Health Mettler Institute - Page 121 of 194 - Healthy LifeStyle & Education

January 9, 2023

The VF Foundation Supports the U.S. Regenerative Cotton Fund :: VF Corporation (VFC)

In modern decades, the move to be a lot more “sustainable” has acquired momentum throughout all kinds of industries, which includes manner and attire. But when it will come to agriculture, becoming sustainable is simply not more than enough. In its place, a regenerative strategy to farming goes a move even further.

“Regenerative agriculture” encompasses a wide variety of environmentally and socially conscious practices which goal to aid assistance biodiversity, enrich drinking water cycles, make improvements to soil overall health and sequester carbon. This tactic not only changes increasing methods and assists improve the lives of farmers, it allows replenish and bolster the soil, crops, and the surrounding character.

To catalyze the scaling of regenerative procedures in the United States, The VF Foundation recently provided a grant to the U.S. Regenerative Cotton Fund (USRCF) that will help advance the adoption of soil wellbeing management devices across far more than 1 million acres of U.S. cotton cropland. This distinctive, farmer-dealing with, science-primarily based initiative supports extended-term, regenerative cotton creation in the U.S., with the aim of removing a single million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) from the atmosphere by 2026.

“This initiative enhances VF’s world wide sustainability efforts to advance regenerative agricultural techniques as component of its roadmap to fulfill its science-based targets by using a farmer-centric technique to scale these cotton increasing practices and measure their impacts,” mentioned Gloria Schoch, Executive Director, The VF Foundation and Senior Director of World Effects, VF Corporation. The VF Foundation’s seed funding specifically contributes to the Institute’s attempts in Texas, the place approximately 60{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of U.S. cotton is developed.

The Foundation’s assistance assists build farmer-to-farmer mentoring networks, conduct economic
analysis of regenerative soil wellbeing units, and create Soil Wellness and Soil Carbon Targets so growers
know how healthy their soils can develop into and how a great deal carbon can be sequestered as a result of these procedures.

In addition to currently being a very pleased Sustaining Supporter in the USRCF, The VF Basis is also supporting to
energy the Soil Wellness Institute’s very first internship course. The USRCF Internship System is devoted to establishing profession paths for underrepresented students and empowering them to be leaders and choice-makers in U.S. agriculture. The summer months internship method will have interaction undergraduate learners researching at Traditionally Black Schools and Universities, fueling higher variety, fairness and inclusion in agriculture careers.

Dr. Loutrina Staley, soil scientist and director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Soil Wellness Institute stated, “These students are the long term of agriculture. They will be an integral aspect of our operate to stand up the USRCF. At the Soil Health and fitness Institute, we are deeply committed to existing and potential generations, and empowering historically underrepresented communities.”

“We are happy to help the expansion of the Soil Health and fitness Institute’s Internship Application
to advance variety and inclusion in sustainable agriculture,” explained Schoch. “Facilitating increased accessibility and education to college students enrolled in HBCUs to aid advance their agriculture-targeted occupations is a key move in expanding regenerative procedures and in the end mitigating local climate modify.”

All college students will operate together with the Institute’s experts and educators in one or additional plans, such as Soil Health and fitness and Carbon Targets, Soil Health Training, Soil Microbiome Research, and Soil Health Economics. As portion of their internship, students will engage cotton farmers, advisors, and other stakeholders to raise adoption of regenerative soil well being units and build added resilience and profitability positive aspects to farmers, though mitigating climate transform and marketing other environmental positive aspects.

Considering the fact that its launch, the USRCF has been identified as an Purpose for Weather Innovation Sprint Spouse at the
2021 UN Local climate Modify Conference.

January 9, 2023

Congress must listen to working families and overhaul healthcare, minimum wage and education | Bernie Sanders

I am very pleased to be assuming the chairmanship of the US Senate’s well being, education and learning, labor and pensions committee (Assist), a committee with large jurisdiction over some of the most critical troubles experiencing the American people. As I move into that position I’m pondering about how we can most effective address some of the really serious challenges dealing with my fellow Vermonters and performing families all throughout the state.

Currently, in phrases of health, we have a dysfunctional health care process in which we expend the astronomical and unsustainable sum of nearly $13,000 for just about every man, woman and boy or girl, 2 times as substantially as most made countries and nearly 20{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of our GDP. However, even with that substantial expenditure, 85 million People are uninsured or underinsured and we have worse wellness outcomes and lessen lifestyle expectancy than quite a few other nations. When the insurance policy companies make large earnings, above 500,000 persons declare individual bankruptcy each individual calendar year from medically relevant financial debt, and about 68,000 die due to the fact they simply cannot afford to pay for the treatment they need. Our challenging and fragmented program is so broken that it simply cannot even deliver the quantity of medical doctors, nurses, dentists and mental well being personnel that we desperately need to have.

As a nation, we will have to emphasis on the fact that the perform of a rational healthcare technique is to present top quality treatment for all, not only huge gains for the insurance plan industry.

Today, as we pay by considerably the best selling prices in the globe for prescription medication, the pharmaceutical field is producing document-breaking revenue and much more than a several executives in drug companies are turning into billionaires. Meanwhile, in spite of billions in governing administration financial investment in prescription drug investigate and development, nearly one out of four Us citizens are not able to pay for the drugs their medical doctors prescribe and too lots of seniors are splitting their lifesaving tablets in half due to the fact they just cannot afford to pay for them. And since Medicare doesn’t include dental, hearing and eyesight, there are hundreds of thousands of seniors who are striving to survive with out these essential health care demands.

But it’s not just our health care “system” which requirements a big overhaul. In terms of instruction, we will need to get a difficult look at how we are educating our children – from childcare to graduate university.

When psychologists tell us that the first four yrs of everyday living are the most essential in phrases of human intellectual and emotional growth, it is really hard to deny that our childcare program is in disarray. The price tag is unaffordable for lots of doing work mom and dad, there are not enough slots out there, the good quality is spotty and the shell out and rewards childcare staff receive is unconscionably minimal. This is not how we should really be managing our kids, the long term of The us.

The situation in K-12 education and learning is not a great deal far better. For a assortment of good reasons – absence of respect, low shell out, the worry of Covid and the politicization of school boards – 1000’s of gifted and dedicated teachers are quitting the job, leaving students unprepared for the challenges they confront as they enter the grownup world. The foreseeable future of this country depends upon the excellent of training we provide our young ones, and there is no explanation why we simply cannot develop the very best general public academic technique in the earth.

