Meet Our Team

Dr. Stephen Lucas is an accomplished leader with extensive public sector experience in economic, innovation, energy, environment and climate change, health and social policy, as well as federal-provincial-territorial relations. Joining Mitacs as CEO in October 2024, he is committed to supporting research, innovation, and talent, and fostering strategic partnerships between academia, industry, and government to drive economic growth and productivity in Canada and help tackle societal challenges.

Dr. Lucas was a public servant with the Government of Canada for more than 35 years, including 10 years as a Deputy Minister. He served as Deputy Minister of Health Canada since 2019 and was previously Deputy Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Deputy Secretary of Plans, Consultations and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Privy Council Office (PCO). Prior to that, he was Assistant Secretary for Economic and Regional Development Policy at PCO and Assistant Deputy Minister for Science and Policy and for Minerals and Metals at Natural Resources Canada. Dr. Lucas started his career as a research scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada.

With the Public Health Agency of Canada, he led the federal government’s comprehensive health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in collaboration with federal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners, scientific experts, local health and community organizations and the private sector, including the largest vaccination campaign in Canada’s history. Dr. Lucas led work on the development and adoption of the 2016 Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, Canada’s first national climate plan with the provinces and territories.

Lucas has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geological Engineering from Queen’s University and a Ph.D. from Brown University in structural geology and tectonics. He is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, and Queen’s University 125th Award for Engineering Excellence and Gold Medal in Geological Engineering.

Jean-François Bousquet joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Dalhousie University in July 2013. He is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal where he completed his B. Eng. in Electrical Engineering in 2001. He also completed his MSc and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering at the University of Calgary in 2007 and 2011 respectively, where he focused on the implementation of low-power integrated circuits applied to wireless communication. Between 2009 and 2011, he was employed as a high-speed analog IC designer at Ciena for the development of coherent fibre optics communication networks. Since joining Dalhousie University, he has developed a research program on underwater communications and technology. He is particularly interested in enabling underwater networks, using low-power electronics systems. He is passionate about the use of highly integrated circuits to enable reconfigurable communication systems. Since 2019, he has acted as Head the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is currently Associate Editor for the Canadian Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Michelle Chrétien is the Associate Vice-President of Research at Conestoga College. She was previously the Director of the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Design Technologies at Sheridan College. Prior to joining Sheridan College, Michelle spent 12 years at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada in various roles including Global Program Manager (Electronic Materials), Senior R&D Manager (Materials Science), and Program Manager (Strategic Partnerships). Michelle is focused on leading and enabling applied research in advanced manufacturing including 3D printing, automation, robotics, computer-aided design, printed and flexible electronics and more.

Michelle is passionate about the commercialization of innovation, public engagement in science, and equity and diversity in research. She has extensive experience in working with entrepreneurs and companies to help them achieve their business and technology goals. She has tackled challenges such as developing new materials and processes for 3D printing and wearable electronics as well as building new capability and infrastructure to support innovation in Advanced Manufacturing.

Michelle received her BSc in Chemistry from Dalhousie University and PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Ottawa. Her PhD thesis was nominated for the Governor General’s Medal and was awarded the IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists. Michelle was an NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Biological Applications of Mass Spectrometry in Montréal. Michelle has published 23 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and holds 82 US patents on novel materials and manufacturing technologies. She has been recognized with numerous awards including the Xerox Certificate of Excellence and the intelliFLEX Innovation Award for Women in STEM.

Michelle serves on the Board of Directors of the NSERC Green Printed Electronics Network, the Research Innovation Commercialization (RIC) Centre, IntelliFLEX Innovation Alliance, and the Erindale Minor Hockey Association. She is also an advisor and mentor for both RIC Centre and EDGE, Sheridan’s entrepreneurship hub.

Ian D. Gates, P.Eng., Ph.D., FCAE, is a Professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary. He worked for seven years in industry prior to joining the University in 2004. Prof. Gates received a B.Sc. from the University of Calgary, an M.A.Sc. from the University of British Columbia, and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, all in Chemical Engineering. Since 2016, he has been the Director of the University of Calgary’s Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) program, the $75 million Global Research Initiative (GRI) for Sustainable Low-carbon Unconventional Resources program, where he has provided leadership in energy research (>80 research projects funded, >200 faculty members involved from across the university, and >500 graduate students involved in GRI research projects).

