Board Members
Ellen Wasan
President
University of Saskatchewan
College of Pharmacy and Nutrition
Email: ellen.wasan@usask.ca
University of SaskatchewanCollege of Pharmacy and NutritionEmail: ellen.wasan@usask.ca
Academic pharmaceutical scientist working in the field of pre-formulation, early-stage drug development and lipid-based drug delivery systems. Currently developing lipid nanoparticle adjuvants for nasal delivery of vaccines. I also have expertise in formulation of poorly water soluble drugs and nucleic acid therapeutics.
Experience in pre-clinical drug development, analytical method development and basic pharmacokinetics.
Davide Brambilla
Treasurer
Université de Montréal
Faculty of Pharmacy
Email: davide.brambilla@umontreal.ca
Davide Brambilla
Université de Montréal
Faculty of Pharmacy
Email: davide.brambilla@umontreal.ca
In 2017, Davide was appointed Assistant Professor at the School of Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal, where he started his independent research laboratory at the interface of biotechnology and pharmaceutical sciences. He teaches the Development of Biotechnology Drugs and Pharmacokinetics to the Pharmacy and Biopharmaceutical Sciences students. His research interests include the design, manufacturing, and performance evaluation of polymeric microneedles for non-invasive transdermal delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents.
Marc A. Gauthier
Member-at-Large (Alberta)
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique
Energy Materials Telecommunications Centre
Email: gauthier@emt.inrs.ca
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique
Energy Materials Telecommunications Centre
Email: gauthier@emt.inrs.ca
Prof. Marc A. Gauthier obtained his PhD in polymer chemistry at the Université de Montréal in 2007 under the supervision of Profs. Julian X Zhu and Thomas H Ellis. Following a postdoc at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) with Prof. Harm-Anton Klok, he became a Research Associate at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) in 2009 with Prof. Jean-Christophe Leroux.
In 2013 he joined the EMT Research Center of the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) in Canada as Assistant Professor, where his work focuses on developing new types of dynamic covalent bonds, designing therapeutic protein–polymer conjugates, establishing new technologies for drug discovery, and investigating new opportunities for physically actuating therapeutic bioconjugates using non-ionizing radiation. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017.
Larry Unsworth
Member-at-Large (Alberta)
University of Alberta
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
Email: larry.unsworth@ualberta.ca
University of British Columbia
Biomedical Engineering & Drug Delivery Lab
Email: sarah.hedtrich@ubc.ca
Dr. Sarah Hedtrich completed her Pharmaceutical Sciences degree at the University of Leipzig and earned a PhD in pharmacology & toxicology at Freie Universität Berlin. Her postdoc took her to Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and Tufts University, USA. Returning to Berlin, she led a junior research group (2013-2015) and became an assistant professor in 2015. By 2019, she was a tenure-track assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Her team excels in pharmacology, biomedical engineering, and drug delivery, focusing on Next Generation Therapies, Nanomedicine, Tissue Engineering, and Tissue Regeneration. They concentrate on human epithelia, particularly skin and lung diseases of inflammatory and genetic origins, through interdisciplinary collaboration in chemistry, medicine, and genetics.
Sarah Hedtrich
Member-at-Large (British Columbia)
University of British Columbia
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Email: sarah.hedtrich@ubc.ca
Todd Hoare
McMaster University
Department of Chemical Engineering
Email: hoaretr@mcmaster.ca
Dr. Todd Hoare is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Engineered Smart Materials in the Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University. His work on the design of functional hydrogels on multiple length scales for drug delivery has been recognized by multiple awards, including an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and a citation as part of the 2018 Class of Influential Researchers by Industrial Engineering & Chemistry Research. He is a Fellow of the International Union Societies of Biomaterials Science & Engineering (IUS-BSE), is the Past-President of the Canadian Biomaterials Society and CC-CRS, and is the President-Elect of the Macromolecular Science and Engineering Division of the Canadian Institute of Chemistry. He is also a Co-Editor of Chemical Engineering Journal, acting as the lead editor for manuscripts in drug delivery.
Todd Hoare
Member-at-Large (Ontario)
McMaster University
Department of Chemical Engineering
Email: hoaretr@mcmaster.ca
Shirley XY Wu
Member-at-Large (Ontario)
University of Toronto
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy
Email: sxy.wu@utoronto.ca
Dr. Xiao Yu (Shirley) Wu is a full Professor in Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. She has led an outstanding 24-year academic career, having published >160 journal papers and book chapters, 270 proceedings and abstracts, and is a co-inventor of 27 issued or pending patents. She has served CRS Best Paper Selection Committees for Journal of Controlled Release and Drug Delivery and Translational Research. She has been a member-at-large of CC-CRS since late 2016.
Johans Fakhoury
Member-at-Large (Quebec)
McGill University
Department of Chemistry
Email: johans.fakhoury@mail.mcgill.ca
McGill University
Department of Chemistry
Email: johans.fakhoury@mail.mcgill.ca
Dr. Johans Fakoury currently holds the position of Director, Strategic Planning and Operations with the Department of Biomedical Engineering at McGill University, and am mandated to be the bridge builder between BME and other institutions, nationally and internationally, in order to promote the department and recruit high caliber researchers and trainees, and encourage scientific exchanges.
Afsaneh Lavasanifar
Member-at-Large (Alberta)
University of Alberta
Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Email: afsaneh@ualberta.ca
University of Alberta
Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Email: afsaneh@ualberta.ca
Dr Lavasanifar is a Professor of Pharmaceutics in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta. Afsaneh is the Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of Meros Polymers, a spinoff company established based on the technology developed her lab. Her research is focused on the development of delivery systems that can increase solubility, modify the pharmacokinetics, reduce toxicity, and increase the activity of different therapeutics with a focus on the development of nanomedicines for cancer chemo- and immunotherapy.