At Best Startup Canada we track over 100,000 Canadian startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top British Columbia based President operating in the Pharmaceutical space. If you think a President is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.ca.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Patrick L McGeer
Founder,President & CEO of Aurin Biotech
Dr. Patrick McGeer is a professor emeritus in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He received his PhD in chemistry at Princeton University and his MD at UBC. In between he worked for the DuPont Company in Wilmington, Delaware where he met his wife, Dr. Edith McGeer. Dr. McGeer is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of British Columbia. He has repeatedly served on scientific review panels for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and on advisory boards for the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation and the Canadian societies for Parkinson’s disease, ALS and multiple sclerosis. For many years, he combined his scientific career with politics, serving in the British Columbia Legislature from 1962 to 1986, and in the British Columbia Cabinet from 1975 to 1986. In Government, he worked to promote the development of high technology industry in the province, and also served as President and Chairman of the Board of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, and on the Board of the British Columbia Hydro and Power authority, The British Columbia Petroleum Corporation, and the British Columbia Systems Corporation. He is the Founder of two charitable foundations, the Pacific Alzheimer Research Foundation, and the Canadian Dementia Action Network. Dr. McGeer is the author of more than 680 scientific papers and 8 patents. With his wife Edith and Nobel Laureate Sir John Eccles, he is an author of two scientific textbooks and is the editor of 3 others. Dr. McGeer is the recipient of four honorary degrees and is recognized as one of the world’s most highly cited neuroscientists.
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About Aurin Biotech: Aurin Biotech Inc. is a private company established to advance the development of a remarkable collection of small molecules.
Edith G. McGeer
Foounder,Vice President & Director of Aurin Biotech
Dr. Edith McGeer is a professor emerita in the Faculty of Medicine at University of British Columbia (UBC). She is the former director of the Kinsmen Laboratory of Neurological Research at UBC. She received her BA from Swarthmore College and her PhD in chemistry from the University of Virginia at the age of 22. She worked for the DuPont Company in Wilmington, Delaware, winning three patents and a citation from the Delaware section of the American Chemical Society before moving with her husband to UBC’s medical school. She has served on the editorial boards of 15 international journals in the neuroscience field. She has recently been on numerous scientific review boards, particularly for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, and was one of the initial members of the Executive Committee of the World Federation of Neurology Group on the Dementias. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a member of the Order of British Columbia and the recipient of three honorary degrees. She is the author of 525 scientific articles, 10 patents, an author of the textbook Molecular Neurobiology of the Mammalian Brain with her husband Dr. Patrick McGeer and Sir John Eccles. The McGeers were both original members of the Highly Cited Researchers database of the ISI, being among the world’ top 100 most highly cited neuroscientists.
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About Aurin Biotech: Aurin Biotech Inc. is a private company established to advance the development of a remarkable collection of small molecules.
Wade Attwood
President, Founder & Director of Green Mountain
Mr. Wade Attwood is President, co-founder and Director of GMHA. He is also a founder and director of General Harmonics, a private technology company. Prior to joining General Harmonics, Mr. Attwood worked as a Senior Advisor and Broker in the finance industry for 24 years at Canaccord Capital Corp. and Merrill Lynch Canada and its predecessors. Mr. Attwood has over 30 years of business experience and a history of successful ventures in public equity markets, private and public venture capital funding, initial public offerings, and corporate guidance and restructuring.
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About Green Mountain: Green Mountain is an innovator in the field of cannabis pharmaceutical and wellness products.
Mei Mei Tian
Vice President, Head of External Research of Bioasis Technologies
Mei Mei Tian is the VP & Head of External Research at Bioasis Technologies, Inc.
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About Bioasis Technologies: Bioasis Technologies, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company.
Iman Mansoor
Vice President of Engineering and Innovation of Microdermics
Iman has been involved in research and development of microneedles for more than 8 years. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering (mechatronics option) in 2007 and his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering in 2009 and 2014, respectively, from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada. He also received a sub-specialization certificate in Engineering Management and Technology Entrepreneurship in 2013 from UBC. Iman’s graduate research was in the field of Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) and mainly focused on process development and characterization of microneedle devices for intradermal drug delivery and biosensing applications. He currently holds a patent on the microneedle fabrication process developed during his graduate research. Since 2014, Iman has worked as Systems Consultant and Product Development Specialist in major engineering companies and has completed several successfully-commercialized projects. During this period, he has also been active in further development and commercialization of microneedle devices.
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About Microdermics: Unlocking continuous biochemical data for clinically relevant insights.
Sahan Ranamukhaarachchi
Co-founder, Vice President of Research & Development of Microdermics
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About Microdermics: Unlocking continuous biochemical data for clinically relevant insights.
Jason Crawford
Vice President, Scientific Operations of Centre for Drug Research and Development
As the Vice-President of Scientific Operations at The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD), Canada’s fully-integrated national drug development and commercialization centre, Jason plays a key role in the evaluation of potential drug development projects to be incubated within CDRD, and holds responsibility for the successful execution of all subsequent project development plans, and thus the overall management of CDRD’s scientific resources. Prior to assuming this role, he was Head of Medicinal Chemistry at CDRD, having joined the organization in 2008. Previously, from 1999-2007, he held a series of increasingly-senior positions at AnorMED Inc. – initially a Medicinal Chemist, and eventually the Manager of the Development Chemistry Group, leading the synthetic development of all lead and candidate compounds intended for use in pre-clinical and clinical trials. Notably, for plerixafor, which now generates over $150 million annually in global sales as Mozobil, he oversaw the technical transfer of the development process to a contract research organization, the subsequent clinical manufacture, and the eventual validation of the manufacturing process for commercial use. He also acted concurrently as an interdisciplinary project team leader for a clinical-stage anti-HIV therapeutic.
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About Centre for Drug Research and Development: The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) is Canada’s national drug development and commercialization engine.
Frederick Sancilio
Chairman, President and CEO of Sancilio and Company
Frederick D. Sancilio is the Principle and Co-Founder of Sancilio and Company.
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About Sancilio and Company: Sancilio and Company develops biopharmaceutical supplements and products.
Michael Parr
CSO & President of Sitka Biopharma
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About Sitka Biopharma: Transforming chemotherapies to further benefit patients by enhancing efficacy and improving tolerability.
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