David Dean

Chief Business Development Officer, Canary Medical

David brings over 20 years of business development and company analysis experience and is currently the Chief Business Development Officer at Canary Medical, a private Vancouver based company focused on “smart” medical implants that have the potential to improve patient outcomes and clinical workflow at a lower cost to payors by using data, machine learning and AI to detect complications sooner than otherwise possible. Prior to Canary, David was the Chief Business Development Officer at Cardiome/Correvio (sold to Advanz Pharma) and prior, David spent well over a decade as a highly awarded sell-side analyst at the largest Canadian independent investment bank in Canada.

David’s experience is centered upon sourcing, identifying, analyzing, valuing, negotiating and then consummating transactions of all forms with Companies and Investors, including in and out-licensing, financings and M&A.

Jacki Jenuth

Partner, Lumira

With over 20 years of life science, IT and business development executive-level experience, Jacki is a key member of the senior management team with responsibilities that include financial analysis, industry intelligence, proactive sourcing of deals, structuring deal terms and fund raising initiatives in North America. Jacki has a strong reputation for providing the focus, clarity and cohesion required to drive projects from efficient inception to effective completion.

Jacki focuses on early stage companies developing new therapeutic drugs in a variety of indications and also within the digital health health space. In addition to her investment activities, Jacki also directs all aspects of Lumira Ventures’ information technology initiatives having developed a world class venture capital analytics platform.

Jacki has published several scientific articles and two book chapters, and is the recipient of three major academic research awards.

Zain Kassam

Founder, ZK Consulting

Dr. Zain Kassam is an entrepreneur, investor, senior biotechnology executive, and physician-scientist at the intersection of medicine, biological engineering, and computer science. He co-founded and led a healthcare company, OpenBiome, that scaled to become a national supplier, at peak delivering life-saving treatments to over 10,000 patients per year with ~$15M annual revenue. Dr. Kassam co-founded and built a first-in-field biotechnology company, Finch Therapeutics, that resulted in an upsized IPO on the NASDAQ with peak market capitalization of $1B and secured leading pharmaceutical partnerships for AI-enabled drug discovery. He has led Phase I-III clinical trials with top-tier academic collaborators across multiple therapeutic areas. Dr. Kassam is a mentor at Creative Destruction Labs, an investment committee member of the UCeed Health and Child Health Funds, and a steering committee member of the national MaRS-adMare Therapeutic Accelerator. He has experience with diverse technologies serving on the Board or as an advisor to venture capital firms, foundations, and private healthcare companies.

Dr. Kassam received the 2020 Public Health Innovator Award from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and was named to the prestigious Top 40 under 40 Healthcare Innovator List by MedTech (2016). He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, including in leading journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, and Gastroenterology. Dr. Kassam is an inventor on over 15 patent applications or patents. He has been featured on PBS, CNN, BBC, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and numerous other media outlets. Dr. Kassam was the previous Co-Chair of the CMO Summit 360 Summit (2019-2021) which brings together 70+ CMOs from around the globe.

Stefan Larson

Partner, Sectoral Asset Management

Stefan joined Sectoral in 2018 as Partner and is responsible for the company’s venture capital group. Stefan is a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Also, he serves as a director on the boards of Pipeline Therapeutics, Prilenia Therapeutics, Amolyt Pharma, Apnimed and Turnstone Biologics.

Stefan graduated in 1997 from McGill University with a B.Sc. in Biology, and in 1999 from University of Toronto with an M.Sc. in Molecular and Medical Genetics. He completed his Ph.D. in Biophysics at Stanford University in 2004.

Prior to joining Sectoral, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and later Venture Partner with Versant Ventures, where he led the establishment of their Toronto-based Discovery Engine and was the founding CEO of Northern Biologics. He was also a cofounder of two medical device companies: Perimeter Medical Imaging, and Tornado Spectral Systems. He began his career at McKinsey & Company in San Francisco and Toronto.

Parimal Nathwani

President and CEO, TIAP

Parimal Nathwani has over 15 years of experience in various aspects of the biotechnology industry including corporate finance, business development, transactions, intellectual property management, technology development and operations. He has been actively involved in forming and managing start-ups, preparing and executing on business plans, raising early-stage capital and in- and out-licensing activities.

