Mai Elfarnawany, PhD, PMP, P.Eng, VP Engineering, Flosonics Medical

Mai Elfarnawany, PhD, PMP, P.Eng has a diverse work experience in the engineering and research fields. In 2019, she began her role as Sr. Director of Engineering at Flosonics Medical, where she provided project management of software, firmware, hardware development and DevOps. Mai also served as Director of Software Engineering, Software Engineering Lead, and DSP & Software Engineer. In 2018, Elfarnawany was a Technical and Research Consultant at Liver Care Canada. Mai also held a Software Engineer position at A & L Canada Laboratories Inc. in 2019.

Mai Elfarnawany obtained her Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Biomedical Engineering-Imaging from Western University in 2015. She holds a Professional Engineer (P. Eng) certification from Professional Engineers Ontario obtained in November 2022, a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from Project Management Institute obtained in November 2020, a Data mining with WEKA certification from FutureLearn obtained in June 2019, a Foundations of Programming certification from Google obtained in October 2018, a University Teaching Certificate from Western University obtained in February 2018, a Makeup Artistry certification from Fanshawe College obtained in April 2017, and a Professional Practice Exam certification from Professional Engineers Ontario obtained in April 2017. Mai is also currently enrolled in a Deep Learning in Medical Image Analysis certification from SPIE Photonics West.

Monika Yazdanian, PhD, CEO, ToeFX

Monika Yazdanian is the CEO and co-founder of ToeFX, a medical device startup that designs, manufactures and sells solutions for fungal nail infections to clinics across Canada and the UK.  Monika loves working with early-stage startups and tech commercialization projects.  Prior to joining ToeFX, was the Director of the Forge Business Incubator at McMaster University, where she grew the Forge from its inception to 130+ alumni companies and $26 MM+ raised.  Monika has also worked as the Director of Research and Development at the Sargent Photovoltaics Lab at the University of Toronto, as a lecturer in the physics department at the University of Guelph, and the co-founder of an e-commerce startup. She obtained her Ph.D. in chemical physics from Cornell University and a law degree from Western University.

Althea Wishloff, Head of Growth & Operations, Koble Care  

Althea holds a BSc degree in math and teaches classes on venture capital and equity at Schulich School of business. She spent three years in pre-seed and seed stage VC (Venture Capital) investing, then transitioned to Koble as Head of Growth. In a span of one year, Koble has closed a pre-seed round ($1M), grown from 2 to 12 full time employees, and launched its product (pre-post-natal app) to the market. Althea is actively engaged in the community as a co-founder of the Diversity and Inclusion Small Council (DISC) and as a Board member of the Golden Triangle Angel Network (GTAN).

Asha Parekh, CEO, Frontline Medical Technologies 

Asha has a PhD in biomedical engineering with a specialty in biomaterials and medical devices. She has several patents and publications to her name and has secured multiple grants and funding for her projects. She is passionate about medical device innovation and was named one of the Top 10 Women Leading Healthcare start-ups by Healthcare Global in 2021. 

Carla Spina, CEO, Noa Therapeutics

Carla has a PhD in inorganic chemistry. As Lead Research Scientist at Exciton Technologies, she and her team successfully developed and commercialized a line of antimicrobial wound care devices to the global market. Following two years of antimicrobial and antifungal formulations, she leveraged her knowledge in bio-inorganic chemistry and medical commercialization towards the development of first-in-class pharmaceuticals for the treatment of inflammatory and infectious skin and skin structure disease with Exciton Pharma Corp. During this time, she ideated and advanced Exciton's pharmaceutical program from discovery through to phase I clinical study, targeting approval of the first topical therapy for treatment of mild-to-moderate diabetic foot ulcer infections.

Catherine Bornbaum, Head of Clinical Operations & Partnerships, RetiSpec 

Catherine is a scientist and business leader with over a decade of experience leading large-scale health research operations. In her role as Head of Clinical Operations and Partnerships at RetiSpec, Catherine leads the planning and operational oversight of clinical research activities. She works collaboratively with key opinion leaders, investigators and stakeholders to advance a rigorous and strategic research program in support of RetiSpec’s commercialization of its AI-based diagnostics for Alzheimer disease detection. She is an active proponent of female entrepreneurship through her role as a Limited Partner at the Women’s Equity Lab. 

Christine Prada, CEO, Future Fertility 

Christine holds a BMOS degree and an MBA. Prior to joining Future Fertility as CEO, she spent the past five years building and leading business development at Maple Corporation. Joining Maple as its third employee, Christine built, scaled and accelerated the growth of its corporate and public sector businesses, facilitating a CAD$75M investment by Shoppers Drug Mart. She is an ardent supporter of female entrepreneurship, investing in early-stage, women-led/backed companies in her role as a General Partner at the Women’s Equity Lab.

Ella Korets-Smith, Chief Business Officer, Virica Biotech 

Ella is an entrepreneur and business development executive with over 15 years of experience in the biotechnology, pharma and medical device industries. She has a track record of closing deals for companies such as IMV Inc., Antibe Therapeutics Inc. and others, driving multiple fundraising and liquidity events. In roles of increasing responsibility, she has led successful marketing and business development programs, which resulted in annual sales of over $50M. Ella is also the founder of EKS Business Development, a biotechnology consulting practice that builds biotechnology companies through networking and strong partnerships. She was the founding CEO of TOHealth!, an industry-led organization supporting growth and funding of the health science industry in Toronto. Her extensive and growing network of business leaders extends her reach to customers and partners in key markets in North America and around the world.  

Marwa Jazi, Vice President, People & Culture, Intellijoint Surgical

Marwa is a Certified Human Resources Executive (CHRE) and a seasoned Human Resources (HR) practitioner with several years of experience in various HR leadership roles in the tech world. As a strategic people leader, she has helped build and develop teams at Rogers Communications, Dell Canada, LG Electronics and Ricoh Canada. At Intellijoint Surgical, she works closely with the Leadership Team to develop and execute its people strategy, leading a team of HR professionals to attract and develop talent and creating an engaging and inclusive culture to accelerate the company's growth.  

Natalie Galant, CEO, Paradox Immunotherapeutics 

Natalie holds a PhD in medical biophysics. Her PhD work led to the development of PRX004, an antibody to treat ATTR Amyloidosis, which is now in clinical trials. She is CEO and co-founder of Paradox Immunotherapeutics, a company that develops novel immunotherapies to stop and reverse organ failure. Her work her aims to change the course of life-threatening diseases including heart failure, ALS and chronic renal disease. She has won numerous academic awards, including the Mitacs Accelerate Post-Doctoral Award (2021), the ECHO pitch competition Ignite Funding Award (2019), and the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research Education Fund Post-Doctoral Award (2020). 

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