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Looking for a one-on-one opportunity to discuss tips on navigating your career in academia or industry? Join us for Speed Mentoring; an opportunity for UBC postdocs to interact with current faculty and industry members who will share their perspective and answer questions. Speed Mentoring will be followed by a wine and cheese networking event.
This event provides UBC PDFs with the opportunity to meet face-to-face with experienced faculty and industry members and in return for them to engage with UBC’s rising star scholars. Please note that it is not required to meet with Faculty members within your own discipline, in fact it is recommended that you meet with a variety of Faculty and Industry mentors who could provide the most beneficial and enriched perspective.
Speed Mentoring is a fun, fast-paced event in which PDFs will have the opportunity to interact with as many expert mentors as possible. Mentors from all areas of research and training will be participating, to offer brief one-on-one advice to postdocs, ten minutes at a time. With registration, the PDFO will organise the time into ten minute increments, ideally with a chance for each PDF to meet with their choice of mentors. These questions can be regarding academic or industry career topics such as:
- Job search strategies
- Grant writing
- Interview process
- Funding issues
- Knowing Where You Are Going
- Tenure
- Skill Development
- Collegiality and Independence
- Life Balance
- Gender Differences
- Peculiarities Unique to Arts, Science and Medicine
As part of the registration process each PDF must submit their choice of ten mentors from the list provided, of which you will meet with a minimum of four. Only those PDFs who have registered will be able to participate in this session. Please note attendance is mandatory for this session and by signing up you have committed to attend.
Registration:
Registration is required and early registration is encouraged. Please register online. Please note, for this event registration is expected to close by end of day Monday, November 18, 2013. Please ensure to request each mentor only once and please make sure to complete the entire survey, unless you have chosen 10 mentors to choose from we cannot accept the registration.
Those successfully registered will receive a confirmation email from the PDFO within one week of the session's date. If you are interested in this event, please ensure you register early as the mentor's timetables do fill up. Due to demand, if you have registered but are no longer able to attend, the PDFO will accept cancellations up to 72 hours before this session. Kindly let us know via email to postdoctoral.fellows@ubc.ca
Please ensure you come prepared with questions and please keep in mind it is a great academic and industry networking event where first impressions go a long way. While we will endeavor to provide each PDF with their choice of mentor, based on availability we cannot guarantee a meeting with each preferred mentor.
Faculty Mentors:
Medicine: Dr. Ed Conway See Bio Dr. Ross MacGillirvray See Bio UILO: Dr. Jean-Paul Heale See Bio Science: Dr. Rachel Fernandez See Bio
Industry Mentors:
BBCP Conductor Inc. Bruce Bingham See Bio CDRD Karimah Es Sabar See Bio BC Bioenergy Network Darren Frew See Bio Mitacs Dr. Jeremy Gawryluk See Bio Response Biomedical Dr. Barb Kinnaird See Bio Nano Tech Clint Landrock See Bio Tasktop Technologies Dr. Gail Murphy See Bio Response Biomedical Jeff Purvin See Bio Precision Nano Systems Dr. Euan Ramsay See Bio 1QBit Dr. Gili Rosenberg See Bio Vanrx Pharmasystems Inc. Zak Shewchuk See Bio Michael Smith Laboratories Dr. Terry Snutch See Bio Tait Laboratories Dr. Andrew Tait See Bio
Faculty:
Dr. Ed Conway was born and educated in Toronto, receiving degrees in Electrical Engineering and Medicine at the University of Toronto. He completed his clinical and research fellowships in Hematology-Oncology at Harvard University and at MIT and returned to Toronto as a physician-scientist and hematologist, establishing a successful research group in vascular biology, funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
In 1995, Dr. Conway was recruited to the University of Leuven in Belgium, where he joined the faculty of the Vesalius Research Center. There, he completed a PhD in Biomedical Sciences, and an MBA at Heriot Watt University. In addition to leading a research group focused on delineating mechanisms underlying vascular diseases, he coordinated collaborations with industry, and organized graduate educational programs.
