SPEAKERS

JOHN BELL

Senior Scientist, Cancer Therapeutics Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Dr. John Bell received his PhD from McMaster University in 1982. In the three years that followed, he trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa and then at the Medical Research Council in London, England. Dr. Bell began his independent research career at McGill University in 1986 and moved to the University of Ottawa, Department of Medicine, in 1989. He is a member of the Center for Cancer Therapeutics at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Center, a Senior Scientist with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He is the Director of the Canadian Oncolytic Virus Consortium supported by a Terry Fox Program Project Grant and is the Scientific Director of BioCanRx, a Network of Centres of Excellence that aims to bring novel immune stimulating therapies to cancer patients across Canada. His research program has focused on the development of novel viral and cell-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Dr. Bell is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

MAMATHA BHAT

Staff Hepatologist and Clinician-Scientist, Ajmera Transplant Program, University Health Network

Dr. Mamatha Bhat is a Hepatologist and Clinician-Scientist at UHN's Ajmera Transplant Centre, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is a Scientist at Toronto General Hospital Research Institute. Dr. Bhat completed her medical school and residency training, including the Clinician Investigator Program, at McGill University. She then completed a Transplant Hepatology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, followed by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Fellowship for Health Professionals through which she completed a PhD in Medical Biophysics (U of T).

The goal of Dr. Bhat’s research program is to improve long-term outcomes of liver transplantation through a precision medicine approach, using tools of Artificial Intelligence, RNA nanomedicine and systems biology to personalize the care of patients with HCC and NASH in the transplant setting. Her interdisciplinary program and team have been supported by CIHR, Terry Fox Research Institute, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canadian Liver Foundation (CLF), among others. Dr. Bhat is Co-Lead of the Transplant AI initiative, sits on the Executive committee of the CDTRP and is incoming Chair of the International Liver Transplant Society Basic and Translational Science Research committee. She is currently Director of the Clinician-Scientist Training Program for the Department of Medicine, which includes over 20 trainees and ensures training of the next generation of CS in the DOM.

ANNA BLAKNEY

Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, University of British Columbia

Dr. Anna Blakney is an Assistant Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories and School of Biomedical Engineering at UBC. She received her Bachelor of Science in Chemical & Biological Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and her PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Imperial College London on the development of molecular and biomaterial engineering strategies for delivery of self-amplifying RNA. Her lab uses bioengineering, molecular biology and immunology approaches to develop the next generation of RNA vaccines and therapies.

LEAH E. COWEN

Vice-President Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives, University of Toronto

Dr. Leah Cowen is Vice-President, Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Toronto, Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, co-Director of the CIFAR Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities program, and co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Bright Angel Therapeutics, a company focused on development of novel antifungals. She has received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award, Grand Challenges Canada Star in Global Health Award, E.W.R. Steacie Award, and Canada Research Chair in Microbial Genomics & Infectious Disease. She is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her laboratory takes an interdisciplinary approach to understand how fungi cause human disease and evolve resistance to antifungal drugs, leveraging fundamental biological insights to advance development of new strategies to treat life-threatening fungal, infectious disease.

RIENK DE VRIES

Jill Dunlop has been the member of provincial parliament for Simcoe North since 2018. Born and raised in the Town of Coldwater in Simcoe North, Jill witnessed the importance of community and small local businesses early on as her grandparents owned and operated Dunlop Plumbing, and her parents were actively engaged community members.

Prior to being elected, Jill attended Western University, and later joined the faculty of Georgian College. She is also the mother of three postsecondary aged daughters, all giving her unique insights into the world of higher education. In 2019, Jill was appointed Associate Minister of Children and Women’s Issues in the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. In 2021, she was appointed Minister of Colleges and Universities, and was re-appointed to the post in June 2022.

Dr. Hansen He is an experimental and computational biologist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. His research focuses on cancer epigenetics and noncoding RNA in cancer.

Dr. He obtained his PhD in molecular biology and bioinformatics at the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2008. He then received postdoctoral training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard University. Dr. He was recruited as a scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and assistant professor at the Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto in 2013. He was promoted to senior scientist in 2018 and professor in 2022.

The He laboratory applies a variety of genomic, epigenomic experimental and computational approaches to decipher epigenetic and epitranscriptomic regulation in Cancer, focusing on three major directions: 1. Understand epigenetic and epitranscriptomic regulation in cancer development, progression, drug response and resistance. 2. Identify epigenetic and epitranscriptomic biomarkers in tumor and liquid biopsies. 3. Target cancer specific epigenetic and epitranscriptomic regulation for cancer therapy, with a focus on RNA therapy.