In phrases of better education and learning, we face the absurd problem of hundreds of 1000’s of vibrant younger people who have the wish and capability to get a higher education education but are not able to do so due to the fact their family members absence the revenue. How quite a few wonderful medical professionals, researchers, and teachers are we losing as a result? There are also hundreds of thousands of youthful people today who will need schooling in purchase to develop into qualified mechanics, carpenters, welders, and electricians who are not obtaining the submit-large university coaching they need. Additional, 45 million Americans are having difficulties with college student credit card debt – often in the hundreds of hundreds of dollars.

In phrases of labor and our economy, we need to figure out that we dwell in a time period of additional cash flow and prosperity inequality than at any time in the previous hundred a long time. While the pretty prosperous develop into richer and a few persons now very own additional wealth than the bottom half of American culture, 60{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of American employees reside paycheck to paycheck and tens of millions are trying to exist on hunger wages. Meanwhile, we have a pathetic federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour which has not been elevated because 2009.

As far more and extra staff try to improve their normal of living by forming unions, they are experiencing intense and illegal union busting from these employers as Starbucks, Amazon, McDonalds and other main businesses.

There is a ton of discussion in the media about how “divided” our country is and, on quite a few challenges, that is absolutely genuine. But what we do not appreciate is that on some of the most significant problems experiencing our place the American people today – Democrats, Republicans, independents – are very united.

The American people today know we are being ripped off by the drug companies and they want reduced prescription medicine prices.

The American people know that our healthcare technique is outrageously highly-priced and they want common and decrease charge wellbeing care.

The American folks know that schooling is critical to our lives and the upcoming of this country and they want superior excellent and affordable education and learning from childcare to graduate college.

The American people today know that no a person can survive on a $7.25-an-hour bare minimum wage, and they want to elevate the minimum amount wage to a living wage.

The American persons know that personnel have a constitutional appropriate to type unions and that organizations that have interaction in illegal union busting things to do will have to be held accountable.

And these are just a few of the challenges in the jurisdiction of the Enable committee that a potent greater part of the American people today want us to deal with.

At a time when too a lot of People in america are supplying up on democracy, now is the time to try to restore religion in our authorities. Now is the time for Congress to have the courage to acquire on the lobbyists and potent special passions and display the American people today that our government can get the job done for them, and not just the 1{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f}. Let us do it.

Bernie Sanders is a US senator, and the ranking member of the Senate spending plan committee. He signifies the condition of Vermont, and is the longest-serving independent in the background of Congress

January 9, 2023

The Future of Health: Integrating Social Work into Health Care

“I imagine health treatment and social do the job go hand in hand,” reported John David Moritz. “I chose to give to the Section of Health and fitness Social Do the job due to the fact of the partnership created in between Dell Med and the Steve Hicks University. When my father was in hospice, I noticed firsthand the importance of social function in the treatment he obtained. In fact, this is what my loved ones remembers most about that time.” The Moritz household hopes that their reward will provide recognition to the vital link among health treatment and social get the job done.

“The Moritz Loved ones Scholarship for Social Perform will encourage and persuade college students who have decided on to dedicate their professions to well being social function,” said Allan Cole, Ph.D., dean of the Steve Hicks School of Social Perform. “The Moritz family’s assistance will allow for extra social workers to contribute their expertise to wellness treatment groups and client treatment.”

As for Frissell’s client, following 12 periods of suffering reprocessing remedy she was ready to return to function — no hospitalization required. From Frissell’s point of view, the remedy is more successful when social workers are completely integrated into the health care group, and when all members of the crew — from doctors to physical therapists — have an understanding of the key part social employees perform.

Karl Koenig, M.D., clinical director of the Musculoskeletal Institute, is on board. “Our medical outcomes in the Back again and Neck Discomfort Centre are some of the greatest I’ve ever observed — 65{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of individuals report enhancement in just 6 months. The mixed solution that consists of cognitive behavioral remedy and incorporating social personnel in the coordination of stick to-up care leads to massively improved outcomes,” he explained.

And which is evident to Frissell as effectively: “I’m capable to truly companion with the medical doctor to educate people in coping competencies to flip down the anxious system response to strain and anxiety,” she reported. “In the exact way you may get the job done with a bodily therapist to practice muscle groups, you can perform with a behavioral therapist to be certain your ache is much better managed.”

Concerning Dell Med’s Office of Overall health Social Function and the future of interprofessional education and learning and care, Jones is optimistic.

“This office is the 1st of its type in a healthcare college, but we really do not want to be the very last,” Jones states. “We want what we have carried out listed here to be an invitation to other folks throughout the nation. I feel that interprofessional education and learning and collaborative practice is the way of the future.”

January 9, 2023

China’s Covid wave threatens another snarl of U.S. medical supply chain

The U.S. is already grappling with unrelated shortages of medicines for young children, together with soreness relievers and antibiotics.

U.S. officials and professional medical suppliers claimed in interviews that they were carefully monitoring the condition in China and experienced nonetheless to see any shortages straight joined to the most current wave of bacterial infections there. Biden administration officials reported they experienced been coordinating across federal agencies to keep track of the offer chain and didn’t foresee substantial shortages, contrary to at the start off of the pandemic, simply because of government attempts to bolster U.S. stockpiles and moves by companies to lessen their dependence on China.

“We’re seeking a large amount for probable early warning signals in the medical supply chain for any varieties of disruptions,” stated an administration formal. “At this position, we have not detected any recent or likely disruptions, at minimum to the stream of medicines or units or materials of PPE (own protective tools) to the United States provided what’s heading on in China.”

But overall health treatment executives and supply chain analysts warn the impact of China’s most recent Covid wave could get months to operate its way by means of the supply chain and a great deal will count on the trajectory of the pandemic in the coming weeks, some thing officials in the U.S. have restricted perception into offered the absence of details from China.

“One major concern through the entire pandemic has been that since of China’s zero Covid plan, shutdowns significantly lessened producing potential in China. This is clearly that style of exercise on steroids,” explained Michael Osterholm, director of the Heart for Infectious Illness Investigation and Plan at the University of Minnesota. “This is by far the worst of the provide chain difficulties we have observed so much in the pandemics from China.”

Possible shortages could array from generic medicines, like antibiotics and blood thinners, to electronic factors used in state-of-the-art healthcare units. Despite endeavours about the previous two yrs by the Biden administration to bolster the country’s domestic healthcare provide chain, the complexity, charges and regulations included in wellbeing care producing has restricted companies’ ability to shift production.