Dr. Conway was recruited to Vancouver in 2009 as the Director of the Centre for Blood Research where his goal is to catalyze translational research between the basic scientists at UBC and clinical scientists at the affiliated hospitals. He is a Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine and holds a Canada Research Chair in Endothelial Cell Biology. His research is supported by grants from the CIHR and NSERC.
Ross T.A. MacGillivray, Ph.D. is currently a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at U.B.C., a member of the Scientific and Research Staff in the Division of Hematological Pathology at the Vancouver General Hospital and a Consultant in Genetics and Health at the Child and Family Research Institute of the BC Children’s Hospital. Dr. MacGillivray was also the founding Director of the UBC Centre for Blood Research from 2002-2008 and Vice Dean Academic Affairs in the Faculty of Medicine from 2009-2012.
He has been the recipient of several awards including the Ayerst Award of the Canadian Biochemistry Society and a UBC Killam Research Prize, a Killam Teaching Prize and a Killam Senior Fellowship. He received the 2006 Genome BC Award for Scientific Excellence presented by BC Biotech. He continues to enjoy teaching medical students and undergraduate biochemistry students as well as maintaining a research laboratory involved in blood proteins.
Dr. Rachel Fernandez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Her research encompasses host-pathogen interactions, focusing on Bordetella pertussis which causes whooping cough. The goal of her program is to establish new methods to control B. pertussis, including developing the next generation of pertussis vaccines.
Dr. Fernandez received her B.Sc. from the University of Toronto and her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Dalhousie University. She arrived at UBC after being a postdoctoral fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University and at the University of Cincinnati. At UBC, Dr. Fernandez has been a member of several search committees for new faculty and is a member of the UBC Graduate Student Career Development Advisory Task Force. She has also reviewed grant applications, including personnel awards, for numerous granting agencies.
J.P. Heale is Associate Director of the University-Industry Liaison Office (UILO) at The University of British Columbia. He oversees operations associated with UBC’s Affiliated Hospitals, work which ranges from sponsored research and clinical trials to technology transfer and external relations with such UBC-affiliated agencies as the Centre for Drug Research and Development, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, and the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research. He has assisting in the creation of several spin-off companies based on UBC research.
J.P. graduated from UBC in 1997 with a doctorate from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and subsequently worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and Research Associate. JP received an MBA from Simon Fraser University in 2001 while working as Manager of Corporate Development at a start-up biotech company. In late 2001, J.P. joined the UILO in the Technology Transfer Group. The next year he became Technology Transfer Manager for the Children’s and Women’s Health Centre of BC, one of the affiliated hospital of UBC. J.P. took on the role of Associate Director in April 2004.
JP is a current member of the Alliance for Commercialization of Canadian Technology (ACCT), the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), and Life Sciences BC (formerly BC Biotech). He sits on the CIHR Proof-of-Principle Committee, the CECR PROOF Translation Advisory Committee, the Prionet Canada Research Management Committee, the Allergen Intellectual Property Committee, the Genome BC Technology Development Innovation Fund, and the UBC Technology Equity Management Committee. He is also an observer on the boards of viDA Therapeutics Inc., Sirius Genomics Inc. and Boreal Genomics Inc.
The UILO conducts the technology transfer and commercialization activities at UBC. UBC consistently ranks among the top ten North American universities for its patenting and commercialization activities. UBC currently has over 250 licenses with companies around the world and has actively supported the creation of 130 spin-off companies.
Industry:
Born, raised and educated in British Columbia, Mr. Bingham’s 30 year business management experience spans the operations and financial management of some of the largest marine, forestry and resource management groups in BC with revenues over $250 million. His business leadership extends on to start-up project development, strategic planning, financing and execution of BC’s newly emerged industries including aquaculture, renewable energy and alternative energy technology industries.