Before joining Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners, Parimal was a healthcare analyst with a boutique investment bank, where he conducted equity research on publicly-traded biotechnology companies in Canada and the U.S. He has also led commercialization activities out of BC Women’s and Children’s Hospital as part of his role at the University of British Columbia’s Industry Liaison Office, and was a research scientist at a start-up biotechnology company involved in drug discovery targeting ABC Transporters.

Parimal received his MBA from Simon Fraser University and his M.Sc. from the University of British Columbia.  He currently sits on the boards of TRIUMF Innovations, Zucara Therapeutics, Cohesys Inc. and Vasomune Therapeutics and is an observer on the board of Encycle Therapeutics.

Maura Campbell

President & CEO, OBIO®

Dr. Maura Campbell is the President and CEO of the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®), a not-for-profit, membership-based organization dedicated to advancing health technology innovation and commercialization. Dr. Campbell has more than 30 years of experience in all key areas of biotech, including private and public companies, universities and research institutes, and government-funded public sector research organizations.

With expertise in technology transfer and commercialization of intellectual property, Dr. Campbell has held various roles in senior management, most recently as the Vice-President of Intellectual Property and Contracts for Turnstone Biologics, which recently went public on the NASDAQ. She played a significant role in the company’s seed and Series A, B, C, and D financing, as well as the execution of two large pharma-licensing deals with AbbVie Inc. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals International Co. raising over $450 million (U.S.) for Turnstone. Previously, Dr. Campbell served as Director, Intellectual Property at VBI Vaccines. Among the various roles she held in her career are Senior Research Program Manager, and Manager of Technology Transfer & Commercialization at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Director of Intellectual Property for PainCeptor Pharma Corporation, and Manager of Technology Transfer at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems National Centre of Excellence. Dr. Campbell has also served as an IP consultant to a number of Canadian start-ups including Neurochem, Conjuchem, Aonix, AMRIC and Sussex Research Labs.

Florence Rozen

Scientific Director, Private Equity and Impact Investing, Fonds de solidarité FTQ

Florence Rozen is the Scientific Director, Private Equity and Impact Investing with the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, a labour sponsored/development capital fund based in Montreal. There since 2009, she is responsible for scientific due diligence for all potential investment opportunities within the Fonds’ life science group. She is also responsible for monitoring the group’s biotech company portfolio, which covers areas such as oncology, rare diseases, as well as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, all in different stages of development. Prior to her 24 years in the venture capital industry (including the seed financing arm of MDS Capital where she held similar responsibilities), she has done research in the fields of endocrinology and oncology. She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from McGill University.

Stephan Gauldie

Scientific Director, Managing Director, Head of Back Bay Canada

Stephan Gauldie is a founding member of Back Bay Life Science Advisors and head of Back Bay’s Canadian Operations. Dr. Gauldie helped build Back Bay’s integrated strategic advisory and investment banking offering for life science companies at every stage. Dr. Gauldie’s role emphasizes commercial assessment and forecasting, strategic franchise-building, M&A and licensing strategy, buy-side diligence, and exit planning with defensible, analysis-driven positioning for venture-backed companies. 

Dr. Gauldie is also a member of Back Bay’s investment banking team, providing forecasting, valuation, market, and scientific analytics in sell-side transactions, buy-side engagements, and financing support. 

He has more than 20 years of experience across drug development research, market analysis, and strategy consulting. Before joining Back Bay, Dr. Gauldie led the Commercial Research Group at Decision Resources. He was a Principal Analyst at Wood Mackenzie, leading teams that covered US and EU-based pharmaceutical companies, as well as CNS/Pain and Immunology therapeutic areas.

Richard Bozzato

Senior Advisor for Health Ventures, MaRS Discovery District

Richard Bozzato is a Senior Advisor for Health Ventures with MaRS Discovery District focussing on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.  He has over 25 years of experience as a biopharmaceutical industry executive, having led the development of innovative drugs, biologics, medical devices and combination products in several therapeutic areas, including metabolic diseases, regenerative medicine, haematology and in addiction and substance abuse.

Holding positions of CSO and COO, Richard has overseen all aspects of the drug discovery and development process, from basic research, non-clinical safety and toxicology, and clinical research to chemistry, manufacturing and regulatory submissions in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He has extensive experience in the management of intellectual property portfolios, having successfully defended against office actions and competitor interference.