Dr. Stephanie Michaud, PhD - President and CEO of BioCanRxDr. Stephanie Michaud is the President and CEO of BioCanRx, a not-for-profit organization that seeks to accelerate the delivery of innovative immunotherapies from the bench to the bedside. In this position, Stephanie is responsible for running all facets of the organization. She brings over 20 years of public, government and private sector experience in research and S&T innovation policy. She strives to create partnerships between government, not-for-profits, academia and industry to maximize the impact of research funded by the BioCanRx network on the lives of those affected by cancer. This includes the creations of new opportunities to include the patient voice as equal partner in the BioCanRx research program. Prior to joining BioCanRx, Stephanie was Deputy Director of the flagship Government of Canada Network Centres of Excellence (NCE) program. She is a strong contributor to S&T policy, most notably in intellectual property. Dr. Michaud earned a PhD in Organic Chemistry from McGill University. She is involved with a number of not-for-profit organizations including as Director of the Board of the StemCell Network and Research Canada.

Dr. Winson Cheung, MD, MPH, FRCPC

A GI medical oncologist, a clinician-scientist, and a cancer health services researcher. From 2010 to 2016, Winson was a clinician-investigator at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver. He was recruited to Alberta in 2017. He is currently a Full Professor in the Departments of Oncology, Medicine and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary where he is also the Chair and Provincial Director of the Health Services Research Program at Cancer Control Alberta. He conducts comparative effectiveness and population-based outcomes studies across all tumor groups. He is also involved in a number of patient-centric, patient-oriented research projects. He has contributed significantly to building capacity and knowledge generation in the area of real world evidence in oncology. In addition, Winson is the Co-Lead of the Health Systems, Services, and Policy research program at the Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control and the Chair of the International Cancer Health Outcomes Research Database Consortium. Previously, he served as Leader for the Health Services Research Track at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting. Recently, he founded the Alberta Cancer Outcomes Research Network.

Michael is the Head of Innovation for Hoffmann-La Roche Limited across all of its Canadian divisions, including Roche Pharmaceuticals, Roche Diagnostics, and Roche Diabetes Care. Michael also leads the Roche Innovation Hive – which is the creative space where the future of healthcare is being imagined and co-created between Roche and its external partners. Michael is also a founding board member of the Canadian Personalized Healthcare Innovation Network (CPHIN) which is a not for profit corporation representing a consortium of members from both public and private sectors focused on the acceleration of personalized healthcare for Canada.

Stephen has over 25 years of experience in clinical trial operations and health programs’ leadership. His clinical research expertise includes roles in pharma, CRO and academic settings involving the conduct of Phase 1-3b drug, biologic, and device trials across a wide range of therapeutic areas. The Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network (3CTN) maintains a Portfolio of over 800 multi-centre academic cancer clinical trials and mobilizes and supports a pan-Canadian community of over 250 investigators, clinical research professionals and patient partners across its 60 pediatric- and adult-member Cancer Centres in improving shared aims for equitable access, accrual and the efficient, high-quality conduct of trials.

As an economics graduate of Université de Montréal, he began his career in journalism and communications as a business columnist at La Presse, a Montréal daily, from 1976 to 1988. He was editorial page editor at the same newspaper from 1988 to 2001. He became publisher of Le Soleil, a Québec city daily, from 2001 to 2004. Subsequently, he was the national affairs columnist for La Presse till 2018. He was the recipient of the National Newspaper Award for editorial commentary in 1999, and finalist in the same category in 1998 and 2000. He won other awards, including the National Business Award for Editorials from the Toronto Press Club in 1982, the Annual Award of the Conseil du patronat du Québec for his contribution to the economy in 1985. In 2008, Alain Dubuc received the prestigious Public Policy Forum Hyman Solomon award for excellence in journalism in 2009. He has been named Officer of the Order of Canada in December 2011. Alain Dubuc has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. He is also member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Alain Dubuc is the author of seven books: Simple comme l’économie (1987), A dialogue on Democracy in Canada” (2002, with John Ralston Saul), Éloge de la richesse (2006), which won the Business Book Award in 2007, À mes amis souverainistes, (2008), Les démons du capitalisme, pourquoi la crise et comment s’en sortir (2009), Portrait de famille, 14 vrais ou faux mythes québécois (2014) translated in English, Is this what we are (2017), and Maudit hiver, toutes les raisons de ne pas l’aimer (2016).

