Translation Advisory Committee

Dr. Gabe Kalmar, Chair

Dr. Kalmar is currently Executive Director, Operations for Genome BC and has held this role since 2004. Prior to his role at Genome BC, Dr. Kalmar was engaged in strategic consulting activities with several early stage pharmaceutical companies which included overseeing operations, implementing technology development and providing merger and acquisition planning. From 1996 to 2002 Dr. Kalmar held senior management positions with Kinetek Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held Vancouver-based biopharmaceutical company that was acquired by QLT in March, 2004. During this time Dr. Kalmar established and managed multiple external collaborations with academics and clinicians in the areas of signal transduction, preclinical studies and technology access.

Dr. Kalmar obtained his undergraduate science degree from the University of British Columbia and his Ph.D. in Biology from Simon Fraser University.

Mr. Gordon Allan

Mr. Allan has been involved in the financing of investment real estate and fund management services for the past 30 years. Prior to co-founding ACM Advisors Ltd. in 1992, Mr. Allan worked as a commercial real estate banker with Citibank Canada and the Royal Bank of Canada specializing in all areas of real estate financing including marketing, underwriting, analysis, administration and loan workouts. Mr. Allan has two real estate/finance degrees: a Bachelor of Commerce and Business Administration from the University of British Columbia (1975), and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of California-Berkeley (1976).

Mr. Allan brings a particular perspective to the Translation Advisory Committee as a recipient of both a heart transplant and a kidney transplant.

Dr. Chris Carthy

Dr. Carthy has over a decade of prior healthcare industry experience as a scientist, business development executive and investment banker. He has been involved in numerous equity financings and strategic transactions in the life science sector, including biopharmaceutical, diagnostic, tools and services, and medical device companies. He is a former bench scientist and author of 25 scientific publications. Chris previously worked at the investment banks Aquilo Partners and Torreya Partners where he was a Principal and executed numerous equity financings and M&A transactions for life science companies. He began his biotechnology career at QLT as a research scientist and then joined Affinium Pharmaceuticals, as a business development executive. Chris received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and his B.Sc. from Queen’s University.

Dr. Arun Garg

Dr. Garg is currently the Medical Director, Laboratory Services, Fraser Health Authority. He has been a partner in the medical practice of Dr. C. J. Coady Associates since 1980 and Director of Medical Biochemistry since 1986. Arun is the Medical Director of Lab Medicine and Pathology in the Fraser Health since 2001 and Royal Columbian Hospital since 1997. He is a consultant medical director at BC Biomedical Laboratories for Endocrine and Metabolic Laboratory Section of Medical Biochemistry Service since 1988. He is also a Clinical Professor of Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine at UBC since 1994. Arun has been active in many professional and volunteers in community organizations.

As a member of the BCMA Board of Directors from 1981 to 1995, he served as Chair of the Board (1986-89) and President (1993-94). He was Co-Chair of the Guidelines and Protocols Advisory Committee of the Medical Services Commission from 1996-2006, a core committee under the joint management between the province of BC and BC Medical Association. This committee has been responsible to develop Evidence/Quality based guidelines for the use by the medical profession in the province. He was also the Chair of BCMA’s Council of Health Economics and Policy (1996-2002), and chaired the group for a position paper on Future of Medicare “Turning the Tide”. In September 2004 the Association asked him to Chair an ad hoc committee to review Governance for the Association and make recommendation on changes in Representation, and Governance for future direction of BCMA and in 2008 to co-chair a committee for Collaboration between government of BC and BCMA.

He was elected as first chair of region-wide Medical Advisory Committee of Fraser Health in 2004 (HAMAC) and served until December 2007. He was a member of the Canadian Medical Association Board of Directors from 1988-1993 and chair of its Council on Health Policy and Economics (2000–2004). Dr. Garg chaired the CMA Task Force which developed the position paper “Prescription for Sustainability” for presentation to federal Commission on Health Care Reform (Romanow’s Commission). He founded the Section of Clinical Pathology for the Canadian Association of Pathologists and was its Chair from 1980-1984. He was also a founding member of the Canadian Physicians with Interest in South Asia (PISA) of BC (1986) and Canadian Association of Physicians of Indian Heritage (2007).

