation and is also active in numerous regional and national scientific organizations. Dr. Flaim is Cofounder and CEO of CardioCreate, Inc. and Chairman & CEO of OncoFluor, Inc.

Dr. Flaim is Special Advisor to the Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination in the Division of Extramural Research Activities, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institutes of the National Institutes of Health.

Mathew heads TELUS Ventures, the venture capital arm of TELUS Corporation. He is currently a Board director of Vision Critical and Martin Dawes. Board Observer roles include: Taulia, Teradici and Vigilent. Prior Board roles include Clairmail (acquired by Monitise), Checkwell Decisions (acquired by Sterling InfoSystems), Widevine (acquired by Google), Hostopia (acquired by Deluxe), Digit Wireless (acquired by Nuance), Critical Telecom (acquired by BATM), Atreus Systems (acquired by Sonus Networks), Apparent Networks (now AppNeta) and the Arts Club Theatre Company (owner of the Stanley and Granville Island stages).

Before founding TELUS Ventures in 2001, Mathew managed the global co-investment and direct private equity investment activities of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund. Mathew started his career with Paribas Asset Management in Paris, followed by roles in investment banking with Barclays de Zoete Wedd and Warburgs in London, New York and Paris.

Mathew holds a Master of Business Management degree from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commericiales (HEC) in Paris, with specialization in Analytical Finance from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. His Bachelor of Technology degree is in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from the Regional Engineering College, Calicut.

Mathew is a member of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, the Vancouver Society of Financial Analysts, IEEE and the CVCA.

Dr. Gleave is a clinician-scientist and urologic surgeon. His major research focus involves the study of cellular and molecular mechanisms mediating progression of prostate cancer to its lethal stage of androgen independence, and use of this information to develop integrated multimodality therapies that specifically target these mechanisms. Dr. Gleave established a role for clusterin as a cancer-related cell survival protein involved in treatment resistance and developed an inhibitor, designated OGX-011, which improved efficacy of hormone- and chemo-therapies in prostate and other cancer models. He is the scientific founder of OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

An experienced entrepreneur and biotechnology executive, Frank has been involved in Canada’s life sciences sector virtually since its emergence twenty years ago. As Founder of Gleeson & Associates (G&A), he provides pro-tem management or M&A advisory services to life sciences companies. One such role is Executive in Residence with the Ontario Institute (OICR) where Frank provides executive management to investee companies, such as DLVR Therapeutics Inc., which have received financial support from the OICR’s IPDC Fund. In 2008, Frank co-founded Verio Therapeutics with Dr. Michael Rudnicki based on the ‘big idea’ that pharmacological agents could activate the body’s innate stem cells to treat disease. Two years later, he engineered an exit of Verio’s platform of novel protein therapeutics to Fate Therapeutics, an award winning leader in the stem cell space. Frank now serves as President of Fate’s Canadian subsidiary Destin Therapeutics.

During the 1990s, as a Senior Vice-President and Partner with MDS Capital Corp., he led a team of investment professionals who created more than a dozen biomedical companies. Frank specialized in recruiting management teams and building Boards as well as syndicating over $250 million in financings for these portfolio companies. In 2000, he was invited by MDS Inc. to found and establish MDS Proteomics. Over a 3-year period as CEO, Frank led the acquisition of 3 companies, established major partnerships and raised in excess of $100 million. Frank is a Past-Chair of the Board of the Stemcell Network of Canada and has served on numerous boards of biotechnology companies. He holds B.B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from York University in Toronto.

Diane Gosselin, President and CEO of CQDM, joined the organization in 2008 as Vice President, Research and Business Development where she was responsible for establishing all funding programs and managing the corporate development activities. She has twenty years of experience in research and corporate financing, namely at the Fonds de solidarité FTQ where she helped several companies implement their drug development strategy and was actively involved in the elaboration of a strategic initiative aimed at promoting innovation in the life sciences sector. She took part in several technological maturation matters, notably as a board member of the Bio-Innovation Funds (2005-2008). She also served as a board member of Cardianove and the Biotechnologies Oceanova (2005-2008). At PROCREA BioSciences, she led the research team that created and developed the first non-invasive diagnostic test for endometriosis. Mrs. Gosselin holds a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the Université de Montréal, as well as an Executive MBA from the Université du Québec à Montréal and the Université Paris-Dauphine.