Alan J. Forster MD, FRCPC, MSc is the Executive Vice President, Chief Innovation and Quality Officer at the Ottawa Hospital, Canada’s largest Academic Health Sciences Center. His focus is enabling teams to create higher value health care – in which patient centered health outcomes are realized and health system costs are lowered.      

Over his career, he has led research on patient safety and quality improvement. He performed the seminal work evaluating the incidence of adverse events following discharge from hospital. He has also led the Ottawa Hospital’s data strategy which has been used to support research, operations, and planning.  Overall, his work has led to over 240 publications in peer review journals and innumerable advances in quality of care. 

In addition to his role at the Ottawa Hospital, Alan is a leader in the field of healthcare quality. He is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He provides ongoing advice to agencies at the local, national, and international levels, and he has served as associated editor for several prestigious peer-review journals.

Ms. Chambers has more than 15 years of experience in Heath Technology Assessment (HTA) for both pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Prior to joining Novartis, Ms. Chambers was the Director of CADTH’s pan Canadian Oncology Review, which conducts HTAs for new oncology drugs. For nearly 10 years, she was a Clinical Epidemiologist for Health Quality Ontario and the Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee (OHTAC), whose mandate is to review medical devices and interventions. Ms. Chambers holds a Masters degree from McMaster University, and a Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree from the University of Waterloo.

Amanda Allard is the Director, Pharmaceutical Reviews at CADTH and has overall responsibility for CADTH’s Reimbursement Review program, which includes oncology and non-oncology drugs. Amanda leads a team that delivers timely evidence-based reviews of clinical and pharmacoeconomic information leading to funding recommendations. With over 10 years of experience providing strategic advice for navigating the Canadian drug pricing and reimbursement landscape to pharmaceutical manufacturers, Amanda understands the important role that different forms of evidence play in assessing the value of new medicines. Amanda has extensive experience communicating clinical evidence to regulatory and HTA agencies including PMPRB, CADTH, INESSS, and public and private payers. Amanda has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from McGill University.

Anne Marie is a global business builder accomplished in growing and transforming healthcare organizations. With more than 25 years of Marketing, Sales and Business development experience in health technology start-ups, global pharmaceuticals, retail healthcare and CPG brand management, she is a champion of innovation, developing and leading healthcare solutions that drive multi-million-dollar revenue gains, “next level” growth and build business value.

Driven by a strong desire to make a difference in the healthcare community, Anne Marie currently owns and operates two separate but integrated businesses.

As President of Elements Strategy Inc., Anne Marie provides services to the healthcare industry where transformation through patient-centric innovation is critical to success. Additionally, she is a Co-Founder of YouAreUNLTD, a purpose driven publishing brand and network, created to inspire powerful, healthy aging.

Educated in business management at Queen’s University, she has continued her education through Queen’s Executive Development programs, the Niagara Centre for Creative Leadership and the Ashridge School of Management in London England.

An active volunteer in the healthcare field, Anne Marie has been a “Health Leader-in- Residence” at the World Health Innovation Network, a “Health Innovator- in- Residence” at the Ivey International Centre for Health Innovation and the Past Chairman of the Council on Drug Abuse.

Mr. Barry D. Stein, B.Com., B.C.L., LL.B., graduated from McGill University. An accomplished lawyer, he has been a member of the Bar of Quebec since 1981. Barry sits on the Board of Directors of several corporations, not-for-profit organizations and foundations. He is a founding member of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer National Colorectal Cancer Screening Network. As the president of Colorectal Cancer Canada, Barry represents the interests of cancer patients and speaks regularly to medical professionals, industry, government, and patient groups both in and outside of Canada. Barry has been a key advocate for population-based colorectal cancer screening initiatives, patient and physician education and multidisciplinary health professional consensus guidelines to improve patient outcomes across Canada. As a survivor of metastatic colorectal cancer diagnosed in 1995, Barry was obliged to seek health care outside of Canada to fight the disease. His judgement, obtained in the Superior Court of Quebec, serves as a leading precedent for the reimbursement of out of country health care.

