INVENTURES 2021: BOLD IDEAS UNLEASHED

Michael Houghton is a Professor at the University of Alberta and Director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Applied Virology. He served as the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology from 2010 to 2018. He was recently named the 2020 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine along with Harvey Alter and Charles Rice for the discovery of the hepatitis C (HCV) virus. Dr. Houghton has received numerous international prizes for his work including the 2000 Clinical Lasker Award and the Canadian CLF-CASL gold medal in 2012. His passion is the application of biomedical research to prevent disease.

Dornoosh holds a PhD in AI in medical imaging with more than 12 years of experience in leading clinical research. She is CEO and co-founder of MEDO and a member of the Gov of Canada’s Advisory Council on AI.

Xinjie Cui has over 25 years of experience in supporting policy decisions through data, analytics, and research. She has a deep understanding and knowledge in areas of data sharing and linkage, information privacy and governance, policy making processes, and research using health and non-health administrative data. She was instrumental in establishing the Child and Youth Data Lab that linked and analyzed data from multiple provincial ministries on over 20 health, education and social services programs. Currently as the Chief Analytics Officer of PolicyWise for Children & Families, she leads a team of scientists and data analysts to provide data analytics support to various clients from the public as well as the nonprofit sectors. Xinjie holds a Bachelor’s degree in medicine, a PhD in psychology and a MBA.

Heather Chalmers is President and CEO of GE Canada, and President of GE Healthcare Canada. She heads partnership initiatives with business and government leaders to reposition Canada’s economy for the future with a focus on climate change, digital, AI and Additive Manufacturing. Heather holds a Chemical Engineering degree from Queens University and an MBA from the Rotman School of Business. She serves on the boards of the C.D. Howe Institute, Ontario Brain Institute and St. Elizabeth Health Foundation. Heather is also a member of the Business Council of Canada and the Rotman School of Management’s Healthcare and Life Sciences Advisory Council.

Ryan Van Wert, MD is a co-founder and CEO of Vynca. Dr. Van Wert is also a part-time Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University.

Dr. Verna Yiu is a longtime front-line care provider and healthcare administrator who serves as President and CEO of Alberta Health Services, Canada's first and largest province-wide health system.

Dale's healthcare career spans 24 years, 15 of those years in operational healthcare (Intermountain Healthcare, Northwestern University, Cayman Islands National Health System) and nine of those years as chief technology and product officer at Health Catalyst (NASDQ: HCAT). Prior to healthcare, he spent 14 years in the space and defense sector. He currently serves as an Executive Partner at Ardan Equity, a private equity firm specializing in healthcare-centric software and big data investments and acquisitions. He also serves as a Board member for HealthTree, a patient/physician community and data portal, pursuing a cure for multiple myeloma, ALS, and other rare diseases.

Thin Air Health Lead at Thin Air Labs, founder & board member at BranchOut Neurological Foundation, former national level speed skater, dog lover and MS patient advocate.

Priscila Chaves has worked at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship and impact for over 15 years, collaborating with multinationals and startups in North & Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. She's a technology ethicist, impact entrepreneur and keynote speaker on topics related to the future of our society.

Mara Lewis is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and was previously the Managing Director at the Start Co. accelerator. In 2016 Mara co-founded ID8, a corporate innovation and CVC consulting firm. ID8 works with some of the world’s most recognized companies to help them pursue strategic partnerships, invest capital in startups, and overcome innovation hurdles. Mara sits on the Board of the Consumer Technology Association (producers of CES) and is the Chairman of the CTA Investment Committee, overseeing a $100M venture capital fund.

Jilliane Yawney has helped over 1000 people get onstage to share their story. She is a Story Coach and the creator of the Core 7 Stories for Business™ framework.

Charlton Cunningham serves as the Ecosystems Program Manager at HBCUvc, an organization dedicated to bringing more diversity into the venture capital industry.

Alfredo is Co-CEO of US Market Access Center, a Silicon Valley-based accelerator that helps international startups with global market expansion via Silicon Valley. Since 2011, more than $1.5 billion in funding has been raised by 224 startup alumni.

Senator at World Business Angel Investment Forum; Serial Entrepreneur.Angel investor ,VC; Founder/ Partner of Invert UP a Seed Capital fund registered at the National Stock exchange, Costa Rica www.invertup.com; Founder and CEO of Parque Tec an accelerator and Business incubator specialized in ICT, Costa Rica, ,www.parquetec.org; Founder / Partner of the first financial newspaper in Costa Rica : El Financiero.www.elfinancierocr.com; Co founder of the First Financial newspaper in Panama: Capital Financiero.www.capitalfinanciero.com; Founder of the Costa Rica Business Angel Network Link Inversiones

Ebrahim is the President & Co-Founder of Patronicity, a civic & community crowdfunding platform built to inspire growth and change in placemaking throughout cities and towns, both urban and rural, across the country. Growing Patronicity to be more than just a civic crowdfunding platform, he has led Patronicity to change the way grants are administered and how communities come together to envision, build and create more sustainable and impactful projects meaningful to them.

P.K. Newby, ScD, MPH, MS is a scientist, author, food personality, and entrepreneur who has dedicated her career to researching and communicating what we eat and why it matters, from farm to fork. An internationally recognized expert on plant-based diets and disease prevention, she refocused her career on science communication in 2012 to bring evidence to today’s food and nutrition conversations and launched Food Matters Multimedia, LLC, in 2019.