Dr. Garg served on the Board of Directors of the BC Institute of Technology from 1992-1999 and Chair from 1995-1999. In 2003 he was appointed to the Board of Governors of the University of British Columbia, and served on its Audit (2003-2007), and People and Governance committee (Chair 2008). In 2006, Government of BC appointed him as chair of India Marketing Advisory Group under Asia Pacific Trade Council on an advisory Committee to the Premier of British Columbia. Report was released in Jan. 2007 and recommendations will support provinces blueprint for trade policy with India. Currently, he co-chair’s the Simon Fraser University President’s Advisory Committee on India (2007). He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Laurier Institute, a non-partisan “Think Tank” devoted to cultural diversity and public policy (2000-2007) and was advisor to Asia Heritage Month. (2004–2007).

Dr. Bettina Hamelin

Dr. Hamelin is currently the Director, Research and Development for Western Canada with Pfizer Canada Inc. In this role, Bettina leads the development and implementation of the R&D partnership strategy for Pfizer in Western Canada including investigator initiated preclinical and clinical research efforts across 5 therapeutic areas.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Bettina was tenured professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Laval University in Quebec City, where she ran a well-funded research program on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics of cardiovascular drugs, and cardiovascular disease risk factors and treatment in women.

From 1999 until 2004, she held senior research positions at Biochem Pharma, where most recently she was Director of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics.

Bettina pursued a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy in Germany as well as in the US and also holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Kentucky. During her scientific career, Bettina has published over 35 publications, over 85 abstracts and 2 patents. She has been actively involved in many professional associations and served as the President of the Canadian College of Clinical Pharmacy. She joined Pfizer in 2004 as a cardiovascular Regional Medical and Research Specialist with the responsibility of developing relationships and key strategic partnerships with the biomedical and research community in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

Bettina relocated to Vancouver in 2007 with her husband Richard and her boys, Christian and David. Bettina enjoys playing the violin and the piano, and she is an avid outdoors enthusiast alongside her husband and sons.

Dr. John-Paul Heale

Dr. 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. Dr. Heale is involved in external relations with UBC-affiliated agencies such as the Centre for Drug Research and Development, Canadian Institutes for Health Research, and the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research. He is currently assisting in the creation of a number of spin-off companies based on UBC research.

Dr. Heale 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. He then 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, Dr. Heale joined the UILO in the Technology Transfer Group. Following a role as Technology Transfer Manager for the Children’s and Women’s Health Centre of BC, Dr. Heale took on the role of Associate Director in April 2004.

Dr. Heale 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 Prionet Canada Research Management Committee, and is an observer on the boards of Sirius Genomics Inc. and Boreal Genomics Inc.

Dr. Sean Higgins

Sean M. Higgins, Ph.D. is Vice President of Business Development for Plasmonix Inc. involved in commercialization of advanced assay technologies. Prior to joining Plasmonix he was Senior Field Marketing Scientist with Luminex Corporation providing customer support for assay application development and optimization. As Study Director and Senior Principal Investigator with Covance Laboratories he had primary responsibilities of directing assay development and sample analysis for pre-clinical and phased human clinical trials.  Before joining Covance, Dr. Higgins performed a variety of duties developing key customer relationships for Meso Scale Discovery and managed several activities associated with assay development, verification and translation into manufacturing processes.

Dr. Higgins’ other previous experience focused on the creation of collaborative research programs involving incorporation of micro-/nano-fabricated components such as thin-film organic diodes and micro-fluidics in the development of miniaturized novel diagnostic, sensing and detection systems at Cornell University.  Dr. Higgins earned a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Department of Immunology at SUNY Upstate Medical University and, during this time, also served as a research consultant for Tm Technologies (later Tm Biosciences purchased by Luminex).