Employees make face masks on a production line at a glove factory, which has started producing face masks as overseas orders for masks at an all time high amid the coronavirus outbreak, on May 16, 2020 in Shenyang, Liaoning Province of China. — Personnel make masks on a production line at a glove manufacturing unit in Shenyang, China, on May perhaps 16, 2020.Yu Haiyang / China News Provider by way of Getty Photos file

“When you have precise mental house that is attached to a precise producer or you have really expensive factory manufacturing, which is standard in pharma and important componentry like integrated circuits, individuals aren’t flip moves, there’s a ton that goes into that,” claimed Douglas Kent, govt vice president of company and strategic alliances at the Association for Supply Chain Management.

The U.S. imported $3.2 billion in medicines and active pharmaceutical substances right from China in 2020, together with antibiotics, antidepressants, delivery control supplements and medicines for chemotherapy, in accordance to a 2021 provide chain evaluation by the White Property.

Far more than a quarter of amenities making the active components in blood thinners for the U.S. and practically 20{08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of those people making a style of anesthetic are dependent in China. Medication imported into the U.S. from other nations, these types of as India and people in Europe, also get the broad the vast majority of their ingredients from China, the report discovered.

The U.S. overall health care technique has previously been grappling with a array of shortages above the previous year as a result of China’s Covid insurance policies that caused factories to shut down and disrupted the flow of items all around the nation. Very last spring, health professionals had to restrict medical scans right after a GE plant generating an imaging agent utilized in the course of action was shutdown for weeks.

The Wellness Industry Distributors Affiliation observed that shipping and delivery delays for health care items have persisted for the past yr in part due to the fact of bottlenecks created by China’s rolling Covid disruptions. The team observed as lots of as 10,000 clinical containers had been delayed an regular of 25 times in October.

“Although the situation has improved when compared to the early stages of Covid back in 2020, the suppliers and distributors are however struggling with shortages, very long direct situations and offer challenges, combined with greater operational charges,” claimed Vijay Mohan, a vice president at o9 Alternatives, which presents provide chain management technological innovation to wellness treatment companies. “The new wave of Covid that has began to re-emerge will even further amplify the worries.”

There are some early indicators of slowdowns at China’s greatest ports and in the completion of manufacturing orders, according to CNBC details. Other shipping and delivery information displays ocean crossings have ongoing to decline. But industry analysts say it will take many more months to determine how much of that is from the virus and how a lot is pushed by waning demand from U.S. people brought on by other economic drivers.

The lack of info coming out of China about the number and location of bacterial infections, the mortality rate and variants has produced it particularly hard for businesses to evaluate exactly where they could run into disruptions. Logistics executives explained they have been relying on their community of Chinese contacts and analytical info, which so much have not indicated any main difficulties.

“We have this colossal and unprecedented and quite rapidly relocating pandemic that is likely to be hitting a number of peaks in several distinctive geographies with diverse timings, and we’re a tiny blind on the info that would begin to give us some much more perception into what is occurring,” stated Stephen Morrison, director of the World Overall health Plan Heart at the Center for Strategic and International Reports.

Nevertheless, Morrison doesn’t assume the disruptions to be extended or popular because overall health treatment businesses have previously been shifting their operations away from China.

“There’s been a great deal of changing likely on by sector, which has previously begun to compute that in conditions of their strategic interests, they needed to lessen their exposure in China and diversify. So it is a diverse reality now,” said Morrison. “If this experienced occurred at the front stop of the pandemic, the impacts would have been larger, but we have experienced three a long time of recalibration.”

Firms could also have to grapple with the risk that China will divert medicine and health care provides to meet up with its have population’s requires, and go absent from exporting those people merchandise to other nations around the world.

“If you develop stuff which is needed to retain your individuals wholesome and there’s not enough to go around you are heading to revert to domestic gratification. I assume that would be a pure response,” said Douglas Kent, executive vice president of corporate and strategic alliances at the Association for Offer Chain Management.

Chinese media reviews indicate the country has been managing small on goods that cut down fevers, this kind of as ibuprofen and acetaminophen, with Chinese corporations altering manufacturing to meet up with those people calls for. But U.S. officials claimed they failed to foresee there would be any considerable shortages of those drugs in the U.S. Johnson & Johnson, which tends to make Tylenol and Motrin, reported it didn’t get any of the lively substances for those people medications from China.

Wellbeing treatment officers say they hope that the U.S. is in a far better area to endure any shocks from China. After hospitals saw shortages of gloves, robes and masks in the early days of the pandemic, quite a few moved to retain larger stockpiles on hand. Hospitals have also more and more seemed to diversify which international locations their critical materials come from.

“We’ve witnessed a great deal of good results up and down the source chain with ensuring that inventories are where they want to be,” mentioned Kyle MacKinnon, senior director of operational excellence at Leading, which allows wellbeing care companies manage their supply chains. “It feels like there’s home to soak up some possible impacts of this. Now down to what degree is kind of harder to put your thumb on because of to the potentially pretty massive-scale level of Covid cases.”

January 8, 2023

How online learning is breaking down barriers and empowering girls

By Pulkit Jain

COVID-19 was a fork in the road for above 1.5 billion learners, which include more than 767 million women and youthful females. Above 190 nations around the world faced nation-vast college closure, and at its peak, on the internet studying became a beacon of gentle that allowed learners to carry on their schooling, guaranteeing that studying never ever stopped. Grounded by the ‘Building back equal’ initiative, on the net studying performed a crucial part in empowering girls’ obtain to schooling. By setting up resilience in learning and addressing important troubles, it continues to demonstrate fantastic possible to defeat time and place restrictions, proving to be advantageous for girls’ instruction desires, be it for the duration of the pandemic and even in the new usual.

Creating an effect with obtainable and very affordable high quality training

Barriers for ladies in remote regions: Financial development and improvement are a portion of the structural improvements in the society. Educating girls is a important aim that contributes to this improvement procedure. A the greater part of the population in the place resides in remote locations the place we notice girls experiencing hurdles in the course of their formative several years of instruction – like a lack of transportation, high quality colleges, good quality lecturers, and even domestic conditions. In some rural places, education is off-limits for women. This not only has an effect on their academic prospects, but also their employment possibilities in the upcoming.

Occasions have transformed, and although we see progress among the remote communities, challenges like lack of good infrastructure in educational institutions and limited instructors nevertheless exist. Luckily, young generations, even in the distant areas, count on cell technologies to obtain data and learn. So, on the web mastering technology has turn into a springboard for women in this sort of locations, enabling them to find out new topics, even all through adversity.