Dr. He has authored over 100 publications at high profile journals including Nature (2016), Cell (2018, 2019), Nature Genetics (2016, 2020), Nature Cell Biology (2021) and Gastroenterology (2022). The translational research in Dr. He’s laboratory has resulted in one phase II clinical trial and four patents. Dr. He has received many distinctions and recognitions, including a few new investigator awards from national funding agencies, as well as being named a rising star in prostate cancer research. He holds the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Brazilian Ball Chair in Prostate Cancer Research and leads the RNA Medicine Initiative at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

Minister, Colleges and Universities

Dr. Sarah Hedtrich obtained her PhD in Pharmacology & Toxicology from the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany in 2009. During her postdoc, she moved to the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and Tufts University in Boston, USA. She was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Freie University of Berlin, Germany, in 2015 and relocated her lab to the U of British Columbia in 2019. Currently, she holds one of the prestigious Johanna-Quandt-Professorships at the Berlin Institute of Health @ Charité in Berlin, Germany, and is an Affiliate Professor at UBC.

She co-/authored over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles in high-impact journals including the Journal of Controlled Release, Small, Nature Reviews Materials, and Theranostics. Her research centers around inflammatory and genetic diseases of human epithelia with a focus on skin and lungs and bioengineering of complex, human disease models which are leveraged to develop personalized next-generation therapies.

Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia

SARAH HEDTRICH

Senior Scientist, University Health Network

HANSEN HE

HON. JILL DUNLOP

Professor, Department of Oncological Science, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Yizhou Dong is a Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His research focuses on the design and development of biotechnology platforms for the treatment of genetic disorders, infectious diseases, and cancers. Dr. Dong has authored over one hundred papers and patents. Several of his inventions have been licensed and are currently under development as drug candidates for clinical trials. He serves as a scientific advisory board member for Oncorus Inc, Arbor Biotechnologies, and FL85. Dr. Dong is an elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

YIZHOU DONG

Patient Partner, Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program

Rienk is an experienced engineering and management consultant who has been providing services in water, wastewater, and stormwater management in the US, the UK, and Canada since 1986. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and an MBA. Rienk is happily married with three children, and he enjoys sailing and playing soccer during his free time. Unfortunately, in 1996, Rienk received a diagnosis of a fully penetrant mutation of the Desmin gene which caused significant cardiac involvement, resulting in high-grade AV block and notable right ventricular involvement. Despite various interventions and five pacing devices over 16 years, his condition continued to worsen. As a result, he spent 10 months on the waiting list for a heart transplant, which he eventually received successfully in December 2012 at Toronto General Hospital. Rienk is particularly interested in RNAi-based therapy and RNA-guided genome editing, which have both shown great promise in degrading mutant mRNA transcripts, and cutting and modifying mutant gene DNA sequences respectively. He is enthusiastic about the significant potential that adopting and scaling these techniques have in alleviating chronic and end-organ disease. He has been working as a patient partner with the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program (CDTRP) for the past year and a half and aims to bridge gaps between researchers, clinicians, patients, and caregivers as well as between institutions across Canada and other countries.

DARREL J. IRVINE

Professor, Departments of Biological Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Darrell Irvine is a Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He also serves on the steering committee of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard. His research is focused on the application of engineering tools to problems in cellular immunology and the development of new materials for vaccine and drug delivery. Major efforts of the laboratory are directed toward vaccine development for HIV and cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Irvine’s work has been recognized by numerous awards, including election as a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, election as a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and appointment as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is the author of over 200 publications, reviews, and book chapters and an inventor on numerous patents.

ELMAR JAECKEL

Medical Director, Liver Transplant Program, University Health Network

Dr. Elmar Jaeckel is a trained gastroenterologist/ hepatologist as well as endocrinologist/diabetologist and transplantation specialist. He is Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program at the Ajmera Transplant Centre, University Health Network. He studied medicine at University of Hamburg, Yale University New Haven, University of California San Diego, University of Edinburgh and University of Sydney. He completed his medical training at the Hannover Medical School (MHH). He studied medical economics at the University of applied sciences in Hannover and received a bachelor as Medical Hospital Manager. He spent a four years postdoctoral research fellowship with Harald von Boehmer at the Harvard Medical School, Boston working on central and peripheral tolerance mechanisms. Since 2003, he has been leading the research group on immune tolerance and metabolic inflammation at the MHH. The group is focusing to establish tissue-specific tolerance in autoimmunity, transplantation and metabolic inflammation.

