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Board of Directors
The Board of Directors oversees the management, strategic direction and financial accountability of the Network. The Board approves GlycoNet’s policies and procedures to adhere to Network goals and mission. It is also responsible for the membership and the makeup of committees. The Board receives input from seven Committees: the Executive Committee, the Finance, Audit and Risk Management Committee, the Nominating and Governance Committee, the Research Management Committee, the Commercialization Committee, the EDI Committee, and the Training Committee.
Members of the Board
Louise is the Head of Marketing, Patient Support Programs & Advocacy at Shionogi Canada Inc. She is an accomplished Pharma Leader with >25 years executive experience and track record of achievements in Complex Specialty Pharma. Recognized as a change agent, she brings unique perspectives gained from her broad commercial & patient access experience, including in setting up Canadian Operations.
Samuel is a distinguished leader at the intersection of research, business development, and clinical care in the Canadian health and life sciences sector. With more than 15 years of service at the BC Cancer Agency and the BC Provincial Health Services Authority, he has held senior executive roles in research, strategic relationships, and business development.
Dr. Abraham has also served as a Strategic Advisor to Western Economic Diversification Canada, supporting initiatives that advanced health research, innovation, and commercialization across Western Canada.
Janice Bailey has been the Research Vice President & Scientific Director of the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature and Technologies (FRQNT) since 2024. Before that she served as a Scientific Director there. The mandate of the FRQNT is to develop and promote research activities to solve challenges
and stimulate socio-economic development in a manner that will benefit Quebec and other nations. In doing so, the FRQNT prioritizes interdisciplinary international collaboration, research partnerships, and diversity in its approaches.
Antonia is a Managing Director on the investment banking team at Bloom Burton where she leads the firm’s scientific ideation team and management consulting practice, providing clients with advice on scientific, clinical and capital markets strategy. Dr. Borovina has been with Bloom Burton since 2014 and has held several positions in the firm, most recently as an analyst on the equity research team, where she researched publicly traded healthcare companies and made investment recommendations. Prior to joining Bloom Burton, she gained business development experience while working for GeneYouIn, a direct-to-consumer genetic testing startup. Dr. Borovina currently serves on the Emerging Companies Advisory Board of BIOTECanada, the national biotechnology industry association.
Aminah is a tenured professor with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta and the Director of the Construction Innovation Centre. She holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Fuzzy Hybrid Decision Support Systems for Construction. Dr. Robinson Fayek holds the NSERC Industrial Research Chair (IRC) in Strategic Construction Modeling and Delivery, bringing together construction industry owners, contractors, and labour groups across Canada to develop comprehensive research-based solutions to key industry problems. She and also holds the prestigious Ledcor Professorship in Construction Engineering. Dr. Robinson Fayek’s core interests involve combining fuzzy logic with other modeling techniques, such as artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, and simulation, in order to develop advanced decision support tools and approaches. Through a number of academic and industry-based collaborations, Dr. Robinson Fayek and her research team are currently investigating areas including construction project productivity, labour motivation and behaviour; organizational competencies and performance; risk analysis and mitigation; and assessment of the outcomes and impacts of R&D programs.
Hamed has over 15 years of experience in specialty pharmaceuticals, venture funds, and healthcare investment banking. Throughout his career, he has led the evaluation of over 500 licensing and M&A opportunities and has been involved in five commercial product launches. He has successfully negotiated over 20 transactions with total value exceeding $1 billion. Hamed currently serves on the board of directors of Life Sciences Partnership Canada and GlycoNet. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Waterloo, a M.Sc. in Microbiology and Biochemistry from the University of Guelph, and a Ph.D. in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto.
Rika is a highly accomplished veterinarian with a diverse academic and professional background. She obtained her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the University of Ghent, Belgium, and pursued further studies, including internships and research assistantships. Dr. Jolie’s extensive academic journey includes a residency in Swine Medicine and a PhD focusing on airborne contaminants’ impact on swine respiratory health. Over the past 12+ years, she has held significant roles at Pfizer Animal Health and Merck Animal Health, showcasing her expertise in the field and culminating in the completion of an Executive MBA. At Merck Animal Health, she has led pivotal roles, including heading the Global Swine division, shaping strategic direction and ensuring product alignment to meet global market needs.
Christopher is a Partner at Blakes, an international corporate law firm. Christopher’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions and finance transactions, as well as advising on governance and general corporate and securities law matters. His clients include private equity and venture capital funds and companies ranging from publicly traded multinationals to early-stage ventures manufacturing.