Mr. Bingham was appointed in 2006 to British Columbia’s Premier’s Task Force for Alternative Energy Technologies. He was appointed founding chair for the proposed Canadian Centre of Excellence for the Commercialization of Information and Communication Research(CCICR), Vancouver and has led the development of BBCP’s commercialization of its nano metallix matrix electrical conductor technology since its start in 2009.
He is a qualified Master Mariner and marine transportation logistics specialist.
Back to Industry Mentors table
A highly-recognized Canadian life sciences leader, Karimah Es Sabar brings 30 years of dynamic global business experience to her role as President and CEO of The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She previously held the position of Senior Vice-President, Business and Strategic Affairs at CDRD, 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 are now contributing significantly to advancing the goals of CDRD. In 2013, Ms. Es Sabar was appointed Founding Chair of the Global Alliance of Leading Drug Discovery and Development Centres, an association of international peer organizations dedicated to translating health research into new medicines.
Prior to joining CDRD, Ms. Es Sabar took on the role of leading BC Biotech in 2005, re-engineering and rebranding the organization to LifeSciences BC. As President, she led the organization to its greatest levels of success as a strong business development organization for the life science industry and the scientific research community. Ms. Es Sabar has also held senior management positions with international multinational companies, most notably as Director International Division, and later Director Marketing and Business Development at Connaught Laboratories Limited [Sanofi Pasteur] based in Toronto. Ms. Es Sabar also served as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for a Vancouver medical devices company, Medsurge Medical Inc., and was the founder and Managing Director of SAL Healthcare Limited, a leading healthcare organization in Kenya specializing in pharmaceutical marketing, distribution and healthcare consulting services. The company set new standards in the marketing and distribution of biopharmaceutical products in the region.
Ms. Es Sabar currently serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Providence Healthcare Research Institute, and also sits on the Boards of a number of organizations including the Prostate Centre Advisory Board, Vancouver General Hospital; the Prostate Centre’s Translational Research Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and Development (PC-TRIADD); NRC – IRAP Advisory Board, BC Centre for Improved Cardiovascular Health Advisory Board; and is also Past-President of MOSAIC, a multilingual non-profit organization dedicated to addressing issues that affect immigrants and refugees in the course of their settlement and integration into Canadian society. She has also lent her leadership expertise by participating in a number of advisory committees for organizations such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); MITACS; the British Columbia Institute of Technology / University of British Columbia Biotechnology Degree Program; The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE); India Market Advisory Committee, and the British Columbia Asia-Pacific Trade Council. She is also a former board member of LifeSciences British Columbia, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR); the Aga Khan National Economic Planning Board of Canada and Aga Khan National Health Boards in Canada and Kenya.
Ms. Es Sabar received Canada’s Gold Award for Business Excellence (CABE) while at Sanofi Pasteur. She was the recipient of the YWCA Women of Distinction Award in 2010 for Industry, Science and Technology, and was included amongst “The Vancouver Power 50” listing of the most influential people in BC by Vancouver Magazine, and in “BC’s Top 100 Women of Influence” by the Vancouver Sun. Ms. Es Sabar holds a BSc. Joint Honours degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of Salford, England, and a MSc. degree in Neurochemistry from the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, England.
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Darren Frew has been active in business development, mentorship and communication in BC’s technology sector for over 20 years. Prior to joining BC Bioenergy Network, he worked with the former Science Council of British Columbia and the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP). Darren is also a committed mentor for both graduate and undergraduate students. He is in his fifth consecutive year as a Mentor with the MBA program at UBC’s Sauder School of Business. Darren is also a mentor with the Student Biotechnology Network. Darren holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Calgary (1982).
Darren has been active with Toastmasters International in British Columbia for six years; he was named Outstanding Toastmaster of the Year in District 21 (British Columbia) for 2010/2011.