Utilizing online finding out to be certain continuity of training: Entry to engineering and on the web finding out has been more empowering for girls than we can even consider. It offers connectivity and accessibility to the country’s top rated lecturers regardless of wherever ladies are, at an economical rate point. The gains of on line mastering extend outside of the realm of formal education, inspiring creative imagination and innovation amongst younger girls. With on the web learning platforms, women have been honing new competencies and leveraging new tutorial prospects, creating historic studying outcomes, acing competitive exams and excelling in their careers.

Producing a new wave of modify to aid lady youngster education and learning

On the web understanding platforms provide girls the freedom to master at their own speed and usefulness without the need of possessing to stage outside the house. They also accommodate multiple discovering kinds inside of a student-centric natural environment, which will make the method additional participating and powerful.

There is no refuting that on the web learning technologies has been at the forefront of empowering girls to unlock their genuine opportunity. Supporting girls’ correct to top quality education and learning implies leveraging technological innovation to meet up with their academic demands anywhere they are, and opening up alternatives for existence-long understanding, progress, and achievements. With on the web discovering and concerted efforts to imbibe academic technology with hybrid understanding approaches, we have the opportunity to reimagine the world of education and learning in which we undoubtedly can ‘Build again equal’ for girls.

The author of this report is head, New Initiatives, co-founder, Vedantu. Sights expressed are own.

January 8, 2023

The Top 25 Healthcare Technology Leaders of Montreal for 2022

The Healthcare Technology Report is pleased to announce The Top 25 Healthcare Technology Leaders of Montreal for 2022. Montreal is one of the east coast’s leading life sciences regions and has seen a boom in the sector recently thanks in part to a large talent pool, driven by its eight universities and three engineering schools, and significant private and public funding for research and innovation. The leaders on this year’s list and their companies have made the most of this prime location, developing revolutionary solutions across a range of specialties from proteomics to immunology, cannabis, consumer medical devices, and imaging software, among many others.

Some of the distinguished leaders on this year’s list include CEO of Medicom Group Guillaume Laverdure, who led his company’s transformation to masks and N95 respirators and oversaw the opening of six new personal protective equipment production facilities on three continents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Co-Founder and CEO Eric Simoneau’s Motion Composites has developed innovative, award-winning high-performance manual wheelchairs that provide users with enhanced mobility and unparalleled quality. And Valeo Pharma’s CEO, Steve Saviuk, has transformed his company from its early years as an in-licensor of established brands to a fast-growing, full-service Canadian pharmaceutical company.

The leadership positions held by this year’s awardees run the gamut, from CEO and COO to CFO, CTO, and SVP. What they have in common is their demonstrated commitment to improving the lives of patients in the Montreal area and beyond through the innovation of unparalleled technologies in the healthcare space. Please join us in celebrating The Top 25 Healthcare Technology Leaders of Montreal for 2022.

1. Martin LeBlanc
Company: CellCarta
Title: Chief Executive Officer

Martin LeBlanc joined Great Point Partners’ CEO Advisory Board in 2012 and is currently on the board of Softbox Systems, a GPP II portfolio company. He was previously a board member of Cytovance Biologics, a GPP I portfolio company. LeBlanc is the current Chief Executive Officer of CellCarta, the company formed from the 2019 merger of Caprion Biosciences and HistoGeneX. GPP invested in Caprion in 2007 and sold it in 2012. During the GPP investment period and while LeBlanc was CEO, Caprion grew from around $100,000 of EBITDA in 2007 to nearly $9 million of EBITDA in 2012. Today, CellCarta is the leader in providing proteomics and immune monitoring services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Prior to Caprion, LeBlanc began his professional career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. He then initiated his career as a biotech entrepreneur at Advanced Bioconcept, initially as Vice-President of Sales & Marketing and then as General Manager following the company’s acquisition by NEN Life Sciences (now part of Perkin-Elmer). LeBlanc earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Moncton prior to completing his MA in economics and politics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

2. Guillaume Laverdure
Company: Medicom Group
Title: Chief Executive Officer

A native of France, Guillaume Laverdure is a graduate of HEC Paris and Harvard Business School. He joined Medicom in 2009 following an international career in Europe and the United States in finance, operations, and general management. He led the company’s transformation to masks and N95 respirators and oversaw the opening of six new personal protective equipment production facilities on three continents during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Medicom’s previous founder, Guillaume embodies the competency and humanity one would expect in a leader. Medicom is at a pivotal point in its journey where Guillaume will take the company to the next level.

Medicom was founded in 1988 in response to the urgent need for medical gloves for healthcare professionals during the global HIV crisis. Since then, the company has evolved to become one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of high-quality, single-use, infection prevention and control (IPC) products for the medical, dental, lab and research, industrial, animal health, retail, and health and wellness markets. Medicom has been a reliable supplier of IPC solutions during multiple epidemics, including avian flu, SARS, H1N1, and Ebola, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, and was named one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies in 2021 and 2022.

Today, the Medicom Group distributes infection control products under the Medicom, Ritmed, Kolmi, Hopen, Ocean Pacific, and Hedy brands. Medicom subsidiaries include Kolmi-Hopen in France, Medicom Asia in Hong Kong, United Medical Enterprise in the U.S., KHM Engineering in Singapore, and Medicom HealthPro Limited in the U.K.

3. Lloyd Segal
Company: Repare Therapeutics
Title: President and Chief Executive Officer

Lloyd M. Segal has served as Repare Therapeutics’ President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its board of directors since its incorporation in 2016. From 2010 to 2016, he was a Managing Partner with Persistence Capital Partners, a Canadian-based healthcare private equity investor. Previously, Segal was a consultant with McKinsey & Company and served as CEO of several emerging biotechnology companies including Advanced Bioconcept Inc., Caprion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (now CellCarta), which he co-founded, and Thallion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Segal serves as a member of the board of directors of GBC American Fund, a U.S.-based, growth-focused mutual fund, and of Aktis Oncology, a private developer of oncology radiopharmaceuticals. He also previously served as Chairman of LMC Diabetes & Endocrinology, Canada’s leading national endocrinology practice. From 2016 to 2020, Segal served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Versant Ventures. He was honored in 2013 by the Financial Times as Outstanding Director of the Year for public companies and also previously served on the boards of directors of several public and private U.S. and Canadian companies. Segal received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in politics from Brandeis University.