Prof. Gates’ research spans heavy oil and oil sands technology, hydrogen (in situ gasification of heavy oil and methane pyrolysis), methane emissions, and material science of energy systems. Since he joined the university, he has supervised 37 Ph.D., 35 M.Sc., and 8 M.Eng. (thesis-based) graduate students and 29 undergraduate summer researchers, as well as 32 Research Engineers, Research Associates, and Post-Doctoral Scholars in his research group. His research has led to over 230 peer-reviewed journal papers published and 65 patents (33 awarded, 24 pending, and 8 abandoned) with several of them patented in more than 10 countries. He is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded several companies including Gushor (sold to Schlumberger in 2013), Proton Technologies (hydrogen from heavy oil), Solideum (solid bitumen), Molten Alloy Technologies, TOSSA, and several consulting companies.

Since joining the University of Calgary, Prof. Gates has received awards including 12 teaching awards, a Killam Innovation in Teaching Award (2016), an ASTECH award (Innovation in Oil Sands Research, 2016), a Killam Annual Professor Award (2018), and an APEGA Frank Spragins Summit Award (2019).

Randy is the Director of the Engineering Access Program (ENGAP) at the University of Manitoba. ENGAP is a support program designed to assist First Nation, Metis, and Inuit students seeking an engineering degree. He graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Engineering. For 10 years he worked as a geotechnical engineer, technical services advisor, and a project manager before taking on his current role. Over the years Randy’s work with Canadian Indigenous communities and within the engineering field has shown him the lack of engineers of First Nation, Metis, and Inuit ancestry and the obstacles faced by these students to obtain a degree. His desire to help change these factors and make it easier for Indigenous students to pursue an engineering degree led him to become Director of ENGAP, a position he has held since 1998. He is a Fellow of Engineers Canada, and a member of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is also a member of Engineers Geoscientists Manitoba and the Manitoba Metis community.

Dr. Nada Jabado is a Professor of Pediatrics at McGill University and pediatric neuro-oncologist at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. She completed her residency in pediatrics with a specialization in hemato-oncology. She also obtained a PhD in Immunology in Paris, France, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry at McGill. She began her career as an independent investigator at McGill in 2003, pioneering a research program in pediatric brain tumors which is now unparalleled. Her group uncovered that pediatric high-grade astrocytomas (HGA) are molecularly and genetically distinct from adult tumors. More importantly, they identified a new molecular mechanism driving pediatric HGA, namely recurrent somatic driver mutations in the tail of histone 3 variants (H3.3 and H3.1).

Dr. Jabado’s groundbreaking work has created a paradigm shift in cancer with the identification of histone mutations in human disease which has revolutionized this field, as the epigenome was a previously unsuspected hallmark of oncogenesis, thus linking development and what we now know are epigenetic-driven cancers. She has over 190 peer-reviewed publications to her credit, with an impressive number of senior-author, high-impact publications in such prominent journals as Nature Genetics, Nature, Science and Cancer Cell, to name a few. She has over 23,000 citations and an h-index of 78 and many of her publications are considered landmark papers. Nada is an international leader in the field of neuro-oncology/cancer, honored by invitations as a keynote speaker at top-ranked symposia and universities.

Dr. Jabado has received numerous national and international honors while garnering prestigious salary support awards throughout her career. She is one of the best-funded investigators in Canada, with grants from CIHR, Genome Canada, Genome Quebec, NIH as well as philanthropic organizations. She has been inducted as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada and appointed as member of the CIHR Governing Council as well as the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. She was recently presented with the Pediatric Academic Leadership, Clinician Investigator Award from the Pediatric Chairs of Canada and was awarded a Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Oncology.

Dr. Di Jiang is a team lead and senior researcher at the Medical Devices Research Centre of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). From 2020 to 2022, Dr. Jiang was appointed as the President’s Science Advisor and Secretary to the President’s Research Excellence Advisory Committee (PREAC) working with NRC’s senior executives and research communities to promote research excellence. Dr. Jiang joined the NRC’s Life Sciences Division in 2008. She currently leads research and development efforts in virtual care, including continuous remote patient monitoring using medical sensors and contactless assessment for physiological and cognitive health. During her career, Dr. Jiang has led multiple large-scale projects in close collaboration with academia, industry clinicians, such as real-time simulations for medical applications and remote interactive care augmented by AI/ML. She has worked as a consultant for numerous organizations. Dr. Jiang holds a Ph.D. and MSc in Computer Science from the Université de Montréal. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Elicia Maine is the W.J. VanDusen Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the Beedie School of Business, Academic Director of the Invention to Innovation (i2I) Program, and Special Advisor on Innovation to the VPRI at Simon Fraser University. Within the SFU VPRI, she has oversight of the SFU Innovates strategy, including the TLO. Her research interests are in science innovation, science entrepreneurship, and the translation of inventions from university research labs. She is founding Academic Director of the Mitacs i2I Skills Training program, a national program developing entrepreneurial mindset and innovation skills in PhD scientists and engineers.

