Dr. Agnes d’Entremont, P.Eng., is an Instructor and the Mech 2 Coordinator in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UBC.  She received her BEng in Mechanical Engineering at McGill, and her MASc and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from UBC.  Her technical research in Orthopaedic Biomechanics is in the area of human joint motion and cartilage health with a particular focus on pediatric hip disorders and MRI-based methods.  Her teaching-related interests include team-based learning and the flipped classroom, as well as diversity and climate issues in engineering education and the broader engineering profession.

Dr. Marziali received his B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics from UBC in 1989, and his PhD in Physics from Stanford University in 1994. He subsequently worked for several years with Dr. Ron Davis, in the Stanford DNA Sequencing Technology Center, developing instruments for DNA sequencing and sample purification. He returned to Canada in 1998, as an assistant professor at University of British Columbia in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, where he formed the Applied Biophysics Laboratory. Shortly after his return to Canada, Dr. Marziali formed the GenomeBC Technology Development Platform, which he continues to lead as Co-Director. In 2005 he was appointed Director of the Engineering Physics program at UBC, a position he continues to hold in parallel with research and commercialization activities.

In 2004, Dr. Marziali co-invented the concept of using synchronous mobility perturbations to create divergent velocity fields for selectively focusing nucleic acids. This technology, termed SCODA, is the basis of a spin-off company, Boreal Genomics Inc. founded in 2007 by Dr. Marziali and colleagues to commercialize high performance instruments for DNA enrichment, and now commercializing a blood-based cancer test. In the last few years he has been awarded the 2003 Killam Prize for Excellence in Teaching, the 2004 BC Innovation Council – Young Innovator award, the 2005 Canadian Association of Physicists Medal for excellence in teaching, the 2007 Association for Lab Automation Innovation Award, and the 2011 Life Science BC Award for Innovation and Achievement. Dr. Marziali is named inventor on over 15 issued patents.

Andrew Siu works for the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, a government organization that advances the improvement of health care quality across the province. His practice includes applying human-centered design and design thinking toward building products, services, and experiences that accelerate patient safety and quality of care. He is a design graduate from Emily Carr University of Art & Design and is finishing his MBA in Design Strategy from the California College of the Arts.

I am currently working as an emergency physician in Surrey, and I have done so for the last 4 years.  Before medicine, I served in the Canadian Armed Forces as an infantry officer.  I am interested in exploring opportunities where machine learning, robotics, and automation can optimize the delivery of health services.

Daniel Demsey is a resident in plastic surgery and a former graduate student in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at UBC.  He previously studied chemical engineering and medicine at Queen’s University.  Daniel’s professional goals include combining technical innovation with clinical practice, and finding ways to incorporate engineering developments in other fields into the clinical realm.  He is currently pursuing clinical training full time, and has active research projects in technology development for the operating room.

Doug Goertzen is the CEO of Kardium, a medical device company with a team of 120 developing an advanced ablation catheter for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.  Doug has led the company since it was founded in 2007.  Prior to Kardium, Doug held the position of General Manager, Proofing and Color at Eastman Kodak Company.  Doug was responsible for the $55 million worldwide proofing and colour business and managed a 130 person team developing the proofing and colour product portfolio. He held senior positions in service, development and management during his 12 year tenure at Kodak and Creo Inc. (which was acquired by Kodak in 2005).  Doug graduated with a B.A.Sc. in electrical engineering from Simon Fraser University.

Geof has more than 35 years of experience in the medical device field.  He was part of the Vancouver-based team that built and tested the world’s first robot specifically designed to assist in surgery, then went on to develop a number of other surgical technologies, including surgical tools for laparoscopic surgery, surgical limb positioning, blood sample handling equipment, apparatus for total knee arthroplasty, blood transfusion management software and a medical device wearable.  He is co-founder of Claris Helathcare Inc. and recently received his 20th U.S. patent.

