Panelists

David Vocadlo
Professor, Simon Fraser University
Chief Scientific Officer, Alectos Therapeutics

David was born in Brantford, Ontario. He obtained a BSc (Hon) in combined Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of British Columbia (UBC). David completed his PhD in Chemistry at UBC studying carbohydrate synthesis and enzymology with Steve Withers. He was a CIHR postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at Berkeley with Carolyn Bertozzi developing proteomics probes for protein glycosylation. He is currently cross appointed as Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Chemical Biology. He and his team has been recognized with several awards including the EWR Steacie Memorial Fellowship, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, the Horace S. Isbell Award of the American Chemical Society, Carbohydrate Research Award of the International Carbohydrate Organization, and the Boehringer-Ingleheim Research Excellence Award. David was named an inaugural fellow of the College of New Scholars and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada. (RSC) He is a co-founder of Alectos Therapeutics which was founded on technology licensed from SFU from the Laboratory of Chemical Glycobiology and which has partnered with Merck to advance OGA inhibitors into the clinic.

Stephanie White
Partner, Kirby IP Canada

Stephanie is an accomplished patent professional with a proven track record of building and maximizing the value of her clients’ intellectual property assets. Stephanie has over 17 years of experience in patent portfolio development and IP counseling, where she is skilled in integrating IP strategy with business strategy. According to Stephanie, the most exciting part of her job “is working with inventors and entrepreneurs to help them leverage their technology advances to really make a difference.” Stephanie is keenly aware that IP is among a company’s most critical assets and, especially in the case of early stage companies, it is essential these companies are provided with the proper support to allow them to grow, manage, and benefit from their IP portfolio.

Kaley Wilson
Director of Business Development, Quark Venture

Kaley is currently the Director of Business Development at Quark Venture, a Vancouver based venture capital group that invests globally in health science. Investing out of the $500M USD Global Health Sciences Fund, Kaley is responsible for identifying and performing due diligence on potential investment opportunities. Kaley obtained her PhD at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, where she worked in close collaboration with senior scientists at INEX Pharmaceuticals on the immunomodulatory activity and vaccine potential of lipid encapsulated nucleic acids. During her Ph.D. Dr Wilson was the recipient of a number of prestigious scholarships and awards including the Doctoral Research Award, Canadian Institutes for Health Research (2005-2008); Trainee Research Award, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (2003-2005) and the PGS-A Scholarship, NSERC (2002-2004). Dr. Wilson was also the 2008 recipient of the Gattefosse Canada/Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Award.

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