Paul Hastings has served as president and chief executive officer of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since January 2006. Prior to joining OncoMed, Mr. Hastings was president and chief executive officer of QLT, Inc. Before this role, Mr. Hastings served as president and chief executive officer of Axys Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Celera Corporation in 2001. Prior to Axys, Mr. Hastings was president of Chiron Biopharmaceuticals and also held a variety of management positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Corporation, including president of Genzyme Therapeutics Europe and president of Worldwide Therapeutics. Mr Hastings was Chairman of the Board of Proteolix ( sold to Onyx) and was a member of the board of directors of ViaCell Inc ( sold to Perkin Elmer). Mr Hastings is currently a member of the Board of directors for Pacira Pharmaceuticals, and serves as chairman of the board of the Bay Area Biosciences Association (Bay Bio) and is Vice Chair of the Emerging Companies Section of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island.

Bruce W. Jenett is Senior Counsel with DLA Piper LLP (US), located in the firm’s Palo Alto, California office. DLA Piper is the largest law firm in the world with over 4,200 lawyers in 32 countries and 78 offices. Mr. Jenett's practice is focused on the representation of U.S. and international business and finance clients in the life sciences industry. He is highly experienced in equity and debt financing, licensing and distribution, strategic alliances, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions, as well as general counseling issues, representing both start-ups and large multinational corporations. He is a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of BayBio, the Northern California life sciences industry association, and was a member of, and Chair ,of the Strategic Planning Committee of, former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's Biotech Advisory Council. From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Jenett served as Co-Chair of DLA Piper’s Global Life Sciences Sector. Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, consistently names Mr. Jenett one of the leading life sciences lawyers in the United States, noting his “strong and broad-based” practice. The PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2009 cites him as “highly recommended” in the area of life sciences, noting he is “known for his strong venture capital and collaborative expertise,” and he is cited as a recommended practitioner in the PLC Cross-border Life Sciences Handbook 2009/10. He has been repeatedly listed as a leading biotechnology industry lawyer in The Best Lawyers In America, has been named on the Law & Politics “Super Lawyers” list for Northern California for corporate and securities law in every year since 2007 (when the list began), is listed in The International Who's Who of Life Sciences Lawyers 2008, in the 2011 Who's Who Legal - The International Who's Who of Life Sciences Lawyers, in the San Francisco Business Times 2009 “Best Lawyers in The Bay Area” and “Best Biotechnology Lawyers” and in the 2010 San Francisco Chronicle “San Francisco's Best Lawyers” in the biotechnology category, and was named California Life Sciences Attorney of the Year in 2011 in Corporate INTL magazine 2011 Global Awards. Mr. Jenett is also featured as a Life Sciences Star in the inaugural edition of LMG's Life Sciences 2012.

Dr. Rav Kumar leads GlaxoSmithKline's Canadian R&D/Business Development organization involved in Clinical Research, Regulatory Affairs, External R&D Alliances and New Business Development.

Rav is a pharmacy graduate with a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences (from Bath University, UK) involving research into controlled delivery of drugs such as insulin. He has more than 25 years of global drug development experience having worked for start-up and multinational pharmaceutical companies in the United Kingdom, France and North America.

Rav has been very involved in the Canadian Pharmaceutical R&D “Ecosystem” over the past decade including time as President of the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS), Vice-Chair of Regulatory and Medical/Clinical Committees at Rx&D and Chair of several DIA Canada conferences. He also serves as President of SAPNA – a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and Health awareness of South Asian Canadians.

Dr. Ron Laufer is the head and Senior Managing Director of MedImmune Ventures, a $400M evergreen venture capital fund, which is a subsidiary of the AstraZeneca Group.

An experienced healthcare investor, Ron started his career as a physician before moving into venture capital. He was a co-founder of Lilly Ventures, the venture capital arm of Eli Lilly & Company, and later a managing director at Visium Asset Management, a healthcare-focused investment firm, before joining MedImmune Ventures in April of 2010.

Ron received his B.Sci., M.D. and M.P.H. from Hebrew University, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He is currently an adjunct Professor of business administration at the Kelley Business School.  