Gregory Schmidt is a fourth year resident in General Internal Medicine. He is interested in healthcare system design and how technology will improve care delivery. He has experience with user interface, product design, electronic health records, and startups. He sometimes writes at gregoryschmidt.ca   @_GregSchmidt

I am a professor of Dermatology and Skin Science at UBC and my research and clinical expertise is in the application of light, lasers, and optics in medicine. I am currently the director of the VGH Photomedicine Institute and I also work at the BC Cancer Agency with the Skin Tumor Group and the Department of Integrative Oncology. Our research group has been granted over 12 patents and we have commercialized 3 products related to photonics and optics in medicine. I have been the founder of 3 biotech start up companies at UBC.

Ian McDougall is a medical device industry executive with over 20 years of experience. He has had a particular focus on cardiovascular, neurovascular, and peripheral vascular implants and delivery systems. Ian has also co-developed several urology devices. Ian has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from UBC and has co-founded 6 medical device start-ups. Ian has led teams that have taken at least 10 products from concept through clinical evaluation and to market introduction, 2 of which were permanent implants.  

CEO of Pacey MedTech Ltd.

Headshot and more detailed bio coming soon!

Jane Desrochers is a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility. Her research aims to develop better ways to understand how cartilage and meniscus recover (or don’t!) after a knee injury in an effort to help doctors and patients make better treatment decisions. She earned her PhD from the University of Calgary in 2012, and has a BSc in mechanical engineering. She is currently a graduate mentor in the Engineers in Scrubs program at UBC and has also taught engineering design at the undergraduate level.

Fellow, Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Kevin Oversby is a Regulatory Compliance Manager at Westport Innovations (a UBC spinoff in 1996).  Over the past 20 years, he has worked on the commercialization of clean technologies.  Specialties include verification of new products in extreme conditions.  Working with governments to develop regulations and certify new products is also a major area of focus.

Kevin holds 5 U.S. patents. He was awarded Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in engineering from the University of Cambridge and serves on the local alumni board.

I am a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers and past Chair of Chartered Engineers Pacific. My background is in education and the design, development and application of assistive device technology in the rehabilitation of patients with neurological disorders. My research interests are in the investigation and measurement of balance instability in patients with peripheral nervous system disorders, as well as fall prevention and recovery in the elderly population.

Business Lead (Director), Social Innovation at Joule

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Dr. Leslie Grad is the Manager, Research Programs (Design & Development) at the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR), BC’s health research funder.  Les earned his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Alberta and held a senior Research Associate position at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, developing therapeutics against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.  Les transitioned from academia to stakeholder engagement and program management at PrioNet Canada, a national Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) for prion and neurodegenerative disease research and awareness.  He now uses his research experience and knowledge of the health funding landscape to design new funding program models and serve as a resource on trends in health funding, research and innovation at MSFHR.  Les recently designed MSFHR’s new Innovation to Commercialization (I2C) program, which provides funding support for researchers to advance their products or technologies towards practical application to improve health outcomes.

Machiel (Mike) Van der Loos, Ph.D., P.Eng, is Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia.  He received a Diplôme d'Ingénieur from the EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland (1978), and a PhD from Stanford University (1992) in human-robot interaction. As Director of the RREACH Lab and Associate Director of the CARIS Lab at UBC, he conducts research in roboethics, design methodology, rehabilitation robotics and human-robot interaction. He has more than 40 journal articles, 100 conference papers and 4 book chapters across these subjects, and is Associate Editor for the Journal “Assistive Technology”. Dr. Van der Loos primarily teaches in core design courses, notably the Capstone Design Project course for the department and the “Engineer in Scrubs” project course in the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program. He is the general chair of the Design Society’s ICED17 conference at UBC in 2017.

Occupational Therapist

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Dr. Orit Segev holds a PhD in Oncogene Regulation from the Technion Institute in Israel. She headed various biotechnology divisions as well as academic laboratories, gaining a strong background in biotechnology, executive R&D management, business development and strategic operations. Orit’s pivotal role at GBC includes championing several programs leading to translation of basic research into socio-economic benefits. She also leads GBC’s effort in furthering big data capacity for precision health

Pat Brady has held the role of Director of the I2 Fund at Genome British Columbia, a non-profit organization, since September 2015. The I2Fund is focused on funding companies commercializing life science technologies.