Craig Lipset is an advisor, educator, advocate and innovator focused on novel solutions for clinical trials and medicine development. He is the founder of Clinical Innovation Partners, providing advisory and board leadership with pharma, tech and investors.  Craig is Co-Chair for the Decentralized Trials & Research Alliance, Vice Chair of the MedStar Health Research Institute, and Vice President of the Foundation for Sarcoidosis.  He is Adjunct Assistant Professor in Health Informatics at Rutgers University.

Craig was previously the Head of Clinical Innovation and Venture Partner at Pfizer, and on the founding management teams for two successful startup ventures.

I am a board-certified medical oncologist specializing in the treatment of patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, particularly colorectal cancer (CRC), appendix cancer, and cholangiocarcinoma. My research is focused on the development of novel systemic and regional therapies, including approaches based on tumor genomics, with the goal of improving outcomes while minimizing treatment-related toxicities. I am the founder and co-director of the Center for Young Onset Colorectal and Gastrointestinal Cancer. This clinic — the first of its kind in the world — is dedicated solely to the specific needs of people under 50 who have CRC or other GI cancers.

Dr. David Klimstra is a founder and the Chief Medical Officer of Paige.  Dr. Klimstra received his medical degree from Yale University and also completed an anatomic pathology residency at Yale.  Following a fellowship in oncologic pathology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, he joined the faculty at that institution, where he practiced gastrointestinal and pancreatobiliary pathology for 30 years.  He served as the Chief of the Surgical Pathology Service and then Chairman of the Pathology Department (2011-2021) and was also Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.  As Chairman, Dr. Klimstra oversaw the implementation of novel diagnostic technology in molecular diagnostics and digital pathology.  He worked with Dr. Thomas Fuchs in computational pathology, using machine learning to develop diagnostic and predictive algorithms from pathology digital images, which led to the founding of Paige.  Dr. Klimstra joined Paige full-time in August 2021.  Dr. Klimstra is also well known for his work on the pathology of neoplastic diseases, particularly related to the pancreatic and hepatobiliary systems.  He has published more than 500 scientific papers, 4 books, and numerous book chapters and reviews and has served as an editor for the World Health Organization’s tumor classification series.  He has lectured worldwide and has received multiple awards for teaching and academic accomplishment.

Dr. Roy is Director of the University Institute for Hematology-Oncology and Cell Therapy (IHOT) and also directs the Centre of Excellence for Cellular Therapy.  Recognized for his expertise in the field of stem cells, Dr. Roy is Executive Director of CellCAN, the Canadian Regenerative Medicine and Cellular Therapy Network for Knowledge Mobilization, and Scientific Director of the C3i Centre for the Translation and Commercialization of Cancer Immunotherapy and Regenerative Medicine. He received the Persillier-Lachapelle Award from the Government of Quebec in 2020 in recognition of his prolific career.  

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 the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Mike Montalto has experience developing digital pathology diagnostic products and driving cutting-edge translational research in a large biopharmaceutical setting. Mike joined PathAI in November 2019 to use AI-powered pathology to support the development of new therapies and diagnostics for patients.

Prior to joining PathAI, Mike led the majority of clinical biomarker central laboratories in Translational Medicine at Bristol-Myers Squibb including translational and digital pathology, immunohistochemistry, clinical genomics, clinical flow cytometry, pre-clinical and clinical non-invasive imaging, biorepository and clinical biomarker sample operations in support of all therapeutic areas for global clinical trials, precision medicine, and companion diagnostics development. Prior to BMS, Montalto was a co-founder and executive of Omnyx, LLC, a joint venture of GE Healthcare and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center that commercialized diagnostic pathology imaging and software products. Prior to this, Montalto was the Molecular Imaging and Diagnostics Advanced Technology Leader at General Electric, where he was a lead inventor of MultiOmyx™, a proprietary pathology-based multiplexing technology for biomarker discovery.

Throughout his career, Mike had a passion for advancing imaging technologies toward unmet scientific and medical needs in a commercial setting to be able to impact patients.

