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September 2013 Laboratory Focus www.laboratoryfocus.ca
aPPointmentS
Zymeworks announces the addition of Dr. Leonard Presta to its scientific advisory board. Dr. Presta has spent more than 20 years working in the biotechnology industry, and is known for his work in the fields of antibody and protein engineering. Most recently, Presta served as a Distinguished Fellow at Merck & Co., Inc. where he was responsible for the protein engineering of all internal therapeutic antibodies. Prior to this he worked at Genentech, Inc., including as director of the Antibody Technology Group where he was responsible for or led the protein engineering of notable antibody therapeutics including Herceptin®, Perjeta® Raptiva®, Xolair®, Avastin®, and Lucentis®. He is an inventor on more than 130 U.S. patents and has served on the editorial boards of notable journals including the Journal of Biological Chemistry, PROTEINS, and MABS. Dr. Presta received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University in the computational modeling of proteinligand interactions. Dr. Michael Raymont has accepted the permanent role as president and CEO of AVAC Ltd. Dr. Ray-
mont is a long serving director of AVAC who has acted as the interim president and CEO of AVAC since November of 2012. His commercial experience includes five years in the U.S. as chairman and CEO of a Boston-based capital assets solution provider to Fortune 1000 companies. Prior to that assignment, Raymont was president and CEO of two Canadian-based technology companies and CEO of the non-regulated subsidiaries of Telus Corporation where he managed its venture investments as well as its U.S. and international operations.
Raymont also brings extensive expertise with early and later-stage financial investments including his role as chairman of Borderline Asia and as director of Arzaq Power Investments LLC. of Qatar. Dr. Raymont has assisted in bringing two Chinese companies to list on the Toronto Venture Exchange and now serves as a corporate director of both companies. He has also served at the assistant Deputy Minister and Deputy Minister levels of the federal government where he was initially vice president, Technology and Industry Support of the National Research Council of Canada which included NRC’s successful IRAP programme and then acting president of NRC.
Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The Proof of Principle Program Committee at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has appointed Dr. Clermont Beaulieu, director, Business Development in Life Sciences, at Univalor to its committee. Proof of principle is a funding tool designed to help Canadian health researchers share their academic findings with the marketplace. The goal is to advance discoveries or inventions to attract new investment, create new businesses, organizations and scientific initiatives and ultimately, improve the health of Canadians. The committee on which Beaulieu will sit evaluates grant applications submitted to the program. After studying life sciences with a specialization in neuroscience at leading universities, including Oxford, Mr. Beaulieu began his career at the Université de Montréal as a researcher in the department of pathology and cell biology. He then served as vice president, Research and Development, in a large private company, while also serving as the general manager in a biotechnology spinoff company. He joined Univalor in 2009.
The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) announces the appointment of Dr. Thierry Mesana, cardiac surgeon and former chief
LifeSciences BC is announces the appointment of Paul V. Drohan as its new president and CEO. Drohan has over 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, and has recently returned from the United Kingdom where he lived and worked for the past eight years. Most recently, Drohan was with Genzyme (a Sanofi Company) as senior Global vice president, leading the organizations’ strategic, financial and sales and marketing operations performance for the U.K., Republic of Ireland, South
Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. has named Ian Mortimer as its new chief financial officer. Mortimer has over 15 years experience in the biotechnology sector and is currently executive vice president and CFO at Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Prior to his most recent position at Tekmira, he was CFO at Inex Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Mortimer has an MBA from Queen’s University, a B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of British Columbia and is a Certified Management Accountant. He will join Xenon as CFO full time by November 1, 2013.
of the Division of Cardiac Surgery, as its new president and CEO. Dr. Mesana will begin his five-year term on April 1, 2014. Previously, he was a visiting professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, MA. He worked as a full professor of Cardiac Surgery and was the chair of Adult Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in Marseille, France. After that, he was appointed chief of Cardiac Surgery at UOHI. Dr. Mesana got his medical degree at the Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France, where he trained in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. He got his PhD in biophysics from the same university after extensive experimental work on artificial heart and ventricular assist devices. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
STI CEO Steve Nicolle has been appointed to the BioNova board of directors. The executive of the Halifax-based company joined the local life sciences organization in late August, bringing with him ten years of CEO and board-level experience at New England venture-backed technology companies, in addition to his knowledge and experience in his CEO role at STI since 2010. Prior to joining STI he was CEO of Tatara Systems and Sigma Systems, COO at March Networks, chairman of Searidge Technologies, and president of Nortel’s Service Provider eBusiness Solutions Group.Nicolle is a computer science graduate of the University of Western Ontario and started his career at Bell Northern Research as a software developer. The Board of Directors of the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) announces the appointment of Rick Blickstead as president and CEO, effective October 1, 2013. He joins the CDA after almost 11 years as CEO of the Wellesley Institute, a Toronto-based population health research and policy institute. He has experience working with multiple stakeholders in this role and previously in executive leadership roles with Peoples Jewellers, Wal-Mart, Dylex, Holt Renfrew and RONA. Currently he is an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, a Fellow of the Social Innovation Generation at MaRS and has been the operational team leader for Seeing is Believing, an initiative of the Prince’s Trust (UK) and Prince’s Charities Canada. He is also a member of several boards, including the Toronto Central LHIN, Young Presidents/World Presidents Organization, and Toronto Region Board of Trade’s Policy and Advocacy Committee.