Gail Maderis is President & CEO of BayBio, the industry organization representing and supporting Northern California’s life science community. As a former biotech CEO, Ms. Maderis brings deep experience and commitment to supporting the industry through enterprise development, peer-to-peer experience sharing, advocacy and support of education and workforce development. From 2003 to 2009, Ms. Maderis served as President and CEO of Five Prime Therapeutics, Inc., a privately held protein discovery and development company. At FivePrime, she successfully funded the company’s rapid growth through substantial private equity financings and corporate partnerships and took the company’s first novel cancer therapeutic from discovery into clinical trials. Prior to FivePrime, Ms. Maderis held senior executive positions at Genzyme Corporation, including founder and president of Genzyme Molecular Oncology. Ms. Maderis practiced management and strategy consulting with Bain & Co. She serves on the boards of NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Opexa Therapeutics, BayBio, the Mayor’s Biotech Advisory Council of San Francisco and the HBS Healthcare Initiative. Ms. Maderis received a BS in business from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Pierre Meulien was appointed President and CEO of Genome Canada on October 18, 2010. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Meulien served as Chief Scientific Officer for Genome British Columbia from 2007 to 2010 where he promoted the organization's ongoing scientific strategy, focusing on the science of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics within the larger realm of biotechnology and life sciences. Facilitating the translation of genome based technologies into end user communities across many life science sectors was also a key responsibility.

From 2002 to 2007, Dr. Meulien served as the founding CEO of the Dublin Molecular Medicine Centre (now Molecular Medicine Ireland) which linked the three medical schools and six teaching hospitals in Dublin to build a critical mass in molecular medicine and translational research. The Centre managed the Euro 45 Million "Program for Human Genomics" financed by the Irish government and was responsible for coordinating the successful application for the first Wellcome Trust funded Clinical Research Centre to be set up in Ireland.

For over 20 years, Dr. Meulien has managed expert research teams with a number of organizations, including Aventis Pasteur in Toronto (Senior Vice President of R&D), and in Lyon, France (Director of Research). He also spent seven years with the French biotechnology company Transgene in Strasbourg, France as a research scientist and part of the management team.

Dr. Meulien's academic credentials include a PhD from the University of Edinburgh and a post-doctoral appointment at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.

Dr. Pimstone is a founder, Director, and President and Chief Executive Officer at Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of Canada’s leading privately owned biotechnology companies. Xenon is engaged in discovering and developing novel pharmaceuticals for rare human diseases using its unique genetic platform for novel target discovery.

He received his MD from the University of Cape Town. He is an internal medicine specialist (FRCPC) with an interest in cardiovascular disease. Prior to his specialization, he trained as a clinical research fellow with the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia and obtained his PhD through the University of Amsterdam in cardiovascular genetics. He is currently a consultant physician at the UBC Hospital, Cardiology Clinic.

Dr. Pimstone is a director and the past Chair of LifeSciences British Columbia. He also serves as director of Providence Health Care. He is a member of the Translation Advisory Committee of the PROOF (Prevention of Organ Failure) Centre, a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT) and a member of the BC Health Research Strategy Advisory Board for the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. He is Vice Chair of the Executive Management Team for the BC Clinical Research Infrastructure Network (BCCRIN). He serves as Director of the biotechnology companies Enject in California and Indel Therapeutics and Eupraxia in Vancouver.

Dr. Pimstone is also a Member of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council, which reports to the Federal Ministry of Industry and is co-chair of the 2013 State of the Nation Report on Canadian Science and Technology.

Dr. Pomerantz oversaw global scientific direction and strategy across drug discovery and development for the Infectious Diseases franchise, which includes all antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitic agents. Since Dr. Pomerantz joined Merck in 2010, the franchise advanced the first protease inhibitor marketed for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection, through U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and launch.

Prior to joining Merck, Dr. Pomerantz served as global head of infectious diseases and president of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson focused on antibacterial research. From 2005-2010, he also served as president of Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary focused on antiviral and tuberculosis research and development.

Dr. Pomerantz spent 15 years in academic medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Medical School in Philadelphia as professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, chief of Infectious Diseases and founding director and chair of the Institute for Research in Human Virology and Biodefense.

Dr. Pomerantz is a board-certified physician in both internal medicine and infectious diseases and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles on the clinical research, molecular pathogenesis and latency of HIV and other pathogenic human viruses.

Dr. Pomerantz received his B.S. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and conducted post-doctoral training in molecular retrovirology at Harvard Medical School and the Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Dr. David Baltimore.