Dr. Jonathan Himmelfarb

Dr. Himmelfarb is currently the Joseph W. Eschbach Endowed Chair for Kidney Research in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, and the inaugural Director of the Kidney Research Institute at the University of Washington. Dr. Himmelfarb received his medical degree from George Washington University Medical School in 1983 and went to the Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine for his internship and residency. He completed his Nephrology Fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Maine Medical Center in 1988.
His research interests include the pathophysiology of the disease process that links uremia, inflammation, and malnutrition with cardiovascular complications in uremic patients; oxidative stress and the pro-atherogenic milieu of uremia; the effects of antioxidant therapy on inflammatory biomarkers; cytokine production in acute renal failure; renal replacement therapy, malnutrition and adverse cardiovascular outcomes in uremic patients; anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects of tocopherols in hemodialysis patients; hemodialysis graft thrombosis; complement and granulocyte activation during hemodialysis; and biocompatible dialysis membranes in acute renal failure. Dr. Himmelfarb has over 154 peer-reviewed publications and currently holds 6 major research grants from the National Institutes

Dr. Simon Pimstone

Dr. Pimstone, MD, PhD, FRCPC is a founder, Director, and President and Chief Executive Officer at Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of Canada’s leading privately owned biotechnology companies. Xenon is engaged in discovering and developing novel pharmaceuticals targeting genes and proteins that underlie human diseases.

He received his MD from the University of Cape Town and his PhD through the University of Amsterdam. He is an internal medicine specialist (FRCPC) with an interest in cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Pimstone has served as a consultant physician at the St. Paul’s Hospital Lipid Clinic in Vancouver. He is currently the Chairman of the Providence Healthcare Research Institute, and he serves as a Director on the Board of Life Sciences British Columbia.

In 2005 he received the Business in Vancouver Top 40 under 40 Award and in 2004 the Globe & Mail’s Canadian Top 40 Under 40 Award. Dr. Pimstone is the author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and is also a regular guest speaker at international scientific meetings and healthcare conferences.

Dr. Andrew Serafini

Dr. Serafini is a partner in the Intellectual Property Group of Fenwick & West LLP, a law firm specializing in technology and life sciences. Dr. Serafini is resident in the Seattle office, and his practice focuses on strategic and comprehensive intellectual property counseling and management to biotechnology, biopharmaceutical and other life sciences clients, to help them obtain, protect and enforce their intellectual property rights, especially in the areas of immunology, molecular biology, molecular genetics, genomics, proteomics and protein chemistry, pharmaceuticals, medical therapeutics, nanotechnology, cleantech and medical diagnostics.

Dr. Serafini’s practice involves preparing and prosecuting U.S. and international patents; performing due diligence and freedom to operate analyses associated with mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and other private and public financings; drafting opinions on patentability, non-infringement and patent validity; product development counseling; contesting interferences, oppositions and arbitrations; and supporting technology litigation.

Dr. Serafini works closely with the venture capital community to help build life sciences start-up companies into industry market leaders. He also partners with public and private universities and research institutions to help safeguard, leverage and bring to market their technology assets and innovations as well as facilitate the technology transfer of these assets and innovations to foster further developments to benefit the public.

Dr. Serafini received his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1998. Prior to law school, he earned a Ph.D. in immunology from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1994 and his B.S., with honors, in biochemistry from the Case Institute of Technology of Case Western Reserve University in 1986.

Dr. Eldon Smith

Dr. Smith, OC, MD, FRCPC, FCAHS, FAHA, FIACS is Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary. He was born and educated in Nova Scotia, receiving his medical degree cum laude from Dalhousie University in 1967. Following Internal Medicine and Cardiology training in Canada, UK, and the USA, Dr. Smith joined the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie in 1973. In 1980, he moved to Calgary to become Professor and Head of the Cardiology Division at Foothills Hospital and the University of Calgary. He became Head of the Department of Medicine in 1985 and Associate Dean (Clinical Affairs) in 1990. From 1992 to 1997, Dr. Smith was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary. In 1997, he was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

Dr. Smith’s research interests include circulatory mechanics, exercise physiology and echocardiography. He has published more than 250 papers and book chapters and has been a contributor to many national and international organizations; he has been President of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society and the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges and Vice President of the Inter-American Society of Cardiology. He has served on a number of public boards including the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, the Alberta Health Professions Advisory Board, and the Premier’s Advisory Council on Health in Alberta. He founded and served as President and Director of the Peter Lougheed Medical Research Foundation, a national initiative to support excellence in health research in Canada. He is chair of the Advisory Board of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta and in 2006 was appointed by the Federal Government to Chair the development of a National Strategy for Cardiovascular Health and Disease.