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Dr. Jeremy Gawryluk is a Manager of Research with Mitacs in Vancouver. He is responsible for program refinement and development as well as maintaining research integrity for joint industry and graduate student / PDF research projects within the Accelerate program. Jeremy completed a BSc degree at the University of Manitoba in Behavioral Neuroscience (Psychology) and a PhD in Pharmacology & Physiology from the University of North Dakota in 2009. Jeremy undertook an academic PDF position at UBC in Psychiatry from 2009 until 2011 where he examined human psychiatric brain antioxidant systems and the effects of pharmaceutical compounds on these systems. In 2011, Jeremy transitioned from an academic to an industrial PDF position with the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) in the Pharmacology division, where he worked on modeling and testing of novel biological compounds on brain disorders.
During this fellowship, Jeremy began scientific consulting for Mitacs on the Research Review Council as a handling editor and continued this role until joining the organization full time in 2012.
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Dr. Kinnaird has over 20 years of research and business experience primarily in the fields of infectious diseases and point of care (POC). In her current position as Vice President, Dr. Kinnaird is responsible for the Company’s Operations, Quality Assurance, Regulatory, Clinical Affairs and Research and Development departments. She has a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia at the B.C. Children's Hospital in the Department of Pediatrics.
Dr. Kinnaird's Ph.D research was focused on the discovery of genes that cause resistance of bacteria to antibiotic therapies. She conducted her post-doctoral research at The Michael Smith laboratories in genomics and gene expression profiling, in collaboration with The B.C. Genome Sciences Centre; Dr. Kinnaird was also a consultant for the Proteomics division of Incyte Genomics Inc. Dr. Kinnaird not only has the in-depth technical knowledge of multiple biological systems but also the extensive understanding of the patient care setting required to succeed in the development and production of innovative and reliable POC products.
For the past nine years, Dr. Kinnaird has held several key management positions at Response Biomedical Corp. including responsibilities for Product Development, Quality, Regulatory, Manufacturing and Sales. During Dr. Kinnaird’s tenure in these positions, there has been a demonstrated improvement in product design control, operational efficiencies, cost reduction, gross margins and sales, in addition to ensuring regulatory compliance that supports sales in several global jurisdictions such as Japan, U.S.A. and Canada.
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Mr. Landrock serves as the Executive Vice President of Products for NanoTech Security Corp. He is an expert in the study of nano-optics and currently holds several patents and over a dozen peer-reviewed publications in the field. Mr. Landrock completed his bachelor degree (BEng.) in aerospace engineering at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, and completed his Masters of Applied Sciences (MASc.) at Simon Fraser University where his research centered around nano-optics and its applications. His current research interests include nano-technology applications and smart materials.
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Dr. Gail Murphy is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies) in the Faculty of Science and a co-founder and CSO of Tasktop Technologies Incorporated. Gail's research is in software engineering and more specifically in improving the productivity of knowledge workers like software developers. In 2007, building on research from the lab, Tasktop Technologies was founded with a Ph.D. student (Mik Kersten) that had just completed and a research scientist (Rob Elves). Tasktop has grown to have over 60 employees with headquarters in downtown Vancouver, offices in Austin and Boston and employees in Europe. When not working with the great people at UBC and Tasktop, Gail enjoys spending time with her spouse and three sons.
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Mr. Purvin has over 30 years of experience marketing both consumer and medical products. Prior to joining Response Biomedical, he was the Chairman and CEO of Calibra Medical, Inc. At Calibra, he and his team developed and gained FDA clearance for a unique, small, wearable insulin delivery device. Johnson & Johnson acquired Calibra Medical in 2012.
