Appointments

Dr. Lesley Esford has been named executive director of Life Sciences BC. Since 2006, Esford has worked as an ITA with the National Research Council - Industrial Research Assistance Program,

helping over 100 entrepreneurs develop a wide array of products and services. Her career path has taken her from B.C. to Boston developing insights, observations and a broad knowledge base in human life sciences along the way. She received her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from UBC and has a M.Sc. from Brock University.

The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) appoints Gordon McCauley as president and CEO. A Vancouver-based life sciences leader with international experience in the industry, McCauley has been a director of CDRD since 2012, assumed the position of Interim CEO last summer, and will now lead the organization going forward. McCauley’s past roles include: president and CEO of Viable Healthworks Corp., president and CEO of Allon Therapeutics Inc., co-founder of NDI Capital, and he was a senior advisor to a number of Canadian political leaders. He is also a past-chair of LifeSciences British Columbia, a director of BIOTECanada, and was the first Canadian appointed to the Board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in Washington D.C. where he served in leadership positions until 2013.

Dr. Lesley Esford

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc.

has appointed its founder and chairman of the board Dr. Richard M. Glickman CEO of the company. He replaces Charles Rowland who resigned from the role and as an executive member of the board, effective immediately. Dr. Glickman brings over 30 years of experience and has founded and co-founded numerous companies during his career. As the co-founder, chairman and CEO of Aspreva Pharmaceuticals, he played an integral role in developing and establishing CellCept®, or MMF, as the current standard of care for the treatment of lupus nephritis (LN). He currently serves as founding chairman of Essa Pharmaceuticals Inc., chairman of the board for Engene Corporation and a director of Cardiome Pharma. He is also a partner at Lumira Capital. Additionally, he has served on numerous biotechnology and community boards, including as a member of the federal government’s National Biotechnology Advisory Committee, director of the Canadian Genetic Disease Network, chairman of Life Sciences B.C. and a member of the British Columbia Innovation Council.

Kennet Brysting has been appointed general manager of Gilead Sciences Canada, Inc. The former general manager of Gilead Nordics (Sweden, Norway,

Kennet Brysting

Denmark, Finland and Iceland), Kennet Brysting also joins Gilead’s North America Commercial Senior Leadership Team. He succeeds Ed Gudaitis, who left the company in October for another opportunity. Brysting has nearly 20 years of industry experience, including prior pharmaceutical industry general manager experience, and was the general manager for Gilead Nordics, for four years. He has an EMBA from Cranfield University, UK, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Accounting from Copenhagen Business School.

B.F. Francis Ouellette has joined Génome Québec as vice president of scientific affairs. He previously worked for the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) in Toronto for 10 years, as an associate director of the Informatics and Biocomputing platform and as a lead investigator. Before his arrival in Toronto in 2007, he had served as associate professor in the department of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and director of the UBC Bioinformatics Centre (UBiC) at the Michael Smith Laboratories. He was trained at McGill University, the University of Calgary and Simon Fraser University. He was also employed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he coordinated GenBank, the world’s largest open DNA sequence database. He also sits on various advisory boards and editorial boards, including as education editor for PLOS Computational Biology and associate editor for DATABASE journal (an Oxford University Press open access publication). He currently works as associate professor, adjunct in the department of Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Toronto.

Mark T. Crane is stepping in as vice president of business development for ITR Laboratories Canada Inc. Crane joins ITR in Montréal from SNBL USA where he served as vice president of business development and marketing. He has held similar positions at Ricerca Biosciences, Bridge Pharmaceuticals (formerly Gene Logic), Quest Pharmaceutical Services and MDS Pharma Services.

XiteBio announces the addition of Don Sanders and Julia Cann as the newest members to its Innovation, Research & Development (IRD) team. Sanders joins the team as a research associate and Cann is joining as a lab technician at XiteBio’s IRD Centre in Winnipeg, MB. Sanders recently completed his M.Sc. from the Department of Plant Science at the University of Manitoba and has previously been employed by the University of Manitoba, Cargill Canada & Kackenhoff Nurseries. Cann has a Bachelors degree from the University of Winnipeg and has previously been employed by Haplotech Inc. and the University of Winnipeg.

Oncolytics Biotech® Inc. appoints Dr. Matt Coffey to the role of president and CEO. Dr. Coffey had been serving as the company’s interim president and CEO since early November 2016. A cofounder of the company, Dr. Coffey completed his doctorate degree in oncology at the University of Calgary with a focus on the oncolytic capabilities of the reovirus. The results of his research have been published in various respected scientific journals, including Science, Human Gene Therapy, and The EMBO Journal. Dr. Coffey has held progressively senior roles with Oncolytics including: chief operating officer since December 2008, chief scientific officer, vice-president of Product Development and chief financial officer.

Canadian health sciences accelerator Accel-Rx has elected David J. Main as its new board chairman. Currently Main is chairman, president and CEO of Aquinox, and recently, he completed a three-year term as chairman of BIOTECanada. As a co-founder of Aquinox, he has overseen the advancement of the company’s lead product, AQX-1125, from a target validation program to a Phase 3 clinical trial candidate. During this time, he has also been responsible for the transition of Aquinox from a private to a NASDAQlisted public company having raised over US$300 million in equity. Other past roles include INEX Pharmaceuticals Corp. president and CEO, and QLT Inc. vice president.

The University of Waterloo has appointed Charmaine Dean vicepresident, university research, beginning July 1. Dr. Dean is currently a professor and dean of the faculty of science at Western University. She was previously associate dean at Simon Fraser University and has served as president of the Statistical Society of Canada.