Elizabeth is the CEO of GlycoNet. She was involved in the GlycoNet initiative since the Letter of Intent stage and served as the Associate Director, Business for the Alberta Glycomics Centre from 2007–2015. Prior to her position with the Centre, she worked as a manager of large-scale and multi-institutional projects with Genome Prairie. In addition to her PhD in biochemistry, Elizabeth has an MBA in biotechnology management.
Obadiah is now a SVP, Head of Research at Kinvard Bio.
He is also the President at P5 Innovations. Before P5 Innovations, Dr. Plante was a Sr. Director of Bacteriology in the infectious disease group at Moderna, where he led and directed the bacteriology team in the discovery and early development of bacterial vaccines along with foundational research efforts aimed at advancing mRNA-encoded antibodies. In addition, Dr. Plante led several vaccine programs in the Global Health space and has served as program leader for Covid antibody efforts.
Dr. Plante served as Director of Research at Visterra through their acquisition by Otsuka in 2018. At Visterra, he led early-stage research programs including a CARB-X funded program developing an antibody-drug conjugate for the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. Dr. Plante began his career as a founder and scientific leader at Ancora where he investigated carbohydrate-based vaccines and applications of synthetic glycan technology. He is an expert in the design and discovery of complex, biomolecule-based therapeutics and vaccines.
Dr. Plante holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Organic Chemistry and a Masters from Columbia University. He is an active member of the advisory boards of Glyconet, the Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center, and the BIO AMR working group while serving as an Observer on the Technical Advisory Group on Vaccines and AMR to the WHO.
Stephen is Senior Vice President at Global Public Affairs’ Ottawa office and a member of the Executive Team. Steve is also responsible for the performance and continued growth of Global Public Affairs’ national Health & Life Sciences practice group.
He offers integrated public affairs strategies and policy counsel to clients in the innovative biopharmaceutical and medical device industries, non-profit trade associations, and other organizations engaged in navigating business-critical health policy, regulatory and market access matters.
Steve was formerly the Director of Government Affairs at Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D, now known as Innovative Medicines Canada), where his responsibilities included strategy and advocacy on a wide range of public policies and regulations impacting the innovative biopharmaceutical sector.
His professional career began in the federal government and included progressive political and legislative staff roles in different Cabinet and Parliamentary offices.
He holds an MSc from the London School of Economics and a joint BA from the University of King’s College and Dalhousie University.
Mariela is an immunologist and Professor at the University of Montreal. She is known for research in the areas of infectious diseases and the underlying innate and adaptive immune responses, with a particular focus on the interactions of encapsulated streptococci (such as Streptococcus suis and Group B Streptococcus) with the components of the immune system.
Having been with Deloitte for more than 25 years, Andre has held several leadership roles, including Chief Audit Operations Officer for Canada in 2016 and, since 2018, Chief Security Officer and National Deputy Risk Management Leader.
Recognized by colleagues across Canada for his integrity and disciplined approach, André Vincent has represented more than 50 regional audit groups for several years, helping maintain a consistent narrative and strong brand presence nationwide.
Kaley is currently a Vice President of Business Development at NanoVation Therapeutics, a Vancouver-based company pioneering in the design and creation of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for nucleic acid delivery. Before that Dr. Wilson served as a Principal of Business development at Quark Venture. Investing out of the Global Health Sciences Funds, Dr. Wilson worked closely with Quark’s Investment Committee to identify and diligence potential investment opportunities.
Special Advisors
Nils is a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada. He currently serves as a member of three boards of not-for-profit organizations including Compute Canada, TECTERRA, and the Canadian Light Source (CLS) for which he is Chair of the Board. He recently finished terms as a member of the boards of ArboraNano, a Business-led NCE, the California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI), and the Pacific Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and as Chair of the Board of NSERC’s Strategic Network program BiopSys at the University of Toronto.
A highly-recognized Canadian life sciences leader, Karimah brought 30 years of dynamic global business experience to her role as CEO and Partner at Quark Venture. She previously held the position of CEO at CDRD, where she was responsible for ensuring the organization’s long-term sustainability, while leading its business functions and successfully building the many national and international alliances and strategic partnerships which were contributing significantly to advancing the goals of CDRD.
Observers
Warren is a Professor from the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta. The Wakarchuk lab investigates the structure and function of the enzymes which make and degrade various glycoconjugates. This work has been enabling the chemo-enzymatic synthesis of bioactive glycoconjugates both in the laboratory and for industrial projects. The Wakarchuk lab has expertise with both mammalian and bacterial carbohydrate active enzymes for glycan remodelling applications.