Prior to this position, Mr. Brady was Vice President, Investments at Growthworks Capital Ltd, a venture capital fund management firm. At Growthworks from 1998 to 2015, Mr. Brady lead equity investments in numerous companies. He served as a Board Director or observer for over 13 private and public life science firms during this period including OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tekmira Pharmaceuticals (now Arbutus BioPharma Corp.) and Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Prior to Growthworks, Mr. Brady spent six years in financial and operating roles with Inex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and a cleantech company, DynaMotive Technologies Corporation. He was also a professional athlete.

Mr. Brady holds a MBA and an HBA from the Ivey Business School. He resides in Vancouver, BC.

Radu Postole is the Lead Design Engineer at Arbutus Medical. His work has spanned product development in solar lighting, assistive devices for people with disabilities, and most recently, medical devices for orthopaedic surgery in developing countries. He is an avid tinkerer and maker, passionate about developing technologies that help address society's needs.

Sarah Hay is an interdisciplinary designer, facilitator and educator. She brings a wide range and depth of experience working collaboratively in sustainable architecture, health + well-being and civic engagement. She is an instructor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design where she is currently teaching a 3rd year industrial design studio called Medical and Assistive Device Design. She is a co-director of the Vancouver Design Nerds Society and founder of Slow & Steady Design.

I’m an emergency physician at surrey memorial hospital.  I’ve been in clinic clinical practice for 10 years.  My interests include innovation in healthcare delivery.  I am interested in mindfulness in medicine, flow states, and bringing an urgent care centre to surrey and to scale that solution province wide.  I want to develop a way to etriage patients from home and link it into emr systems.  

Dr. Teri Fisher is a Sport and Exercise Physician, and Clinical Assistant Professor at UBC. He is the founder of “Alexa in Canada", the leading blog about voice-first technology in Canada. He is also the host of “Alexa in Canada: The Voice Experience” podcast and the “Voice in Canada” flash briefing, where he helps educate people about the new era of voice-first computing and technology. He is passionate about all areas of technology, but particularly those that help people to become the healthiest version of themselves.

Dr. Tony Yang received his B.Sc. degree in Physics and Life Sciences and Ph.D. degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from The University of British Columbia.  He is the Founder of Elite Mentors Association, a BC-registered non-profit organization that provides an opportunity for motivated high school students to explore potential career options in Science, Engineering, Business, Marketing, and Performing Arts.  Dr. Yang is currently the Program Manager of Providence Airway Centre at Centre for Heart Lung Innovation, St Paul's Hospital.  The Airway Centre is focused on translating “bench” findings to new therapeutic and biomarker targets, which can ultimately transform patient care for those with chronic airway disease.  Utilizing his unique science, engineering, entrepreneurial, and management experience, Dr. Yang is transforming this vision into reality.

Victor is an industrial designer with experience in Transportation, Sustainability and Systems Thinking Design.

His PhD project explored the early stages of new product development and how to integrate sustainability criteria. As part of his research he developed Trophec, an online product lifecycle visualisation tool: www.trophec.com

His personal interest subjects are: systems thinking, complexity, sustainability and new business models, all applied to the design process of products, services or systems.

You can find more at: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/victorgmartinez

Wayne is an Occupational Therapist with over 13 years of experience within a private practice sector. As an Occupational Therapist, the return to function and meaningful activities guide his practice. Wayne has expertise in orthopedic, mental health, concussion and chronic pain management. He currently holds the position of Director at Lifemark Health Group. He is also a Clinical Faculty Instructor for the School of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at UBC.

York N. Hsiang, MB. ChB., MHSc., FRCSC., is Professor and Former Head of Vascular Surgery at the University of British Columbia and Consultant Surgeon at the Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, B.C.  Born in Taiwan, educated in the United States, New Zealand, and Canada, Dr. Hsiang has diverse interests in vascular engineering, vascular biology, lasers, and clinical epidemiology. Dr. Hsiang was the former Director of Surgical Research in the UBC Department of Surgery.  He also has a special clinical interest in wounds and served on the Board of the Canadian Association of Wound Care.