OMAR KHAN

Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, University of Toronto

Omar is the Canada Research Chair in Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Immunology. He earned his B.A.Sc. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto with Michael V. Sefton. He later joined Daniel G. Anderson and Robert Langer as their Postdoctoral Associate in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Omar is the scientific co-founder of Azane Therapeutics and Tiba Biotech, companies spun out from his chemistry and engineering work. Omar was also a Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control consultant for industry. His early work focused on the creation of three dimensional organoid models and engineered tissue substitutes. This work evolved to include the development of nucleic acid-based platform technologies to study the genetic mechanisms of diseases and create RNA-based therapies. Now, Omar continues to unite academic, industry and government efforts to create new RNA technologies for medicine and beyond. As an RNA nanotechnology expert, he is regularly featured in television, radio and print news. When not working with his spectacular team, Omar loves spending time with his wife and adorable babies.

MICHAEL LAFLAMME

Senior Scientist, McEwen Stem Cell Institute

Dr. Michael Laflamme is the Robert McEwen Chair in Cardiac Regenerative Medicine, Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine, Senior Scientist in the McEwen Stem Cell Institute, Staff Pathologist in the Laboratory Medicine Program at the University Health Network (UHN), and Professor of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. He leads a research program that is focused on developing novel cardiac cell therapies based on human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), and his laboratory has made a number of important contributions in this area including efficient protocols to guide hPSCs into cardiomyocytes, proof-of-concept transplantation studies with hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes in preclinical models, and the first direct demonstration that hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes can become electrically integrated and activate synchronously with host myocardium in injured hearts. Dr. Laflamme has been the recipient of honors including the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology Young Investigator Award, the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy Outstanding New Investigator Award, and the UHN Inventor of the Year. He also practices cardiovascular and autopsy pathology and is a founding investigator of BlueRock Therapeutics.

BOWEN LI

Assistant Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto

Dr. Bowen Li is a Tenure-stream Assistant Professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (cross-appointed) at the University of Toronto and an Affiliate Scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. He holds the Canada Research Chair in RNA Vaccines and Therapeutics (Tier 2). He earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, and completed a Postdoc Fellowship under the supervision of Profs. Robert Langer and Daniel Anderson at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His lab harnesses interdisciplinary strategies, including combinatorial chemistry, high throughput platforms and AI-driven design of experiments to facilitate the development of new lipid nanoparticles for RNA medicines and gene editing tools, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers on Nat. Biotechnology, Nat. Med., Nat. Comm., Sci. Adv., etc. Since starting his independent lab in Feb 2022, Dr. Li has received the Gairdner Early Career Investigator Award, the J. P. Bickell Foundation Medical Research Award, the Journal of Materials Chemistry B Emerging Investigator Award, Advanced Drug Delivery Review Emerging Voice Award, the Connaught New Researcher Award, and the LDFP New Initiative and Innovation Award.

NATALIA MARTIN OROZCO

Chief Scientific Officer, Providence Therapeutics

Dr. Natalia Martin Orozco is Chief Scientific Officer at 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. Currently she leads a team of scientist to develop vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer therapies.

Dr. Martin Orozco has more than 15 years experienced in drug development in both industry and academia. Prior positions include leading target discovery and drug development teams taking assets through regulatory approvals for clinical trials including personalized cell therapies and biologics for cancer and autoimmunity.

Dr. Martin Orozco served as Principal Scientist at EMD Serono, LION Biotechnology (now IOVANCE) and Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. Earlier in her career, Natalia spent 9 years at MD Anderson Cancer Center working on translational immunology research where she published seminal work on checkpoint blockade, Th17 cells in cancer and autoimmunity.

Dr. Martin Orozco earned her PhD in Immunology from Universidad Nacional Autonóma de México and did postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School in Boston and Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.