Professor Maine was the founding educational coordinator for New Ventures BC, was awarded the 2017 TD Canada Trust Distinguished Teaching Award, recognized as one of BC’s Most Influential Women 2018: STEM Stars, and honoured at the 2021 BC Cleantech Awards as the Top Cleantech Educator. She serves on the Boards of Directors of Innovate BC, the Foresight cleantech accelerator, the Composites Knowledge Network, and the Digital Health Circle, and is actively involved in innovation initiatives and in mentoring scientist-entrepreneurs.

Maine is a scientist-advisor for the CDL-Climate stream, leading interdisciplinary research in climate innovation and in biomedical innovation, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee of 4POINTO, Princeton University’s Dean for Research Innovation Advisory Council, and on the Jury of the Women in Cleantech Challenge. An interdisciplinary scholar and engaged educator, Maine holds a PhD in Technology Management & Materials Engineering from the University of Cambridge, Master’s degrees in Technology & Policy and Materials Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BSc in Materials Engineering from Queen’s University. Professor Maine has published her innovation management research in Research Policy, R&D Management, Journal of Cleaner Production, Technovation, Nature Nanotechnology, and Nature Materials.

Cory leads innovation hub ecosystem development work at MaRS, helping position the MaRS Centre and future sites to be globally recognized generators of positive socioeconomic impact. Additionally, he leads relations for MaRS with top national and global jurisdictions of innovation. Cory previously led policy and public affairs at MaRS, where he coordinated relationships with government stakeholders, and aligned the organization and its network with government policies. Cory’s continued service at MaRS is an expression of his passion for the life sciences sector, and the implementation of strong innovation policy across Canada.
Prior to MaRS, Cory served as Chief of Staff to the Government of Ontario’s Minister of Research, Innovation and Science. His other previous roles in the government included Chief of Staff to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, as well as Senior Policy Advisor to the Ministers of Economic Development and Innovation. Cory completed his PhD in biochemistry at SickKids and the University of Toronto with a focus on cystic fibrosis. He is also a chartered financial analyst (CFA) charter holder and possesses an BSc in chemistry.

Claudiane Ouellet-Plamondon is a professor in the Department of Construction Engineering at the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) in Montreal, a member of the Université du Québec network, since 2014. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Multifunctional Construction Materials. She received a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering from Dalhousie University, a master’s degree in biological sciences from Université de Montréal, and a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. She was a postdoctoral fellow at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley during her sabbatical leave.

She is passionate about her research on functional materials, robotic 3D printing of low carbon mortars, bio-based materials, wood and earth construction, valorization of industrial by-products in cement, concrete and other value-added materials, sustainable materials for a circular economy, and modeling of materials with artificial intelligence. She enjoys interdisciplinary research on the sustainability of buildings and cities, materials and arts, adaptation and mitigation of climate change, and the ecological transition. Her team includes Master’s and Ph.D. students, research assistants, and postdoctoral fellows.

Claudiane chairs the report on 3D Printing with Cementitious Materials of the Committee 564 of the American Concrete Institute (ACI). She is a member of the International Energy Agency EBC Annex 89 Ways to Implement Net-Zero Whole Life Buildings. She is a member of technical committees of the RILEM and a member of other associations.

Michel Pioro-Ladrière serves as the Director of Partnerships and Strategy at Nord Quantique, a quantum computing company that originated from his laboratory within the innovation ecosystem he contributed to establishing in Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. Previously, he held the position of Professor at the Université de Sherbrooke. One of his research accomplishments was selected among the Top 10 Discoveries of the Year by Québec Science magazine in 2020. He also served as the Co-Scientific Director at the Institut quantique of the Université de Sherbrooke, the Chair for the Deployment of Quantum Technologies, the Scientific Director of DistriQ Quantum Innovation Zone in Sherbrooke – one of the initial Innovation Zones recognized by the Government of Québec, and the Founding Director of the Bachelor in Quantum Information Sciences program at the Université de Sherbrooke. With a background in physics, he obtained a Ph.D. in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the NTT Basic Research Laboratories in Japan.