4. Michel Dulong
Company: Dulong Medtech
Title: President and Chief Executive Officer

Michel Dulong has been in the service of healthcare professionals since 1993. Serving the public and private sectors of the Canadian health care system with medical equipment and specialized products since the 1990s, Dulong and his team have been working to gain and maintain the trust of their clients through a range of innovative and high quality products. Based on his convictions, Dulong aspires to continue to stand out as a business model, combined with a rigorous follow-up on the service offered, benefiting from an enviable reputation and the confidence of healthcare professionals.

With innovation at the heart of its actions, Dulong Medtech makes sure to follow the evolution of market trends by ensuring that it goes above all the needs and requirements of the market. This is why, since the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Michel Dulong has been looking for the best solutions to take part in the fight against the coronavirus. In addition to the company’s specialized products in ENT, urology, general surgery, and more, it is now a distributor of Industrie ORKAN’s Épurair products with HEPA filters and of Pura Air’s portable and centralized medical grade air purification systems. Knowing that COVID-19 is spread by air, Dulong’s ventilation products and air purifiers are among the most effective in limiting its spread, as well as that of other viruses that are transmitted in this way.

5. Idriss Saiah
Company: Immuni T
Title: President and Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Idriss Saiah is the President and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Immuni T, a leading provider of immunology services including innate and adaptive immune responses. Prior to Immuni T, Dr. Saiah worked in the gastroenterology division of Sainte-Justine Hospital for almost 20 years and the microbiology/immunology department of the University of Montreal. He managed and collaborated with teams of researchers and administrators through project planning, funding, research, and development. Dr. Saiah’s research interests included basic and clinical aspects of immuno-oncology, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases. He also has experience in the analysis of clinical data in correlation with genetic profiles (HLA genes) and in experimental autoimmunity including human autoantibodies, autoreactive T cells, and the production of transgenic mouse models for understanding the pathogenic mechanisms of immune tolerance and autoimmunity.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Saiah has published several articles and book chapters in prestigious journals, and he has been on numerous scientific review panels. He has consistently been active in the field and is now working at using his knowledge about drugs, medical devices, and biotherapeutics to aid in the development of therapeutic programs for immune conditions including via vaccines and oncology. Dr. Saiah earned his PhD in immunology from Paris – XI University and INSERM U25 (Necker Hospital, Paris) and his works on the immune system were at the forefront for the development of new strategies in immune therapies including DNA vaccines.

6. Nicholas Sosiak
Company: Cannara Biotech
Title: Chief Financial Officer

Nicholas Sosiak is a Canadian entrepreneur and chartered professional accountant. In 2021, he became the Chief Financial Officer of Cannara Biotech. Sosiak (birth name Nikola Dank Sosiak), also known as Niko Dank, has been an instrumental contributor to Cannara and its brands Tribal, Nugz, and Orchid CBD through his passion for cannabis and both its recreational and therapeutic benefits. He is responsible for overseeing the company’s finances and treasury and is a key creator for all other facets of the company from genetic selection, marketing and branding, product formulation, sales, and investor and public relations.

Previously, Sosiak worked in auditing at KPMG LLP and Ernst & Young. Later, he accepted a position as Vice President of Finance and Accounting for Dundee 360 Real Estate Corporation, a subsidiary of Dundee Corporation and a publicly traded company listed on the TSX. While at Dundee 360, Sosiak played a key role in many large-scale real estate developments worldwide including the Parq Vancouver, BC; the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, Ontario; the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal, Quebec; as well as other major real estate deals. He received his bachelor’s degree from Concordia University with a major in accounting and a minor in marketing and then went on to earn a graduate diploma in public accountancy from McGill University.

7. Eric Simoneau
Company: Motion Composites
Title: Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

When Chief Executive Officer Eric Simoneau and his co-founder of Motion Composites, David Gingras, began the process of designing a better manual wheelchair, they recognized that the “lightweight” manual wheelchairs at the time were heavy and inefficient. They knew that these wheelchairs restricted the quality of life and lifestyle of most people who used them. Aiming to create a clean-sheet design for the “perfect wheelchair,” the founders assembled a diverse team of aerospace engineers, clinicians, and industrial designers to produce a highly responsive and efficient, truly lightweight manual wheelchair. The team used high-end materials, advanced technology, and leading-edge engineering to launch Motion Composites’ first Helio wheelchair in 2008.

According to the company, the Helio “revolutionized how people think about wheelchairs.” Since then, Motion Composites has continued to develop innovative, high-performance manual wheelchairs that provide users with enhanced mobility. The company recently won a Red Dot Design Award, an international product design prize awarded by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen (Essen, Germany), for its Veloce wheelchair (a lightweight, foldable wheelchair). Motion Composites, which also won a Red Dot award in 2017 for its Apex wheelchair, said in a press release that the latest award is “further testament” to the company’s “focus on designing wheelchairs with unparalleled quality and aesthetics.”

Many wheelchair users fear adjustability, especially with foldables, because it can often lead to looseness in their chair over time, the company said. The Veloce, however, addresses this issue by using high-quality components that are reported to provide the user with precise adjustability and sustained stability. Most of the company’s wheelchair models are made of carbon fiber, a material that provides an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio and is often used in the aerospace and automotive markets.

8. Steve Saviuk
Company: Valeo Pharma
Title: Chief Executive Officer

Steve Saviuk started his career in accounting at KPMG. He quickly moved to venture capital investing through Manitex Capital Inc., a TSXV-listed company he co-founded over 30 years ago, and which still actively invests in emerging companies with a focus on the life sciences, renewable energy, and sustainable resource sectors. Saviuk is President and CEO of Manitex Capital inc.

Saviuk co-founded Valeo Pharma in 2003 and has since served as its President and CEO. He transformed Valeo Pharma from its early years as an in-licensor of established brands to a fast growing full service Canadian pharmaceutical company and was also instrumental in the sale of certain assets to Valeant Canada. In addition to Saviuk’s executive management experience, he is well acquainted with key corporate governance issues, having served on numerous boards of both public and private companies. Saviuk holds a Bachelor of Communications in business from Concordia University.

9. Bruno Mader
Company: JAMP Pharma Group
Title: President and Chief Operating Officer

Bruno Mäder is the President and Chief Operating Officer of JAMP Pharma Group. The JAMP Pharma Group is a privately owned Québec company headquartered in the Montréal area. Having enjoyed remarkable growth over the past 10 years, JAMP is present in all segments of the pharmaceutical market. The group has a portfolio of close to 270 generic molecules and leads the Canadian pharmaceutical industry in terms of new generic product launches based on Health Canada approvals from January to December 2019. It also ranks among the country’s top companies in terms of annual prescription volume according to IQVIA. Mäder initially joined the JAMP Pharma Group in 2019 as Managing Director of the Orimed Pharma subsidiary, which specializes in commercializing branded products in Canada. In his role as President and COO, he retains full responsibility for Orimed Pharma in addition to overseeing the JAMP Pharma Group operations as well as its biosimilar portfolio.