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LASZLO G. RADVANYI

President and Scientific Director, OICR

Dr. Laszlo Radvanyi is the President & Scientific Director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR; https://oicr.on.ca/), bringing over 30 years of oncology research background in academia and leadership experience in international pharma and biotech. He is also a Professor in the Immunology Department at the University of Toronto where he performs research on the expression and role of “non-coding regions” including retroelements/retrotransposons, human endogenous retroviruses, and other repeat sequences in anti-tumour immunity and in driving early tumour initiation and progression. Dr. Radvanyi joined OICR from EMD Serono (Merck KGaA), where he was Senior Vice President Global Head of the Immuno-Oncology Translational Innovation Platform and Senior Scientific Advisor for Immunology and Immunotherapy. Prior to this, Dr. Radvanyi was a Professor in the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for 10 years where he ran an integrated clinical and basic cancer immunotherapy research program focusing on adoptive cell therapy. He was instrumental in launching a pioneering company commercializing cell therapies for melanoma and other cancers, Iovance Therapeutics. Dr. Radvanyi is a sought-after expert in cancer biology and immunotherapy and a thought leader in the field of oncology research strategy.

GAURAV SAHAY

Associate Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Oregon State University

Gaurav Sahay is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and co-Director for the Center of Innovative Drug Delivery and Imaging (CIDDI), at the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University. Dr. Sahay’s lab is developing novel nanotechnology-based platforms including lipid-based nanoparticles for effective delivery of messenger RNA therapeutics for treatment of cystic fibrosis, retinal degeneration and against SARS-CoV2. He has done pioneering work to dissect the intracellular transport essential for nucleic acid delivery to the cytosol and developed methods to overcome endosomal barriers. He has more than 60-peer-reviewed publications in top tier journals including Science Advances, Nature, Nature Communications, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Nanotechnology, Journal of Controlled Release, Nano Letters etc. He is the winner of a 2013 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Postdoctoral Fellow Award, the 2015 Controlled Release Society (CRS) T. Nagai Award, a 2016 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) New Investigator Award, a 2019 Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) Distinguished Faculty Senate Award for Collaboration, 2020 Phi Kappa Phi OSU Emerging Scholar Award and 2020 CMBE Young Innovator Award. He serves as the Principal Investigator on awards funded through the National Institutes of Health, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and biotech companies. He serves as a consultant and scientific advisory board member to several biotech and venture capital firms. He was the Chair of the 2018 NanoMedicine and Drug Delivery Symposium (NanoDDS, Portland, OR) and is standing section member for NANO. Dr. Sahay completed his postdoctoral research with Prof. Robert Langer and Prof. Daniel Anderson at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT and received his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska Medical Center under the mentorship of Prof. Alexander Kabanov

AARON SCHIMMER

Senior Scientist and Director, Research Institute, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Dr. Aaron Schimmer graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto and completed specialty and subspecialty training in internal medicine in and hematology. He subsequently pursued research training and received his PhD in Molecular Biology in followed by post-doctoral training at the Burnham Institute in San Diego, California.

Dr. Schimmer is the Director of Research, a Senior Scientist and a Staff Physician at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network. Dr. Schimmer is also a Professor in the departments of Medicine, Medical Biophysics, and Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. He is a Past President of the Canadian Hematology Society.

Dr. Schimmer’s clinical practice is focused on treating patients with acute leukemia and related disorders. His laboratory research focuses on developing new therapeutic strategies for leukemia by targeting dysregulated mitochondrial pathways in leukemia stem cells. Dr. Schimmer is the author of over 270 publications and is an inventor on over 20 patent applications. He has received over 40 awards and honours for academic achievement including election to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, election to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and and Scholar in Clinical Research by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

VIVIAN SIMBUL SIM

OICR Patient Partner

Vivian is a breast cancer survivor for 12 years. She’s happily retired after 40 years’ experience leading operational and organizational transformations in four industries. Vivian spends her time giving back to her community and health care. She’s been an advocate for patient care as a Patient Family Advisor at Odette & the Sunnybrook Community, as well as Ontario Health (Cancer Care Ontario). Most recently, she’s a patient partner at OICR.

GILBERT WALKER

Professor, Chemistry, University of Toronto

Dr. Gilbert Walker is the Scientific Director & CEO of the NanoMedicines Innovation Network (NMIN), a national Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) funded by the Government of Canada. Dr. Walker is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto and co-founder of two start-ups: NorthMiRs Inc. for therapeutics; and Sylleta Inc., a clean-tech company developing cost-effective and eco-friendly technologies for aquaculture.

BRADLY G. WOUTERS

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.