Dr. Tehrani is one of Zymeworks' co-founders and currently serves as President and CEO of the company. He has been an integral part of many of the Company's corporate achievements including raising seed and angel financing and overseeing the Company's technical operations and patent filings. Dr. Tehrani holds both Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees in Biochemistry from the University of Massachusetts, and has a Doctoral degree in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia. While completing his PhD degree he co-founded the Student Biotechnology Network, for which he received the UBC Faculty of Science Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership in 2002.

Dr. Tehrani has served on the MITACS Industrial Advisory Board, and BIOTECanada's Industrial and Environmental Committee. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors of LifeSciences British Columbia and the Student Biotechnology Network.

Dawn Waterhouse, M.B.A., Ph.D., is the Director, Non-Clinical Studies and Manager, Production and Manufacturing, for the BC Cancer Agency’s Investigational Drug Program (IDP). In addition, she is Adjunct Professor to the University of British Columbia in the Department of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics. Her research has focused on the development of novel nanotherapeutics for the treatment of aggressive cancers including breast, colorectal and lung carcinomas. She has worked closely with a number of biotechnology companies in bringing compounds to first in man testing and performs editorial review for several journals.

The Innovation Centers are part of Johnson & Johnson's broad initiative to catalyze and enhance opportunities for collaboration in life science innovation hotspots. Mary is part of the Innovation Center based in Menlo Park, California. The Innovation Centers are designed to foster local innovation ecosystems by partnering flexibly with entrepreneurs, scientific leaders, and emerging companies. The ICs have the capabilities to flexibly adapt deal structures to meet the needs of local innovators prior to clinical proof of concept. Prior to the Innovation Center, Mary held roles in Mergers and Acquisitions, Licensing and Strategy for Forest Labs in New York City. Prior to Forest, Mary led business development activities at a venture funded clinical stage therapeutics company in the Boston area. Mary holds an MBA from MIT Sloan with a focus on new venture development, a PhD from Princeton and a BA from Yale.

Alan Winter is President and CEO of Genome British Columbia, appointed in December 2001. Genome BC is a not-for-profit research organization established in Vancouver to enable British Columbia to become a world leader in selected areas of genomics R&D and to develop a vibrant life sciences cluster in the province. Dr Winter is also a Trustee of the Providence Health Care Research Institute, and Chair of the BC CDC Foundation for Population and Public Health. In 2007, Dr. Winter received a Leadership Award from LifeSciences BC.

Dr. Winter has wide experience at senior levels in the technology industry and in government over the past 25 years, including such roles as the founding President and CEO of the New Media Innovation Centre in Vancouver, the President of the ComDev Space Group in Ontario, and the President and CEO of MPR Teltech in Vancouver. During his tenure as President, six companies were spun out of MPR, including PMC-Sierra and Sierra Wireless. Prior to MPR, Dr. Winter worked for Telesat Canada and the federal Communications Research Centre in Ottawa.

Dr. Winter is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Astronautics and Space Institute and received their inaugural Alouette Award. He is a Director of Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, and three technology companies in Canada. He was Chair of the Board of the Communications Research Centre, Deputy Chair of the Council of Science and Technology Advisors (CSTA), a member of the BC Premier's Council on Science and Technology, a founding Director of CANARIE, and Chair of the Canadian Research Management Association and of PRECARN Associates. Dr. Winter is also a member of the Expert Panel on Research Performance and Science Funding, Council of Canadian Academies.

Dr. Winter received his Ph.D. from Queen's University, Kingston, and was recognized by the Queen's alumni Legacy of Achievement.

Dr. Steven Xanthoudakis earned his doctoral degree from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University in 1990. Following his post-doctoral training with Dr. Tom Curran at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in New Jersey, he assumed a faculty position as a Research Investigator in the Department of Neurogenetics at Hoffman La Roche. He was recruited back to Montreal in 1996 to join Merck Frosst Canada as a Senior Research Scientist where he focused on advancing several early stage drug discovery programs in the neuroscience, respiratory and cardiovascular areas. Since early 2007 he has been involved in coordinating Merck and Co's Canadian R & D out-reach program. In his current position as Director, Licensing and External Research for Merck Research Laboratories, his primary role is to build lasting relationships with both the biotechnology and academic research communities and to help foster partnering opportunities which fit with Merck's strategic research and development goals across all therapeutic and technology areas. Dr. Steven Xanthoudakis is based out of the Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research in Montreal, Canada.