Mäder has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for almost 30 years. Before joining JAMP, he was Vice-President of Market Access and Head of the Biosimilar and Diversified Brands Business Unit at Merck Canada. Prior to this role, he held several positions at Schering-Plough and at Merck when the two companies merged. While serving as Vice-President of the Immunology Division for Schering-Plough, he launched Remicade® in Canada, a product that, still today, ranks among the top on the Canadian market. In addition, Mäder served as Executive Chairman of Consumer Health Products (CHP) Canada from 2012 to 2014. He earned his MBA in marketing from Université du Québec à Montréal and his BS in marketing from Rutgers Business School.

10. Paul Fenton
Company: Montrium
Title: Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Paul Fenton has over 20 years experience in the development, deployment, and validation of computerized systems for use in regulated clinical trials. He has worked on major clinical technology projects both in the EU and North America and has a strong background in standards and systems and process integration. As Chief Executive Officer of Montrium, he leads the overall vision for the connect platform, which focuses on the organization and analysis of clinical trial information.

Fenton is a long-standing member of the TMF Reference Model Steering Committee and Co-Chair of the eTMF Exchange Mechanism Standard working group. He is also a regular speaker at industry events and is actively involved in several projects for the development of clinical research standards and platforms. Prior to founding Montrium, Fenton founded and served as Senior Clinical IT Consultant for eClinica Inc. Before that, he was the Director of Product Strategy for GEREQ and Director of Product Development for IDDI. Fenton holds a degree in management from London Metropolitan University as well as an MBA in Technology Management from the Université du Québec à Montréal.

11. Sylvie Pelletier
Company: Bio-K+ International
Title: Chief Operations Officer

Sylvie Pelletier is the Chief Operations Officer of Bio-K+ International. Over its 20-year history, Bio-K+ has grown from 10 employees to over a hundred, and expanded its business from Québec-based natural food stores to an international network of natural food outlets, pharmacies, grocery stores, and hospitals. By continuously pursuing research, the company successfully optimized its products’ quality and effectiveness, making a genuine difference in people’s lives. It owes its success to a product with amazing results in the fight against intestinal and infectious diseases. Despite the company’s considerable growth, its core values remain the same, as does its mission: offer a quality product with unique properties that improves health and whose benefits have been clinically proven.

Pelletier first joined Bio-K+ in 2017. Previously, she was the Chief Financial Officer at Essilor – Canada, and before that, a vice president and corporate controller at Pharmascience. Earlier in her career, she worked with PwC as an auditor. Pelletier earned an undergraduate degree in accounting from HEC Montréal.

12. Rene Rebeaud
Company: Hermes Medical Solutions
Title: Chief Business Officer, NA & LATAM

Rene Rebeaud is the Chief Business Officer, NA & LATAM at Hermes Medical Solutions. Through empowering physicians with standardized molecular imaging software solutions, Hermes Medical Solutions delivers increased efficiency, accuracy for diagnosis, and personalized treatment of patients. The result is improved quality and outcomes for healthcare providers who are pursuing refined clinical pathways in precision medicine. Hermes Medical Solutions solves the global challenges in molecular imaging by addressing interrupted clinical workflows, lack of standardization, and access to absolute quantification. Through its solutions, customers address economic pressure in healthcare without sacrificing quality of care. For more than 40 years, the company has been delivering the best in workflows, connectivity, and clinical software solutions.

Rebeaud joined Hermes Medical Solutions as a Managing Director, working his way up to Vice President of Operations for North America and then SVP for North America. Previously, he was a senior development QA engineer at Philips Medical Systems, and before that, a biomedical engineering technical advisor at CHUM. Rebeaud graduated from the Engineer School of Geneva with an undergraduate degree in nuclear physics.

13. Tevin Pathareddy
Company: Montrium
Title: Chief Technology Officer

Tevin Pathareddy is the Chief Technology Officer of Montrium, a global leader in cloud-based records, submissions, and quality management solutions and GxP consulting services for the life sciences. Montrium helps organizations implement and maintain technology to improve their business processes and increase compliance. Delivering its powerful content management solutions across the globe, Montrium serves thousands of users in over 20 countries. It believes in providing the best possible products and services, and its ability to understand the unique needs of each customer is the reason why its customers continue to return every time. Its transparent approach towards any new opportunity has allowed the company to create bonds of trust with some of the largest players in the life sciences industry.

Pathareddy has over 20 years of experience in the design, implementation, and validation of systems within regulated industries such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and local government. Throughout these years, he has developed a strong background in industry systems and standards and frequently applies this knowledge to integrate processes, technology, and people. He has worked with end-user groups from diverse regulated industries and regulatory agencies with strong emphasis on the synthesis and transformation of business user requirements into technological solutions. Pathareddy joined the Montrium team in 2007 and, in addition to managing implementation teams, has leveraged his technical expertise and experience in regulated applications to lead the development and implementation of Montrium’s solutions for the life sciences. He first got his start in 1996 as a computer technician at PwC. From there, he served as a computer systems consultant at McGill University and an aircraft systems engineer at CAE, before eventually taking the position of project manager at MS Govern, his most recent position prior to joining Montrium. Pathareddy graduated from Concordia University with a master’s in aerospace engineering and from McGill University with a bachelor’s in computer engineering.

14. Horst Zerbe
Company: IntelGenx
Title: Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Horst G. Zerbe, PhD, serves as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of IntelGenx, a leading drug delivery company focused on the development and manufacturing of pharmaceutical films. Dr. Zerbe has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and started his career at Schwarz Pharma before transitioning to 3M Pharmaceuticals in Germany. From 1998 to 2005, he served as the President of Smartrix Technologies Inc. in Montreal; prior to that, from 1994 to 1998, he served as Vice President of R&D and Technology Transfer at LTS Lohmann Therapy Systems in West Caldwell, NJ. During his assignments at 3M and LTS, he gained considerable experience in the technology transfer and commercial manufacturing of transdermal as well as oral film products.

Dr. Zerbe has extensive executive level experience and has been responsible for many strategic and business initiatives. He has been involved in new drug development and the acquisition and disposition of new drug candidates and other technology, licensing, and distribution matters that are likely to affect the company’s own business efforts. He has published numerous scientific papers in recognized journals and holds more than 30 patents. Dr. Zerbe has also served as the CEO and Director of the company’s Canadian subsidiary since 2005.

