SPEAKERS

Patient Advocate and Advisor

Beth is a warm, community-focused leader who finds joy in travel, meaningful connections, and the company of her family, friends and Bernadoodles, Marty McFly and Doc Brown. A physiotherapist by training, Beth is now a patient engagement professional and nonprofit Executive Director, while also serving on the boards of Arnprior Health and the Ottawa Food Bank. Her writing has been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine Evidence, Wildfire Magazine, and eCHIMA, establishing her as both a thought-leader and an advocate. She was featured on the CBC podcast "Sickboy”.

Clinician Scientist, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute; Staff Medical Oncologist, Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre; Professor of Medicine, University of Ottawa

Mark Clemons is a Clinician Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (Cancer Therapeutics Program), staff medical oncologist (Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre) and Professor of Medicine (University of Ottawa). He is the recipient of multiple peer-reveiwed research grants and has over 350 publications in the field of breast cancer management. His research vision is to remove many of the barriers that lead the development of multiple standard of care therapies with very little data to actually show which treatment is best in the real world setting. This has resulted in the creation of the world’s largest, pragmatic oncology trials program (REthinking Clinical Trials: REaCT) which to date has accrued over 5500 patients from across Canada.

Former Ontario Minister of Health and Deputy Premier

Christine Elliott, former Ontario Minister of Health and Deputy Premier, is Counsel with the Fasken Health Law group in their Toronto office. With over 15 years of experience in public service, she is ideally positioned to assist clients with navigating existing and emerging complexities in the healthcare space. During her tenure as Ontario’s Minister of Health from 2018 to 2022, Christine played an integral part in overseeing the province’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this role, she also sponsored The People’s Health Care Act and enacted the Connecting Care Act. The Connecting Care Act gave rise to Ontario Health, a Crown agency that merged the 14 Local Health Integration Network and other agencies including Cancer Care Ontario, Gift of Life Network, eHealth Ontario, and HealthForce Ontario in order to facilitate integrated care delivery systems also known as local Ontario Health teams. Christine also served as Ontario’s Deputy Premier (2018 to 2022) and as Ontario’s first Patient Ombudsman (2016 to 2018). Christine, along with her husband James (Jim) Flaherty was a founding partner of Flaherty, Dow, Elliott & McCarthy. Later, Christine and Jim co-founded Abilities Centre in Whitby, Ontario, which supports and celebrates the abilities of all people and is a place where everyone belongs, regardless of their challenges. In addition, she has held positions on a range of boards in the health care sector since becoming involved as a volunteer with several charities including the Lakeridge Health Whitby Foundation, Durham Mental Health Services, and Grandview Children’s Centre. Christine currently sits on the Board of Directors for Life Sciences Ontario. Christine graduated from the University of Western Ontario law school and was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1980.

Department Head, UHN's Centre for Mental Health and Program Medical Director, UHN-CAMH Partnership.

Dr. Ishrat Husain [MBBS, MD(Res.), FRCPsych, FRCPC], is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, where he also holds the Cameron Wilson Chair in Depression Studies. He serves as the Department Head and Program Medical Director of the Mental Health program at University Health Network and Program Medical Director of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)-UHN Partnership. Dr. Husain's research program focusses on advancing understanding and treatment of mood disorders across populations through clinical trials of established and emerging treatments, including psychedelic therapies.

Associate Vice-President, Health Research, University of Calgary; Senior Associate Dean, Health Research, Cumming School of Medicine; and Nephrologist and Professor of Medicine

Braden Manns is the Associate Vice President (Health Research), University of Calgary, a Professor in Health Economics and a Kidney Specialist at the University of Calgary. He has expertise in Applied Health Economics, and his current research interests include assessing the impact of health system structure, and health care policies on the health of Canadians. He holds a CIHR Foundation award in health system funding and was the co-PI of a $60M CIHR-funded patient-oriented research network in chronic disease (www.Cansolveckd.ca). He has served as Associate Chief Medical Officer and lead for Alberta’s Strategic Clinical networks, and Interim Vice President for two different Alberta Health Services portfolios. For his contributions, he has received numerous awards, including the 2024 Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada Mentorship Award and the 2025 Kidney Foundation of Canada – King Charles III Coronation Medal.

President & CEO, Clinical Trials Ontario

Susan Marlin is the President and CEO of Clinical Trials Ontario and the Nominated Principal Applicant for CanReview. Prior to serving in these positions, she was the Associate Vice-Principal of Research at Queen’s University and worked with the National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trials Group, leading the development and implementation of the Ethics and Regulatory Office. Susan has served as President of the Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards, as a member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Research Integrity Committee, the Ontario Cancer Research Ethics Board, and the Tri-Agency Panel on the Responsible Conduct of Research. She was awarded the Queen’s Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal in 2012 in recognition of her work in support of military and veteran health research.

President & CEO, Michael Smith Health Research BC

Dr. Geoff Payne joined Michael Smith Health Research BC as President & CEO in November 2025, bringing more than two decades of experience as a biomedical researcher and senior academic leader in British Columbia’s post-secondary and health research sectors. Geoff joined Health Research BC from the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), where he served as President and Vice-Chancellor. Throughout his career, Geoff has held numerous leadership positions dedicated to strengthening BC’s research ecosystem. At UNBC, he was the inaugural Assistant Dean for Education and Research and the founding Director of the UNBC Health Research Institute. He later served as Vice-President, Research before assuming the presidency. Over his tenure, he championed research excellence, strengthened community partnerships, and expanded opportunities for innovation in northern and rural health.

Executive Vice President, Science and Research, University Health Network

Dr. Bradly Wouters is an internationally recognized leader and cancer researcher. He became Executive Vice President of Science and Research at UHN in 2016 and prior to that, served as the Interim Director of Research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre since 2014. He joined UHN in 2008 as Senior Scientist and Director of the Princess Margaret Hypoxia Program, and has held faculty appointments at the University of Toronto in the Department of Medical Biophysics and the Department of Radiation Oncology since that time. Prior to joining UHN, Dr. Wouters was Professor and Head of Experimental Radiation Oncology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. As EVP of Science and Research, Dr. Wouters is focused on creating an environment that incentivizes, facilitates, and rewards excellence in basic, translational, and clinical research across all elements of UHN.

Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Critical Care), Pharmacy, and Community Health Sciences, and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Clinical Trials, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba; Hematologist and Senior Scientist, CancerCare Manitoba and Research Institute; Scientific Director, George and Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation and Aurora Clinical Research

Dr. Ryan Zarychanski is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, hematologist, critical care physician, and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Clinical Trials. He serves as Scientific Director of Aurora Clinical Research and the George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation. An internationally recognized clinical trialist, he leads innovative research programs focused on advancing clinical trial methods and integrating research into healthcare systems.