Terramera Chief Scientific Officer Annett Rozek, PhD is an accomplished scientist and visionary leader with a passion for creating technologies for a healthier world, from food to the environment. Alongside the Founder and CEO, she developed Terramera’s revolutionary Actigate Targeted Performance Technology and launched the company’s inaugural Proof and Cirkil products, leading technology development and cultivating an energetic and supportive interdisciplinary team environment.

Terramera is tackling audacious goals of reducing global synthetic pesticide loads 80%, increasing global farm productivity 20% and increasing soil organic carbon 100% by 2030 to protect plant and human health and ensure an earth that thrives and provides for everyone. The global AgTech leader is fusing science, nature and artificial intelligence to transform how food is grown and the economics of agriculture in the next decade.

Annett’s experience in her previous role as Senior Scientist at Inimex Pharmaceuticals (2003-2011) includes the discovery and development of a first-in-class Innate Defense Regulator IMX942 (Dusquetide), an anti-inflammatory drug now in Phase III clinical development by Soligenix. She is an author on 28 publications, inventor on 18 unique patent applications and granted patents, has a MSc from the Department of Chemistry at Humboldt University, and a PhD from the Department of Chemistry and Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University.

Solmaz Shahalizadeh is an executive, investor and advisor in the technology and data space. She is a founding partner of Backbone Angels, an angel investing collective focused on funding more diverse and women-founded businesses making change. Most recently as the Vice President and head of Shopify’s Data Team, Solmaz built the company’s entire portfolio of data and machine learning, overseeing a team of over 500 data scientists, engineers, and product managers who help leverage data to ensure Shopify merchants get the most from the company’s scale. In her role at Shopify, she also built the company’s financial data warehouse, played a critical role in their successful IPO, implemented and scaled the company’s machine-learning products, and led multiple cross-functional teams. Solmaz is the winner of a Globe and Mail Report on Business Best Executive Award, recognizing her leadership and work in the technology field. In 2021, Solmaz was also named a recipient of a Forty Under 40 Award by the Ottawa Business Journal. Before her time with Shopify, Solmaz had an extensive career as a data scientist, working as an analyst at Morgan Stanley and at McGill University, where she contributed to cancer research using AI methods to build predictors of outcome for breast cancer.

Professor Christopher Yip began his term as Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering on July 2, 2019, after serving two years as Associate Vice-President, International Partnerships in the University’s Office of the Vice President, International.
Dean Yip is a leading scholar in the field of single-molecule biophysics and a faculty member with the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, the Department of Biochemistry and the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering. He is a Principal Investigator with the Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research at the University of Toronto.

As a former director of the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME), he provided leadership to more than 100 research engineers and scientists engaged in discovery and product development in the areas of neuroscience and sensory stimulation, biomaterials and tissue engineering, molecular systems biology and nanotechnology, as well as medical device and drug delivery system design.

He has been a strong advocate and creator of international research opportunities for students and scholars. Through the Wildcat Voyager Scholarships, IBBME encourages its PhD students by providing funds for international research partnerships. Professor Yip and IBBME have also played important roles in the development and implementation of the Lyon Sachs Collaborative Research Fund. This fund rapidly scales up research collaborations by enabling joint symposia and workshops, funding student and faculty travel between Haifa and Toronto, and enabling sabbatical visits and short-term graduate student exchanges. The fund has sparked cutting-edge research and enabled two-way flow of immense talent between the Technion Institute of Technology and the University of Toronto.

Dean Yip serves on the CIHR Institute of Genetics Advisory Board and has served on grant panels at NSERC, CIHR and NIH. He was the first recipient of the Molecular Imaging’s Outstanding Young Biological Scanning Probe Microscopy Investigator of the Year award, and since that time has been honoured with a Premier’s Research Excellence Award (1999), Faculty Teaching Award, (2000) and Graduate Faculty Teaching Award for Sustained Contribution to Excellence in Graduate Teaching (2008). He was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2009), a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (2014) and held a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Molecular Imaging (2000-2010).

Dean Yip received his B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1988 and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1996. He joined the Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry in 1997 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002 and to Full Professor in 2007.