Mike has served as a member of NIH study sections for in vivo molecular imaging centers, designed and led global clinical trials for the registration of digital pathology devices and served as a board member and president of the Digital Pathology Association (DPA). Under his leadership, the DPA successfully collaborated with the FDA to establish industry wide regulatory guidance and clinical trial designs for the clinical use of digital pathology devices. He currently serves on the DPA executive committee as immediate past-president, and on the DPA Foundation’s board of directors. Dr. Montalto earned his PhD in tumor biology from Albany Medical College and received his post-doctoral training in anti-inflammatory drug discovery and whole animal physiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Rebecca Auer is a Surgical Oncologist specializing in Colorectal Cancer Surgery and Retroperitoneal Sarcomas at The Ottawa Hospital and a Professor in the Department of Surgery and the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Auer holds a Tier 1 Clinical Research Chair in Perioperative Cancer Therapeutics and leads a translational research program focuses on understanding the promotion of metastatic disease in the perioperative period, following surgical stress. She had defined a mediating role for Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells and effector Natural Killer and T cells in the cancer recurrence and the development of postoperative metastases. Using surgically relevant preclinical animal models, Dr. Auer has identified candidate immunotherapies capable of counteracting the effects of surgery. Dr. Auer has led four translational clinical trials of perioperative cancer therapies based on this preclinical research. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and received over $8 million dollars in peer-reviewed funding to support her work. Dr. Auer is an international leader in surgical oncology and translational research in surgery. She currently serves as the Chair of Rectal Disease Oncology Group for the Canadian Cancer Trials Group and the Canadian representative to the NIH US Anal and Rectal Oncology Task Force. She is also on the executive of the Society of Surgical Oncology and the Canadian representative on the Global Forum for Cancer Surgeons. Dr. Auer also serves as the Chair of the Research Committee for the Canadian Association of General Surgeons and the Canadian Society of Surgical Oncology.

Dr. Holt grew up in Vancouver BC and obtained his PhD in Neuropharmacology from the University of Alberta.  After a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Evolution at the State University of New York, Dr. Holt joined Craig Venter's team at Celera Genomics in Rockville, Maryland, where he served as the Scientific Operations Manager for initial sequencing of the human genome and numerous model organism genomes.  Since 2003 Dr. Holt has been a scientist at Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre located at the British Columbia Cancer Research Institute in Vancouver, where he is also Scientific Co-Director of the BC Cancer Immunotherapy Program.  Dr. Holt's team is recognized for developing next-generation sequencing methods to interrogate the genetics of the adaptive immune system and for identifying novel infectious agents (oncomicrobes) linked to cancer.  His current basic and clinical research directions are focused on developing and implementing immune interventions for cancer, including cancer vaccines and genetically engineered immune cells.  

Sandy Sehdev attended medical school at the University of Ottawa and subsequently trained in medical oncology at the University of Toronto and The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (1991). He worked at The William Osler Health System (Toronto) for 25 years (-2016) and while there was Chief of the Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee, and lead of the clinical trials program (oncology) and continuing medical education (oncology). He was a past lead of CME for the Community Oncologists of Metropolitan Toronto (COMET), and a past Director of the Cancer Advocacy Coalition of Canada. He is a co-founder of the Physician Alliance for Cancer Care and Treatment (Canada), an oncologist led advocacy coalition, and is a scientific advisor for the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network, and the Canadian Breast Cancer Network. He is currently a medical oncologist at The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre, focusing on the treatment of breast, prostate cancers and melanoma and lead for the breast cancer disease site. He was the 2020 winner of the “Golden Throat” teaching award.

Dr. Sonny Kohli joined Roche in September 2022 as Head of Medical & Regulatory Affairs.  Sonny is a practicing Physician in Internal Medicine and Critical Care and is faculty at McMaster University in Canada. In 2008/09, Sonny was a top 40 Astronaut Candidate in the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) recruitment campaign. He is also an alumnus of the International Space University, a trained flight surgeon with the Canadian Forces, and was awarded a CSA scholarship to Johnson Space Center & Wyle Labs. While studying at ISU, he helped deploy the Image Reversal In Space (IRIS) experiment on the International Space Station.

