April Khademi is Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Ryerson University, and Director of the Image Analysis in Medicine Lab (IAMLAB), which specializes in the design of algorithms for Pathology and Radiology images, as well as for clinical bigdata. The algorithms are applied to breast cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Her research has resulted in peer-reviewed papers, patent disclosures, invited talks and an NSERC Discovery Grant. She currently serves as an IEEE Associate Editor and is on scientific committees for international meetings. April holds a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto and a M.A.Sc also in Electrical Engineering from Ryerson University. She has had previous roles at the University of Guelph, GE Healthcare, PathCore Inc., Sunnybrook Research Institute and Toronto Rehab Institute. Her research and academic excellence has been acknowledged through several awards: Governor General Gold Medal, NSERC CGSD, L’Oréal UNESCO for Women in Science and Google Anita Borg Scholar.

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Extracting Insights From Images

Dr. April Khademi, P.Eng., SMIEEE

iBEST | Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science & Tech
Ryerson University and St. Michael’s Hospital
 
Affiliate Scientist, Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science
St. Michael’s Hospital

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 Dr. Lange has extensive experience in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). From classical flows, such as flow around heated cylinders in wall proximity, to highly specialized applications in biomedical engineering and planetary atmospheric flows, Lange has simulated low Mach number flows in a wide array of conditions. He is Director of the CFD-Lab at the University of Alberta and leads a team of students and post-doctoral fellows that investigate and solve challenging problems in fluid dynamics and transport phenomena for industry and for applied science using open-source and commercial codes.

Dr. Lange was a member of the Canadian Science Team of the Phoenix Mars Lander Mission and his team used CFD for the first time to characterize the winds around a Mars lander and to estimate the effect of these winds on the measurements of the Canadian meteorology station MET. Out of necessity, he and his team conceived the Telltale wind sensor for Phoenix, that was later designed and built at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. To this date it remains one of only two anemometers that ever functioned on the surface of Mars. The CFD-Lab is currently applying the computational models developed during the Phoenix Mission to study the effect of local winds on the transport of water vapour through the Martian regolith.

In 2007 Dr. Lange co-founded the University of Alberta Institute for Space Science, Exploration and Technology (ISSET) and he is Co-Director of ISSET with Dr. Chris Herd. When the student branch of ISSET formed the AlbertaSat Student Team to compete in the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge, Dr. Lange became one of their main Faculty Advisers. The AlbertaSat Team was invited to join the European QB50 cubesat constellation for which they designed and built Ex-Alta 1, the first satellite built in Alberta and the only Canadian contribution to QB50.

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Gail Garland is the founder and CEO of OBIO®, a not-for-profit, membership-based organization championing the development of an integrated health innovation economy for Ontario.

Gail established OBIO in partnership with dozens of like-minded industry CEOs to advance the goal of making Ontario into a world-leading health innovation sector where health science companies will flourish, as well as a global leader in providing health technology products and services to the international marketplace.

Since 2009, OBIO has developed and implemented a province-wide strategic vision called OBEST (Ontario Bioscience Economic Strategy Team). Building from that strategy, OBIO published a series of white papers – in collaboration with industry executives, health system leaders, and academics – that identify the highest priority issues facing Ontario’s health science economy, like access to capital, access to industry-ready business talent, and innovation adoption. OBIO’s reports led directly to the establishment of OBIO solutions-focused programming, like CAAP® (Capital Access Advisory Program) in 2013 to increase deal flow for high potential early stage companies, Pre-CAAP in 2015 to help boost investability of seed stage companies, and H2BB™, the Health to Business Bridge™ internship program in 2016, which combines OBIO’s deep-rooted relationships across academia and industry to improve access to industry-ready business talent.

Gail serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council, Faculty of Science, at Ryerson University; the Biotechnology Advisory Committee at Humber College; the Canadian Life Sciences Advisory Counsel for Springboard Enterprises; and the Advisory Board for the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, University of Waterloo. Gail is the Industry Chair of the OBIO MPP Health Sciences Caucus and serves on the Conference Board of Canada’s Council for Innovation Procurement in Healthcare. She has advocated for the future of the health science industry on national television (Business News Network) and has also written extensively on the topic, with numerous publications in both the national press (The Globe and Mail) and international industry publications (Biotechnology Focus).

Before starting OBIO, Gail had more than twenty years of industry experience, including senior roles in banking, pharmaceuticals, biotech and in the medical devices sector. Gail holds a Chartered Director (CDir) designation in governance (McMaster), an MBA from the Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto), and a BSc. (Carleton University). In 2017, Gail was named one of Carleton University’s seventy-five best graduates in celebration of the school’s 75^th anniversary. 