Prior to Calibra, Mr. Purvin was Chairman and CEO of Metrika, Inc. There, he and his team developed a handheld, point-of-care, semi-disposable, finger stick-based, HbA1c test which the company sold directly to physicians, consumers and other companies, worldwide. Bayer acquired Metrika in 2006. Prior to Metrika, Mr. Purvin ran the Interventional Products Division of Datascope Corporation (Maquet – Getinge Group) as its President. Datascope was a public company which has since been acquired by Maquet. At Datascope, Mr. Purvin was responsible for marketing a large line of interventional cardiology and radiology devices to hospitals, worldwide. Prior to Datascope, Mr. Purvin served as Vice President, General Manager, in GlaxoSmithKline's $4B Consumer Healthcare division where he marketed scores of well-known, highly advertised consumer packaged goods. Mr. Purvin started his career at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he marketed both branded and generic pharmaceuticals and consumer products to both physicians and consumers.
Mr. Purvin is a member of the Board of Directors at Cardica, Inc. Cardica markets a unique coronary bypass anastomosis connection device to cardiothoracic surgeons, worldwide, and is currently developing a unique, multi-staple-firing surgical stapler line. Mr. Purvin is Chair of Cardica's Compensation Committee and is a member of its Audit and Finance Committees. In addition, Mr. Purvin is the Executive Chairman of the University of Fashion, a web-based, fashion education video business founded by fashion designer, Francesca Sterlacci.
Mr. Purvin earned a B.A. from Brown University and an M.B.A from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
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Euan is a co-founder and COO of Precision NanoSystems Inc, a UBC spin-out company that develops microfludic-based products (the NanoAssemblr) and consumables (Sub9Kits) for the manufacture of nanoparticles that are use in life sciences research and to develop new medicines. Euan has 15 years experience in the science and commercialization of nanoparticle systems. Euan has an undergraduate degree in pharmacy from the U. of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland and a Ph.D. in gene therapy from Cardiff U., Wales. Prior to Precision, Euan worked at the Centre for Drug Research and Development where he led a funding program that raised over $33 million for drug discovery and development projects. Additionally, during his PDF at the BC Cancer Agency, Euan was Co-inventor of the nanoparticle drug, Irinophore C, which was licensed to Champions Oncology.
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Gili Rosenberg aims to live a passionate and adventurous life. He has traveled to over 40 countries, spending more than two years on the road, and is an active hiker, scrambler, rock climber, mountaineer, cycle tourer and backcountry skier (check out his blog). In addition, he is a foodie who loves to bake and cook most things, and is obsessed with fruit.
Gili moved to Vancouver seven years ago from Israel, ostensibly to pursue a physics PhD at UBC. He now works at 1QBit, a six month old Vancouver startup developing algorithms and software for quantum computers made by D-Wave Systems in Burnaby, with applications in finance, bioinformatics, communications, and more. He is excited about working on interesting and challenging problems on cutting edge technology that has the potential to be game changing.
Gili is a board member and active pick leader at the Vancouver Fruit Tree Project, which collects unwanted fruit from backyard trees and donates it. In addition, he has served two years on the executive board of the Varsity Outdoor Club.
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Zak Shewchuk (B.Comm - Finance - USask) is the HR and IT Manager for Vanrx Pharmasystems, a Burnaby startup which designs and manufactures robotic cleanroom equipment for the pharmaceutical industry. He wears several hats, as you tend to in a startup environment, and is currently involved in planning activities for talent and infrastructure growth as the company moves into the commercialization stage of its core product. Prior to his time at Vanrx, Zak managed an IT recruitment team which provided clients throughout BC with technical talent on a project basis. Interviewing 400+ people per year brings with it a good idea of what does…and what doesn’t…make people want to hire you. So if you have questions about the employment market, job search best-practices, or general interview-related questions, he’s the guy to ask.
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Dr. Terrance P. Snutch is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Michael Smith Laboratories, Departments of Psychiatry and Zoology, and the Brain Research Centre at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Snutch obtained his PhD in molecular genetics in 1984 from Simon Fraser University and between 1984 through 1989 conducted postdoctoral studies in the emerging field of molecular neurobiology at the California Institute of Technology. For six summers Dr. Snutch also organized and instructed the prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory course on Ion Channel Structure and Function, introducing a new generation of scientists to the study of molecular neurobiology.