Dr. Smith has received a number of honors/awards including the Young Investigator’s Award of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, the Keon Achievement Award of the University of Ottawa, 125th Anniversary of Canada Commemorative Medal for Contributions to the Citizens of Canada, The Achievement Award of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, Alumnus of the Year, Dalhousie University, Dedicated Service Award of the Heart and Stroke Foundations of Canada, Certificate of Meritorious Service of the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons, Beamish Award for Leadership in Cardiovascular Science and Education from the University of Manitoba, Certificate of Recognition from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Order of the University of Calgary, a citation from the Senate of the Philippines for aid in developing medical education in that country and the 2005 Medal of Service from the Canadian Medical Association. In 2005, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was the 2007 recipient of the Graham Medal from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and an AsTECH award from the province of Alberta for outstanding contribution to the research and development community. He also has been awarded Life Membership in the CMA.

Dr. Timothy Triche

Dr. Timothy Triche is Chief of the Department of Pathology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and newly appointed Director of the Center for Personalized Medicine at CHLA. He also serves as Vice Chair, Department of Pathology and Professor of Pathology and Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Prior to joining Children’s Hospital, Dr. Triche was Head of Molecular Diagnostics at the National Cancer Institute. He is a Beckman Fellow of the Beckman Macular Research Center at the Doheny Eye Institute, and serves on the Board of Directors of LTC Properties Corporation, GenomeDx, Nanovalent, and Novellix. He is also a standing member of NCI Subcommittees C, D, and E, and serves as Associate Chair for Translational Research in Children’s Oncology Group. Professional memberships include the American Medical Association; United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology/Society for Pediatric Pathology; American Association for Cancer Research, and Association of Molecular Pathology (where he was a founding member of the solid tumor division). He also served as CEO and founder of OncorMed, a cancer predisposition company that developed several cancer predisposition tests, notably BRCA1 and 2, and several others.

He has been continuously NIH grant funded since joining USC/CHLA, including as PI on sequential NCI Director’s Challenge and SPECS awards totalling over $15 million, and has published over 200 articles in the peer reviewed literature. He has also established numerous collaborations with emerging biotechnology companies, has helped develop clinical applications for key technologies like microarrays, and is currently supporting biomedical application development of single-molecule ‘next gen’ DNA sequencing. Since 2004, Dr. Triche has been voted by his peers as one of the “Best Doctors in America.” He received his undergraduate degree in physics and biology from Cornell University in 1966 (where he was a Cornell National Scholar),MSTP program MD and PhD degrees from Tulane University in 1971, and his pathology training at Washington University, where he also did his post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Stuart Kornfeld. After his residency, he undertook a fellowship in the Laboratory of Pathology at the National Cancer Institute, where he became a tenured staff member for 14 years. 

Mr. Carl Weissman

Mr. Weissman serves concurrently as Chairman and CEO of Accelerator and as a Managing Director at OVP. Carl joined OVP as a venture partner in 2007 and became a Managing Director in 2009. He focuses on the digital biology sector, with investments including Allozyne and Fate Therapeutics. He is also a Board Observer to NanoString, Verdezyne and Viral Logic Systems Technology (VLST).

Carl led the formation of Accelerator in 2003. Accelerator is a joint investment vehicle backed by a syndicate of venture capital firms, including OVP, which invests in and actively manages emerging biotechnology companies. Accelerator has facilitated Series A investments in, and has managed or is currently managing the operations of, five OVP portfolio companies: Allozyne, Seredigm, VLST, GPC-Rx and Mirina. Allozyne and VLST have successfully raised Series B rounds ($55M and $30M, respectively) and have “graduated” from Accelerator.

Prior to joining OVP, Carl was a Venture Partner at MPM Capital from 2001 through 2006. While at MPM, he served as President and CEO of Centagenetix, a human genetics company in Cambridge, MA. Carl led the 2003 merger of Centagenetix with Elixir Pharmaceuticals, catalyzing a $40M Series B financing in the combined company. Prior to joining MPM, he spent six years at Prolinx, Inc., where he held a number of positions, culminating as the head of both Finance and Business Development.

Carl serves on the Board of the Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association (WBBA), the Board of the Oregon Translational Research and Drug Development Institute (OTRADI) and is President of the Board of Directors of Teens in Public Service.