Eric is a “Data Guy with personality” and Data Strategist with a passion for enabling trusted insight through implementation of leading information management practices and linking enterprise strategy to practical solutions with business, technology, and data partners. He is the head of the Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy which envisions the better use of data for health systems, public health, population health, research, and care. This work is led by the Public Health Agency of Canada in collaboration with all jurisdictions. Previously, Eric worked as Executive Director, Data Governance Strategy at the Canadian Institute for Health Information, and Director, Information Management Strategy and Policy at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. He continues to recover from 20 years at a major Financial Institution, with a variety of roles lead data, business, and technology groups across Finance and Risk.

As a CML patient since 2001, Jan co-founded the patient advocacy organisations LeukaNET, European Cancer Patient Coalition, CML Advocates Network, Acute Leukemia Advocates Network and Workgroup of European Cancer Patient Advocacy Networks (WECAN). He was Director of the European Patients’ Academy (EUPATI) and manages the German EUPATI platform. Jan represents patient perspectives in committees e.g. in the European Cancer Organisation, EHA, EuroBloodNET, iCMLf, German National Decade Against Cancer and the Ethics Committee of the Bavarian Chamber of Physicians. He is CEO of Patvocates, a think tank, consultancy and social enterprise on patient advocacy, health policy and patient engagement in research. He is work package leader in the IMI big data projects HARMONY and HARMONY-PLUS.

A husband to his wife Leslie and father to his 2 year daughter Kira(who was adopted 2 weeks post chemo!)  has spent his life as helper holding a variety of positions in social services and most recently emergency services as a fire captain and working as an Equine Assisted Learning Personal Development Coach focusing on individuals working through trauma and PTSD. 

 

At the age of 36 his life was turned upside when he received the devastating news of a stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis.  This life altering experience thrusted him into the world of advocacy and peer support. His areas of passion and focus are young adults affected by cancer and men facing a cancer diagnosis and the unique challenges each demographic face. Quickly realizing there was a large gap in support for young adults and men facing cancer he decided to volunteer with Young Adult Cancer Canada as a chat leader and advocate , in addition to Man Up to Cancer as a Wolfpack Leader and group administrator. Jay has also volunteered on several advisory boards and participated in events with CRCC. 

 

Jay is fortunate and grateful to be just shy of two years NED and continues to passionately shares his story and experience of his journey I’m hopes of educating and bringing awareness to young adult onset cancer and men facing cancer. 

 

Ritu Malhotra is a Lead Clinical Scientist at Genentech with over 10 years of product development experience in both Biopharma industry and diagnostics. She did her PhD in Molecular Cell Biology with focus in Retinitis Pigmentosa (Ophthalmology) from University of Florida and moved to University of California, San Francisco for her Postdoctoral Fellowship. She joined Siemens HealthCare Diagnostics as Senior Product Development Scientist and then Project Team Lead where she worked on developing molecular In Vitro Diagnostics (IVDs). She joined Genentech in 2018 and has since been leading clinical biomarker operations and clinical science in late stage drug development for solid tumor indications in Platform studies. She believes in keeping patients first, and any steps we can take in innovating/ disrupting clinical trials today can help bring drugs faster to patients.

Sylvie Bouchard holds a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Université Laval in Québec city (1988). She also has a diploma (1989) and a master’s degree (1992) in Hospital Pharmacy from Université Laval (Faculty of Pharmacy), and an MBA in Corporate Management (2001), also from Université Laval (Faculty of Business Administration). Sylvie Bouchard was a hospital pharmacist and hospital pharmacy manager. She joined the Conseil du médicament in April 2010, where she has held various management positions over the years. Between April 2016 and January 2020, she headed the Direction du médicament. Since February 2020, she has headed the Direction de l’évaluation des médicaments et des technologies à des fins de remboursement.

Taras leads the team within Amgen Global Development Operations overseeing transformation efforts within the clinical trial domain, with a focus on embedding new ways of working and executing with speed, agility, and quality. Prior to this role, Taras held leadership roles within Amgen’s Study Operations and Data Management organizations. Taras is excited about the potential for new trial execution models to accelerate the pace at which high quality medicines can be brought to patients.