15. Jean-Francois Roy
Company: Hexoskin
Title: Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

Jean-Francois Roy co-founded Hexoskin Wearable and Body Metrics (Carré Technologies) in 2006 and has served as the company’s Chief Technology Officer ever since. Carré is an R&D company which develops wearable biosensors, mobile applications, cloud computing, and data science services. Hexoskin, the company’s wearable body metrics device, includes garment textile sensors, an embedded electronic device, mobile applications, and cloud computing capacities in an integrated solution for high end athletes and team management. Roy has a strong background in R&D project analysis, risk evaluation, and development. He is a specialist in embedded systems and currently focuses on the development of medical devices. Roy is an experienced ASIC, FPGA, and board designer and has also developed signal processing algorithms in many programming languages. He has worked on different platforms developing fast integration of many kinds of devices including IP cores and dedicated electronics.

Roy is interested in challenging opportunities mostly in signal processing and intelligent systems. He is particularly interested in R&D projects with a preference for biomedical applications. Prior to Hexoskin, Roy served as CEO of Tinnitus Laboratory Inc. and was a complex electronic hardware designer for CMC Electronics. Before that, he was an ASIC designer for Victhom Human Bionics and a hardware designer for Octasic. Roy graduated from Polytechnique Montréal with a master’s degree in biomedical & microelectronic engineering and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

16. Alexandre Fuentes
Company: Emovi
Title: Chief Scientific and Technology Officer

Alexandre Fuentes is responsible for clinical affairs, research and development activities, and training and education programs at EMOVI. Fuentes led the technology transfer from bench to bedside of knee marker technology resulting in the first rapid, valid, and medically meaningful 3D functional assessment in the clinical setting. He continues to oversee technological improvements facilitating clinical integration of biomechanics to improve patient care. Fuentes also has significant clinical experience, having worked in the field of athletic therapy for numerous years and having managed and overseen a knee specialized clinic for 7 years.

Fuentes’ postdoc fellowship in data mining at the École Technologie Supérieure gave him the expertise to push the boundaries in utilizing biomechanical data as a diagnostic aid and to help personalize treatments. As an associate member of the Laboratoire de recherche en imagerie et orthopédie (LIO), he continues to be actively involved in clinical research and act as a mentor for graduate students. He has authored or coauthored more than 50 publications (papers, abstracts, book chapters) and holds 2 patents. He is highly respected by sports medicine physicians and orthopedic surgeons, and has to his credit several awards for his contribution of new knowledge in clinical orthopedic biomechanics. Fuentes completed his PhD and Master of Science in biomedical sciences (biomechanics) at the University of Montreal and holds a Bachelor of Science in exercise science and athletic therapy from Concordia University.

17. Yvan Cote
Company: Neopharm Labs
Title: President and General Manager

Yvan Cote is an accomplished senior executive with a track record of building transformational business success in the diagnostic and pharmaceutical industry since 1992. Cote joined Neopharm Labs in July 2021 following his most recent role as Director General of Dynacare Genetics and Specialty Service. During that time, he was awarded the LabCorp Chairman Award in 2015 for his work in the areas of scientific leadership and customer focus, and for being the primary driver in building a leading national laboratory testing business. Most recently, he was also selected for the Hero Award to recognize his extraordinary performance in support of the COVID-19 response.

Previous to Dynacare, Cote was Vice President, Research & Development and General Manager of Warnex for eight years and also led the R&D department at Biochem for seven years before. He also currently leads Averica Discovery Services, which Neopharm acquired in late 2016. Cote holds a PhD in biotechnology from the University of Sherbrooke and has extensive industry knowledge around topics of life sciences, clinical development, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and infectious diseases as well as microbiology and immunology.

18. Michael Laranjo
Company: Otsuka Canada Pharmaceutical Inc.
Title: President and General Manager

Mike Laranjo is a 20-year veteran in the pharmaceutical industry and a distinguished leader who currently serves as President and General Manager of Otsuka Canada Pharmaceutical Inc. He has been integral to Otsuka’s growing presence in both the mental health and nephrology space and exemplifies Otsuka’s purpose to defy limitations, so that others can too. Laranjo works to shape the OCPI organization by managing all functional areas and building business priorities, establishing key metrics, and ensuring infrastructure and company expansion to bring therapeutic solutions to patients in need.

Laranjo joined Otsuka in September 2010 as Country Executive Director for market access, commercial operations, and finance & administration, where he developed and executed strategies to address complex and challenging issues within the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to Otsuka, he served as the Director of Business Planning & Analysis at Novartis. Laranjo earned his Bachelor of Commerce in accounting with a minor in business law at Concordia University. He later received a graduate diploma in accounting and went on to become an Adjunct Professor at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business.

19. George Ambartsoumian
Company: GA International Inc.
Title: President

George Ambartsoumian is the President of GA International Inc., a full-scale R&D company and manufacturer of specialty materials, labels, and adhesive products for biomedical and biopharmaceutical laboratories and for clinical trials. The company is a worldwide leader in the manufacturing and supplying of cryogenic and chemical-resistant labels and produces an array of cryogenic, autoclave-resistant, solvent-resistant, and other specialty labels in any color or size.

Like many of the people who work at GA International, Ambartsoumian also started his career as a scientist. He earned a PhD from the Kazan State Academy of Veterinary Medicine in Russia as well as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from the Yerevan Veterinary Institute in Armenia. He followed up his degrees by performing post-doctoral research in Montreal, starting first in the biology department of Concordia University and moving on to the Cancer Research Institute at Notre-Dame Hospital. He spent another two years studying transcriptional regulation in bone development at the Shriners Hospital for Children from 1996 to 1998, and it was there that he first had the idea to start a company providing labeling and identification solutions to laboratories.

20. Iain Boomer
Company: The PMCQ
Title: President

Iain Boomer currently serves as the President of The PMCQ and also leads The Academy program globally for Brand and In-Field teams at AbbVie. Prior to this, he held the role of Head of Learning and Development for AbbVie Canada for four years, leading a team driving learning excellence for AbbVie’s 880+ professionals. The team was dedicated to ensuring that adult learning principles were applied with a measurable, engaging, value-add, and innovative approach. Boomer’s team ensured leadership development, commercial and medical strategies, employee and product onboarding journeys, compliance learning and in-field team skills and capabilities were executed and aligned with business goals and strategies.

