Team

Board of Directors

Amani Kaur Saini, Founder & President

Amani holds a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and Master of Public Administration from Dalhousie University. She has spent many years working in the civil service, including with a health authority, Statistics Canada, BC’s Legislative Assembly, and Nova Scotia’s Department of Intergovernmental Affairs, where she worked on trade policy and policy for the Premier’s meetings with the Council of the Federation. In 2010, her then 19-year-old sister almost passed away from an adverse drug reaction (ADR) to a common over the counter ibuprofen drug. In 2015, while surfing the internet, she came across an article which talked about how gene variants can lead to disease and decided to contact researchers and scientists around the world and in Canada to learn more about genomics. Afterwards, she developed a policy in her spare time to prevent ADRs. For her policy work, she received the 2016 Canadian Science Policy Award of Excellence (under 35 category), presented by the Minister of Science at the Canadian Science Policy Conference, which recognizes an individual who developed an innovation and compelling evidence-based policy that will make a positive difference to Canadians.

Robert McLean, Treasurer

Earning his double focus BSc at the University of British Columbia, Robert has a strong passion for creating a better world through science and innovation. He works extensively to help connect ideas to action. His interest in healthcare policy and advising comes largely from growing up in a family of physicians and healthcare executives. Robert leverages experience in a number of sectors, from pharmaceuticals to finance, as he works to build a healthier world for future generations to come. Actively involved in the community, he teaches financial literacy at local schools and mentors a number of secondary and post-secondary students. With a strong family tradition of giving back, he works with a number of local charities and is a proud team captain in the annual Ride to Conquer Cancer benefiting the BC Cancer Foundation.

Alysia Ker, Secretary

Alysia Ker obtained her BA from Simon Fraser University and is an experienced professional in stakeholder engagement, project management, public relations and business. She is skilled in engaging in meaningful dialogue with influencers and industry leaders. She spent many years working as a political aide to both provincial and federal elected officials and has served in leadership positions for several community and university organizations, including serving as a Senator at Simon Fraser University, as an active member of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, and serving on the Business Council of British Columbia’s Board of Governors.

The Honourable Senator James Cowan, Q.C

Senator Cowan studied at Dalhousie University where he obtained his Arts and Law degrees. He then attended the London School of Economics, receiving a Master of Laws degree. In 2009, Dalhousie University awarded him the degree Doctor of Laws (honoris causa). He has practiced law in Halifax since 1967 and is a partner at Stewart McKelvey, the largest law firm in Atlantic Canada. In 1983, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel.

Senator Cowan was appointed to the Senate on the recommendation of Prime Minister Paul Martin in 2005. He was named Opposition Whip in the Senate in 2007 and was appointed Leader of the Opposition Liberals in the Senate in 2008, a position he held until stepping down in June 2016.  He retired from the Senate in January 2017. His Bill S-201 to prohibit and prevent genetic discrimination passed the Senate in April 2016 and the House of Commons in March 2017. In a previous Parliament, he also proposed legislation to address the criminal justice system’s approach to persons suffering from mental illness and was a member of the Special Joint House-Senate Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying. Senator Cowan is the recipient of the 2016 Advocacy Award by the American Society of Human Genetics for his work leading efforts to prevent genetic discrimination in Canada.  He shares this award with the Canadian Coalition for Genetic Fairness.

Gavin Dew

Gavin Dew is an experienced corporate communications, stakeholder engagement, and public affairs consultant and has advised clients on a wide range of issues including energy infrastructure, community planning, skills certification, technology, consumer regulation, and crisis readiness. He completed a BA at the University of British Columbia and an MBA at Oxford, where he undertook academic research on social license to operate, the idea that companies have an obligation to earn permission from communities. Gavin serves on the Board of Governors of Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the Business Council of British Columbia, and the Policy Council of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. 

Advisors

Dr. Pieter Cullis

Dr. Cullis is the Director of the Life Sciences Institute, Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Director of the NanoMedicines Research Group at the University of British Columbia.

He has been very active in the development of several biotechnology companies and is recognized as a remarkable researcher and innovator. His work has led to three drugs that have been approved by regulatory agencies in the U.S. and Europe for the treatment of cancer and its complications and five more that have finished Phase I clinical studies. Dr. Cullis and co-workers are the key figures for the fundamental advances in generating, loading and targeting  liposomal  nanoparticulate systems for intravenous delivery of conventional and genetic drugs. His drug delivery systems have improved formulations of several cancer therapies as well as other drug agents. His lipid nanoparticles delivery system is a leading technology worldwide, enabling the therapeutic potential of siRNA.

Dr. Cullis has published over 300 scientific articles. He has also received many prestigious awards, including the B.C. Science Council Gold Medal for Health Sciences in 1991, the Alec D. Bangham Award for contributions to liposome science and technology in 2000 and the B.C. Biotechnology Association award for Innovation and Achievement in 2002. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2004, received the Leadership Award of the Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Scientists in 2010, was awarded the Prix Galien, Canada’s premier prize for achievements in pharmaceutical R&D in 2011, and received the LifeSciences BC Milton Wong Award for Leadership in 2015.