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Ian Heynen is the former Vice President and General Manager of the Hologic Specialty Imaging Products Division, having global responsibility for the Skeletal Imaging & MRI businesses within Hologic. Mr. Heynen has been on the management team for Sentinelle since 2008, and assumed the General Manager role for the MRI business shortly following the Sentinelle acquisition by Hologic in August 2010. Mr. Heynen brings 10 years of medical imaging industry experience from both Hologic and GE Healthcare & has been active in technology & product development across industries for his entire career. Mr. Heynen holds a B.A.Sc. from University of Waterloo, an M.A.Sc. from UBC, and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University. Mr. Heynen is a Licenses Professional Engineer and a Certified Management Accountant.

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Paul Fulford is a Product Development Manager for Space Exploration at MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) in Brampton, Ontario. Paul is responsible for new product initiation and development for human, robotic and science exploration. Paul has been at MDA since 1991 and started working on the Canadarm2 program for the International Space Station. In the late 90’s Paul focused on technology development for Moon and Mars exploration that led to a Program Manager position for the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) that has recently surpassed 5 years of operation on NASA’s Curiosity rover. Paul was also the Program Manager for neuroArm2, a micro-surgery robot that operates inside the magnetic field of an MRI and for a large-scale inspection and repair robot that Ontario Power Generation uses to inspect the inside of their nuclear reactors. As a result of these projects, Paul is now developing new manipulators, rovers and science instruments for space.

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Pearl Sullivan was appointed the Dean of Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 2012, after serving as Chair of the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering from 2006 to 2011. She was recognized with the University’s Outstanding Performance Award in 2009. As Dean of Canada’s largest engineering school, Dr. Sullivan believes that education can develop exceptional tech talent and future leaders by enabling students to experience early, innovate early and incubate their ideas early – right from the first day of school.

She received her BEng with distinction and MASc degrees in metallurgical engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia. After earning her PhD degree in materials engineering from the University of British Columbia, she started her academic career at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, in 1991. She returned to Canada in 1994 to join the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Brunswick, where she was twice honoured with the UNB Faculty Merit Award for Excellence.

Dr. Sullivan currently serves on the Ontario Research Fund Advisory Board. She is a Professional Engineer, a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials (U.K.).

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PRSM Medical is a medical device company focused on developing innovative technologies for diagnostics in healthcare. We are currently developing

a low-cost, handheld melanoma detection device, The sKan, that has the potential to revolutionize the diagnostic procedure for detecting melanomas.

Melanoma is easily treated if detected early, yet it claims hundreds of thousands of lives around the world annually. It accounts for 80% of all skin cancer-related deaths. Current diagnostic procedure relies on a physician visually assessing a suspicious mole, which is a purely qualitative judgement. There is a lack of a quantitative methods to aid the diagnostic judgement.

The sKan is designed to be a low-cost device that will fill the gap in the melanoma diagnosis process by providing a quantitative assessment. It is based on research that indicates differences in thermal properties between melanomas and healthy skin. The device consists of a grid of temperature sensors that map out the heat activity on and around a suspicious mole. This data is then analyzed by a computer program which assesses the risk of cancer.

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Rob MacIsaac is the President and CEO of Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS), a position he has held since 2014. HHS is one of the most comprehensive specialty care hospital systems in Canada, with research and care across the lifespan.

HHS operates Hamilton General Hospital, Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre, McMaster Children’s Hospital, St. Peter’s Hospital and West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby. The hospital system serves 2.5 million residents of Hamilton, Central South and Central West Ontario and is the region’s largest employer.

Prior to joining HHS, Rob was President of Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology. Under Rob’s leadership, Mohawk initiated the largest campus renewal project in the college’s history. 

Rob MacIsaac was the first Chair of Metrolinx, the authority responsible for planning and governing transportation (including GO Transit) in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA). 

Prior to his work at Metrolinx, Rob was Mayor of the City of Burlington between 1997 and 2006. 

Rob completed his undergraduate degree in Economics at the University of Waterloo in 1984 and received a Law degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1987. He was called to the Bar in 1989. Born in 1962, Rob is a lifelong resident of Burlington. He is married to Anne and has two daughters, Sarah and Catherine.

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Graduating with a BSc. in Physics, Rick Green was a demonstrator at the Ontario Science Centre. In 1979 he pursued comedy full-time, working on 700 episodes of television and radio, including History Bites; Prisoners of Gravity; The Red Green Show; and The Frantics.

In 2009 Rick and his wife created the groundbreaking website TotallyADD.com and two outstanding documentaries on adult ADHD: ADD & Loving It?! and ADD & Mastering It!, plus 16 full-length videos on every aspect of ADHD.

For his work in helping millions of people, Rick was appointed to The Order of Ontario and The Order of Canada.

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