Prior to joining The PMCQ, Boomer served as Senior Global Product Training Manager, Immunology for AbbVie and as an independent project management consultant for Bairick Solutions. He also spent nearly six years with IC Axon, serving as a project manager and associate director. He got his start as an analyst and project manager with Bell Mobility. Boomer holds a bachelor’s degree in animal biology and anatomy & cell biology from McGill University.

21. Frederic Fasano
Company: Valeo Pharma
Title: Special Advisor and Board Member

Before stepping down on November 21, 2022, Frederic Fasano served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Valeo Pharma, a company dedicated to commercializing novel prescription pharmaceutical products in Canada by acquiring patent protected products to grow its portfolio, and which is therapeutically focused on respiratory diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, specialty products, and oncology. Fasano remains with Valeo as a special advisor and a member of the board. He is a seasoned pharmaceutical executive with over 25 years of extensive general management experience in country operations and entrepreneurial experience with small cap pharma companies within different geographies (Canada, Europe, and Latin America). Under his leadership, Valeo significantly grew its portfolio of innovative products and its dedicated team while maintaining impressive revenue growth.

Prior to joining Valeo, Fasano served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Servier Canada, a well-established, fully-integrated affiliate of Servier Group. He led the portfolio diversification strategy, including multiple in-licensing deals, while strengthening team capabilities in order to maximize the affiliate’s growth. Fasano also held various executive positions in Italy, France, and Latin America and sat on the Board of Directors of ILKOS Therapeutics and served as Chairman of the Board of Innovative Medicines Canada. He holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School and a PharmD from the University of Paris – XI.

22. Jeffrey Albert
Company: X-Chem
Title: Senior Vice President of Medical Chemistry

Jeffrey Albert serves as Senior Vice President of Medical Chemistry of X-Chem, which empowers its users to screen billions of compounds against targets with its groundbreaking DNA-encoded library (DEL) screening platform. Albert is an industry leading expert in medicinal chemistry who has spent over 20 years at AstraZeneca in various roles from project leader to section head of lead generation. He has experience ranging from discovering initial leads through to preclinical validation, including advancing multidisciplinary project teams from concept to preclinical toxicology.

In 2012, Albert founded the research and development organization IntelliSyn in order to identify novel leads and optimize them as successful clinical candidates for CNS and other diseases. Through his time as founder and director of IntelliSyn, he led research teams in design, synthesis, and optimization of these leads. He assembled and managed a team of highly talented researchers, with the promise they could provide innovation and delivery expertise to pharma and biotech clients. Albert’s teams have successfully delivered four drugs into clinical development, two of which are currently in Phase 3. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications and 45 patents, six book chapters, and two books. In recognition of the excellence and utility of his work, IntelliSyn was acquired and integrated into X-Chem, and Albert now oversees everything relating to medicinal chemistry at the major Montreal research location.

23. Philippe Dubuc
Company: Theratechnologies
Title: Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

In February 2016, Philippe Dubuc was hired as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Theratechnologies, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies addressing unmet medical needs. Theratechnologies currently markets prescription products in the United States and Canada, and its research pipeline focuses on specialized therapies addressing unmet medical needs in HIV, oncology, and NASH.

Dubuc brings more than 25 years of experience in investment banking in the healthcare sector and in management to his current dual role. Dubuc started his career as a management consultant at Groupe Secor, a well-known Quebec-based consulting firm which is now part of KPMG. He then served as Managing Director, Investment Banking at National Bank Financial. In this role, he headed the healthcare group and was involved in numerous financing and M&A transactions. He later founded a manufacturing company which he sold after seven years of successful operations. Dubuc also currently serves as a board member and treasurer of Compagnie Virginie Brunelle. He holds an MBA from McGill University and an undergraduate degree from Concordia University.

24. Michel Sirgent
Company: Bio-K+ International
Title: Senior Vice President

Michel Sirgent is the Senior Vice President of Bio-K+ International. Over its 20-year history, the company grew from 10 employees to over a hundred, and expanded its business from Québec-based natural food stores to an international network of natural food outlets, pharmacies, grocery stores, and hospitals. By continuously pursuing research, the company successfully optimized its products’ quality and effectiveness, making a genuine difference in people’s lives. It owes its success to a product which leads to amazing results in the fight against intestinal and infectious diseases. Despite the company’s considerable growth, its core values remain the same, as does its mission: offer a quality product with unique properties that improves health and whose benefits have been clinically proven.

Sirgent joined Bio-K+ International/Kerry Group in 1997. Prior to that, he was Director/Chair of the Canadian Health Food Association. Earlier in his career, he worked with Boehringer Ingelheim Canada as a self-medication regional territory manager. Sirgent earned his MBA from McGill University and is a master’s candidate in business administration and risk management at the University of Cumbria.

25. Dominic Begin
Company: Organon Canada
Title: Executive Director and Business Unit Lead

Dominic Begin is an active and passionate professional who serves as Executive Director and oversees the Biosimilars business unit for Organon Canada. Organon is a global health company with a singular vision: to make a better and healthier every day for every woman. As the only company of its size focused on women’s health, Organon puts women at the center of everything it does, launching with a commitment to listen to women to hear — and understand — her unmet health needs and help identify solutions that are urgently needed. Organon Canada focuses on medicines that support women’s health, including contraception, fertility, and hormone therapy, and as well as medicines to treat diseases that disproportionately affect women, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Its portfolio includes more than 40 medicines and products across three lines of business: Women’s Health, Biosimilars, and Established Brands.

Begin started in the retail industry before joining Merck Canada in 2000, where he had a rich career and held various positions of increasing responsibilities in sales, training, marketing, access, and corporate strategy, including several directorships. His leadership along with his strategic vision, his entrepreneurial mindset, and his collaborative approach have allowed him to earn multiple awards throughout his career and be recognized by his peers. Begin strongly believes in the importance of saving and improving lives and finding ways to bring more medicines to more people. Throughout his career he contributed to the launch of several products and initiatives, bringing new treatment options to the Canadian market and increasing patient access to needed medicines, namely in Hepatitis C, respiratory, cardiovascular, immunology, rheumatology, migraine, and soon Oncology.

As a founding member of Organon and being named to the first ever Canadian Executive Leadership Team, Begin aims to continue his journey and leverage the agility, renewed energy, and passion of the new organization to help Organon Canada prosper and set a strong foundation in Canada. He is excited about bringing new solutions to address significant unmet needs in Women’s health, as well as bringing biosimilars to the Canadian market to help support the sustainability of the healthcare system and its capacity to invest in innovation.