Dr. Martin Dawes

Dr. Dawes is the Head of the Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia. He started his clinical practice as a family physician in Oxford. He completed his PhD on weight gain in pregnancy in 1992. In 1995, he helped develop a multi-disciplinary Masters programme in Evidence Based Health Care, which allows clinicians to engage in research, that is run at the University of Oxford. He was Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford and Head of the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University. He was chair of the Program committee of the North American Primary Care Research Group. His research includes genomics in primary care, lifestyle interventions to prevent diabetes, and chronic disease management.

Colin Hansen

Colin Hansen served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia for the riding of Vancouver-Quilchena for 17 years. During this time, he served as Deputy Premier (2009-2011), Minister of Finance (2004-2005 and 2008-2011), Minister of Health (2001-2004 and 2010-2011), Minister of Economic Development (2005-2008) and Minister Responsible for the 2010 Olympics (2005-2009).

Post politics, he served as CEO of AdvantageBC and continues as a volunteer member of the Board. Active in the not-for-profit sector, he has been the Chair of the Fraser Basin Council since 2014. He has served on several other boards, including Vancouver Foundation (Honourary Governor), Arthritis Research Canada, Jack Austin School of Asia Pacific Business Studies and the Canada-Japan Society. He is also the former Chair of the Board of the Transportation Investment Corporation.

His work with the Haida led to his formal adoption into the Eagle Clan and was given the Haida name of “Nang K’ang.gudang.as.”

As an avid runner, Colin ran his first marathon in 2002 with Joints in Motion to raise money for arthritis research.

Terry Lake

Terry lake is the CEO of the BC Care Providers Association which represents operators of long term care services, retirement communities and home health in British Columbia. Terry trained and practiced as a veterinarian and taught animal health technology before entering public life as an elected representative. He served as councillor and then Mayor of the City of Kamloops and then was elected Member of the Legislature for the riding of Kamloops North Thompson in 2009. He served as Minister of the Environment from 2011-2013 and Minister of Health from 2013-2017. He was awarded the Canadian Public Health Association
Public Health Hero Award in 2017 for his groundbreaking work on the opioid overdose crisis.
He is a recipient of the University of Saskatchewan Alumni Achievement Award and the
British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association Award of Merit. Terry was VP of Corporate
Social Responsibility for Hexo Corporation, one of Canada’s largest cannabis producers
from 2017-2019. He is a board member of the Big Little Science Centre in Kamloops and a
member of the Management Committee of Simpcw Resources Group. Terry and his spouse
Lisa have three grown daughters and live in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Dr. Cody Lo

Dr. Lo is a Resident Physician specializing in Ophthalmology at the Ottawa Hospital and University of Ottawa. He received his M.D. and B.Sc. in Pharmacology from UBC where he graduated as a Wesbrook scholar and recipient of the Carl Bradford Robertson scholarship, the University’s most prestigious designations.

He has been involved in academic research related to adverse drug reactions and
pharmacogenomics since his undergraduate studies. He worked with Dr. Marcel Bally at
the BC Cancer Research Centre studying liposomal drug delivery systems for
chemotherapy and was the recipient of the J.M. Warren Award for the top project
amongst that year’s summer students. During medical school, he worked with Drs. Liam
Brunham and Bruce Carleton on a variety of projects related to utilizing next generation
DNA sequencing to predict adverse outcomes in sepsis and cisplatin-induced
ototoxicity.

Dr. Lo also had the opportunity to pursue a research elective at Stanford University’s
Centre for Genomics and Personalized Medicine with Drs. Russ Altman and Latha
Palaniappan. Here he got the opportunity to work alongside the curators of PharmGKB
and see patients at Stanford’s pharmacogenomics clinic for those who have
experienced adverse drug reactions.

Dr. Ron Reid

In 1969, Dr. Reid graduated with his BSc in Pharmacy from the University of Saskatchewan and in 1972 completed his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Chelsea College, University of London (England).  He spent 1972 to 1974 in a postdoctoral position in the Institute for Genetics at the University of Cologne and from 1974 to 1982 he held another postdoc in protein structure and function in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Alberta. From 1982 to 1990, he was a professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Manitoba, at which time he joined the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of British Columbia. He retired in June 2017 and is currently professor emeritus in the UBC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. His interests are in the application of omics biomarkers to personalize disease diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy as well as the maintenance of personal wellness.

Dr. Colin Ross

Dr. Ross is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia and a scientist at BC Children’s Hospital. His expertise spans pharmacogenetics, genomics, drug development, drug safety, adverse drug reactions, predictive genetics, and genetic/clinical factors of drug response. Researchers in his lab investigate the genetic basis of disease and severe adverse drug reactions using genomics-guided precision medicine approaches to help make drugs safer, improve disease diagnosis, and develop new targeted therapeutics. Dr. Ross’s research capitalizes upon national and international collaborations with clinicians, researchers and industry partners. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Canadian Pharmacogenomics Network for Drug Safety, a nation-wide collaborative network of researchers. He currently holds a leadership role on the network’s executive steering committee.

Dr. Ross has been the recipient of a number of awards, including a Scholar Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, a New Investigator award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Champions of Genetics Award from the Canadian Gene Cure Foundation, the Boehringer-Ingelheim Award in Pharmacology Research from the Canadian Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and the Excellence in Research Award from the American Society of Gene Therapy.