Dr. Andy J. Smith is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario. In addition, he is a Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He completed medical school, including a Masters of Science, and General Surgery residency at the University of Toronto. He also completed a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan – Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Upon returning to Canada, he established himself as a leader in the management of colorectal cancer. He has served as Head of the Division of General Surgery at Sunnybrook, Chair of the Division of General Surgery at the University of Toronto and Chief of the Odette Cancer Program and Regional Vice President for Cancer Care Ontario. Most recently, Dr. Smith has served Sunnybrook as its Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Executive.

Michael Israels is the Chief Financial Officer of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM). Prior to joining CCRM, Michael was a Management Consultant at Ernst & Young LLP, President of BEST Funds, a Toronto-based venture capital firm, and CEO Of Convexus Managed Services Inc., a start-up investment fund administration company. As CFO, Michael is responsible for overseeing finance, administrative, facility & IT activities, the creation and support of start-up regenerative medicine companies, risk management activities, sourcing of risk capital, corporate development supporting CCRM’s growth strategy, and development of investment funding vehicles.

Patrick Clifford is currently the Director of Research and Innovation, at the Research Institute of Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket Ontario and CreateIT Now the Southlake owned and operated on campus health innovation centre.  Patrick’s responsibilities include 1/oversight of research operations and infrastructure (including the REB) and 2/ advancing innovation and commercialization activities along with culture building, through strategic collaborations with industry, academia, funders and other key partners. Currently Patrick is charged with leading the development and implementation of Southlake’s research agenda and advancing the innovation and commercialization strategy which includes growing partnerships and collaborations with private sector ventures wishing to test and/or validate wide ranging health focused technologies with Southlake clinicians in an acute care, large community hospital environment. Patrick is also engaged in Southlake’s health sector leadership role in innovative, outcome based, procurement practices. Patrick brings 32 years of health care experience in acute care to his current role. He holds an MSW, a BA, BSW and BEd. and continues to practice as a clinician on a periodic basis in an emergency mental health setting.

Dr. Anne Mullin works with leading decision-makers across the health and life sciences sector to amplify the impact of biomedical discoveries and healthcare innovations on the health and wellbeing of populations in both developed and developing countries.

​Anne’s collaborative approach to working with clients and rich academic track record in the study of infectious disease have supported the sustainability and success of numerous international product development consortia, allowed both industry and academic partners to manage risk of high-impact clinical trials, and helped clients from industry, academia and the not-for-profit sector attract capital, establish partnerships and drive innovation. Having led engagements in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa, Anne’s client base spans the globe.

Dr. Frank Naus is the Chief Operating Officer of Allphase Clinical Research Inc., a Canadian CRO headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Frank earned his Doctorate in Business Administration from Walden University and has an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University and MSc and BSc degrees in Applied Health Sciences from the University of Waterloo. Frank started his career in the pharmaceutical and clinical research industry. Prior to joining Allphase, he was Vice President Research at Hamilton Health Sciences.

As Healthcare Industry Lead for Microsoft Canada, Peter Jones is responsible for developing the strategy vision of modern healthcare for the Canadian marketplace. Working closely with the Microsoft Worldwide Healthcare team, Peter is deeply enriched in the best practices of healthcare digital transformation that is being practiced by healthcare industry leaders around the globe. Peter’s mandate is to help clients improve their clinical and operational performance by leveraging Microsoft solutions for healthcare data and records management, advanced analytics, and big data, while remaining compliant. Peter joined Microsoft nearly 20 years ago and has been focused on the healthcare industry for over 10 years. He is actively involved in a number Health Informatics groups such as COACH, CHIEF (Advisor), and is an active ITAC Health board member.

Jennifer Chan was appointed Vice President, Policy and External Affairs, at Merck Canada Inc. as of June 1, 2014 and is responsible for the company’s team of government relations and public affairs specialists.  Prior to this role, she held the position of Vice President, Policy and Communications at Merck Canada since December 2011.

A native of Montreal, Jennifer began her career in academic research before joining Schering-Plough in 1993 as a Clinical Research Associate. Since then, she has worked in various areas of the business, primarily in Regulatory Affairs, Specialty Services and Medical Affairs. She was Director of Regulatory Affairs, for Schering Plough at the time of the merger with Merck in 2009.

Jennifer is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Health Economics in Alberta, as well as the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery and the Quebec Network for Personalized Health Care. She is a member of the board of Life Sciences Ontario and has served as a Merck for Mothers ambassador in Canada since the program was launched in 2011. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physiology and a Master of Science degree in pharmacology and therapeutics, both from McGill University in Montreal. She completed the last year of her master’s degree at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

In 1999, Ray was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at McMaster University , where he started new projects on polyglutamine diseases, focusing on Huntington’s Disease. In 2001, Ray won the CIHR “New Scientist” award and his group is now supported by operating grants from Canada and the United States. In 2010, he was promoted to full Professor in Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences.

Professor Truant is Chair of the Scientific Advisory board of the Huntington Society of Canada since 2007.  Dr. Truant is a recipient of the 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the 2014 Michael Wright Community Leadership Award.

The Truant lab is in an academic setting, but highly collaborative with pharmaceutical industry and biotech partners, as well as clinical collaborators, Dr. Mark Guttman at the Centre for Movement Disorders in Toronto and Toronto Western Hospital and the University of Toronto, as well as Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky at McMaster’s Neuromuscular Disease Clinic.  Dr. Truant is on the Scientific Advisory Board of Mitokinin LLC, a biotech firm dedicated to the development of small molecules drug therapy to restore the phosphorylation of mutant Huntingtin and thus treat Huntington’s disease.

Mr. Adams is Board Chair of the Best Medicines Coalition, Co-founder, President & CEO of Canadian PKU and Allied Disorders non-profit and Co-Founder and Trustee of the Global Association for PKU. He is a former Chair of the Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders.

Mr. Adams is a graduate of York University; worked as a reporter for The Globe and Mail; chief of staff to a Cabinet Minister in Ontario; elected three times to Toronto City Council, serving as Budget Chief and Acting Mayor; and served as a trustee of Canada’s largest hospital, the University Health Network