Ontario Genomics appoints new President and CEO
TORONTO, May 24, 2017 /CNW/ - Bettina Hamelin has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ontario Genomics (OG), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to catalyzing and advancing genomics innovation within Ontario. Dr. Hamelin will join OG's board and will assume the CEO role effective August 01, 2017.
With over 25 years of leadership experience in academia, industry and the public sector, Dr. Hamelin brings to Ontario Genomics extensive expertise as a biotechnology strategist and a champion of the science innovation pipeline. In her previous position as Vice-President of Research Partnerships at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Dr. Hamelin spearheaded a 130-member team to lead a $360M/year research and innovation investment strategy, connecting Canadian and global innovation stakeholders to the research enterprise in Canada. Prior to that, Dr. Hamelin spent 12 years in Medical R&D leadership roles at Pfizer Inc., where she pioneered novel public-private partnership models.
Dr. Hamelin is fluently trilingual, holds an Executive MBA in Healthcare from the University of British Columbia and a Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Kentucky, and has functioned as an adjunct professor, associate professor, and research scholar at the Université Laval. She has published 35 peer-reviewed articles and is named co-inventor on five existing patents. She has also served on numerous Boards and Scientific Advisory Committees, including the BC Clinical Research Infrastructure Network, the Genotype Associated Therapies in Childhood and the Alberta/Pfizer Translational Research Fund.
Dr. Hamelin's appointment was announced by the Chair of Ontario Genomics' Board of Directors, Dr. Brian Underdown. "We are delighted to welcome Dr. Hamelin to Ontario Genomics and are confident that she will continue to advance genomics research and forge collaborative relationships with the greater genomics community," said Dr. Underdown. "We are grateful to Dr. Mark Poznansky, outgoing President and CEO, for his unwavering commitment to genomics research innovation in the province of Ontario, and gladly receive Dr. Hamelin, with her myriad of skills and rich expertise, to the culture of innovation in Ontario which he leaves behind."
Established in 2000, Ontario Genomics (OG) is the only provincial entity focused solely on sparking, supporting and sustaining Ontario's genomics technology pipeline as a key driver of the province's knowledge-based economy. Working across seven key sectors of social and economic significance, OG has secured approximately $1 billion dollars for genomics research in Ontario, directly supporting 7300 R&D jobs. "First to invest" in the genomics start-up space, OG has been an important source of early seed financing that has been instrumental in facilitating new entrepreneurial genomic-based companies to securing financing from venture capital and other investors. In this role, Ontario Genomics has helped bring 16 genomics companies to the "investor-ready" stage and secure $197 million in follow-on funding, helping these companies create 289 private sector jobs and generate $56.6 million in revenues.
SOURCE Ontario Genomics
please contact Maggie O'Dea, Manager, Communications at 416.673.6597, [email protected]
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