Dr. Snutch is acknowledged as a pioneer and world leader in the study of a family of signaling proteins called calcium channels. Calcium channels are responsible for numerous physiological functions in the nervous, cardiovascular and endocrine systems and their dysfunction is implicated in a wide variety of human diseases, including chronic and neuropathic pain, epilepsy, migraine, stroke, heart disease, epilepsy, autism and psychotic disorders.
Recognizing the importance of targeting his biomedical research towards unmet human diseases and in translating this work towards public health and job creation, in 1998 Dr. Snutch founded NeuroMed Pharmaceuticals. One of Canada’s most successful biotechnology companies, NeuroMed (now Zalicus Pharmaceuticals) successfully advanced the analgesic ExalgoTM through later stage clinical trials, approval by the FDA and onto the market for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe chronic pain. Dr. Snutch has also designed and developed novel drugs that selectively target calcium channels and that are in clinical trials aimed at the treatment of neuropathic pain and epilepsy.
Dr. Snutch is author on over 140 research publications and inventor on over 110 issued patents concerning the design and development of novel treatments for chronic pain, epilepsy and heart disease. One of Canada’s preeminent neuroscientists, he has served on numerous grant agency panels, advisory and scientific journal editorial boards, and is a highly sought speaker at national and international meetings.
Dr. Snutch’s seminal contributions to molecular neurobiology and translational research have been widely recognized. These include Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Research Scholar, Medical Research Council of Canada Scientist, Canadian Institutes for Health Research Senior Scientist and currently the Canada Research Chair in Neurobiology and Genomics-Biotechnology. Some of his other accolades include the Alfred P. Sloan Research Foundation fellowship, Killam Research Prize, Simon Fraser University Outstanding Academic Alumni Award and the International Albrecht Fleckenstein Award for his groundbreaking research in calcium channel biology. Dr. Snutch has also received the Steacie Prize, awarded to Canada’s top young scientist or engineer, an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University and the BC Biotech Life Sciences Company of the Year award. Dr. Snutch is inducted as a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
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Dr. Andrew Tait is the Founder, Director and President of TAITLABS (Tait Laboratories Inc.) and acts as Scientific Advisory to Healthy Crowdfunder Corp. Previously, he was trained as a (bio)chemist, having received both a B.Sc. (Specialization) in Biochemistry and an M.Sc. in Chemistry from Concordia University in Montreal, QC. His Masters thesis focused on environmental enzymology, studying the breakdown of toxic pollutants by microbial organisms. He then moved to Vancouver, BC, to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of British Columbia, where his thesis work was on characterizing a newly-discovered viral protein that could potentially act as a trigger for brain disease such as Multiple Sclerosis. His ground-breaking discoveries in this area are detailed in several peer-reviewed publications, and have garnered several awards. He has been a speaker at both local and international conferences, being invited to present at the World Congress on Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (Montreal) and most recently, as keynote speaker for the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Annual Symposium in 2012: “Naturopathic Approaches to Neurological Health” (Vancouver).
As a result of his research, he established his company to develop and market plant-based extracts found in traditional Chinese medicine that may help many people suffering from neurodegenerative disease associated with aging and multiple sclerosis. The National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada invited Andrew to Ottawa to present him with a 2012 Innovation Challenge Award, honoring him for successfully translating his research to an entrepreneurial venture. He has gained support for his company from such organizations as the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF), and the Bank of Development of Canada (BDC).
Andrew served for several years as an executive member of the non-profit volunteer-based Student Biotechnology Network (SBN), first as an event-planner and then as Director, Corporate Relations. He now continues to volunteer his time as a mentor at the SBN, engaging students on issues of career and personal development. He is also a member of the BC Technology Industry Association, BC Food Processors Association, and the Vancouver Entrepreneur’s Toastmasters Club.