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Keynote Speaker
Dr.Milica Radisic
Co-founder of the Center for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies (CRAFT), TARA Biosystems and Quthero
Tier 1 Canada Research Chair,
Professor at the University of Toronto.
Dr.Milica Radisic’s research focuses on organ-on-a-chip engineering and development of new biomaterials that promote healing and attenuate scarring. She is internationally acclaimed for spearheading the field of organ-on-a-chip (OoC) engineering. To overcome the limitations of non-expandable human cardiomyocytes and species differences in animal models, her lab leveraged induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to build functional human heart tissue and mature it using long-term electrical stimulation, enabling modeling of patient-specific cardiac disease. She developed new methods to vascularize tissues.
Panel 1: Personalized Medicine
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Dr. Alison Stewart
Vice Chair & Scientific Officer of Sickkid Foundation New investigator Award Grant Review Committee,
Assistant Professor at
University of Toronto
Dr. Amy Wong is a leading expert in human stem cell-based respiratory disease modeling and lung development. Her pioneering work established robust methods to generate mature airway epithelial cells from human pluripotent stem cells, demonstrating that these stem cell-derived cultures can faithfully recapitulate airway biology and serve as powerful platforms for studying airway cell development, Cystic Fibrosis and evaluating novel therapeutic strategies.
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Her research program harnesses unique preclinical human lung models—including iPSC-derived and primary tissues—to dissect the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern lung development and disease. This foundational knowledge is being translated to uncover the origins of pulmonary diseases and to guide the development of transformative therapies for both congenital and acquired lung conditions. Through strategic collaborations and a commitment to translational impact, Dr. Wong is driving forward a vision of precision medicine for respiratory health—where developmental insights fuel therapeutic innovation.
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Professor Gang Zheng is the Associate Research Director at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Professor of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, where he holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Cancer Nanomedicine. He received his BSc in Chemistry from Hangzhou University in 1988 and his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1999. Following postdoctoral training in photodynamic therapy at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, he joined the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 as an Assistant Professor of Radiology, before relocating to Canada in 2006.
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Professor Zheng is internationally recognized for pioneering activatable photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy and for the discovery of porphysome nanotechnology for cancer theranostics. Porphysomes have progressed from fundamental discovery to clinical translation and are now entering firstinhuman studies. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.
Dr. Gang Zheng
Associate Research Director at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Tier 1 Canada Research Chair,
Professor at the University of Toronto
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Veronika Litinski
Veronika Litinski is CEO of GeneYouIn and a medicinal chemist by training. She leads Pillcheck — Canada's leading pharmacogenomics service — bringing precision medicine into clinics, pharmacies, and workplace health programs at scale.
Under her leadership, Pillcheck has been developed alongside digital health initiatives of Canada's largest insurers and employers, building a proprietary evidence base, IP portfolio, and product roadmap that extends pharmacogenomics into a longitudinal health intelligence platform. She previously led health practice at MaRS Discovery District, invested in health innovation at GATX Capital, and conducted cancer research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
CEO of GeneYouIn.Inc
Implementation Team Lead at PillCheck
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Dr. Adam Waspe
High-intensity focused ultrasound Project Manager at SickKids Hospital,
Asistant Professor at the
University of Toronto.
Professor Adam Waspe is a researcher at the Posluns Centre for Image Guided Innovation and Therapeutic Intervention (PCIGITI) at SickKids, a Project Investigator at the SickKids Research Institute, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Imaging at the University of Toronto. He is also a physicist in the Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Division of Image Guided Therapy, where his work focuses on developing clinical protocols for MR-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (MRgHIFU) treatment of bone and soft-tissue tumours.
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Professor Waspe have been developing real time algorithms to suppress motion artifacts from MRI thermal images and to measure acoustic radiation force dynamically. In collaboration with industry, his team are also developing robotic MRgHIFU platforms that will be dedicated for non-invasive treatment of newborns and babies in utero.
Panel 2: lmpacts of AI
Dr. David Cramb is a biophysical chemist for whom the thrill of discovery still runs strong. As Dean of the Faculty of Science at Toronto Metropolitan University since 2018, David is committed to interdisciplinary research and innovative collaborations. As a musician, researcher and teacher in both the arts and sciences, David has led cross-disciplinary teams of researchers in science, medicine, engineering, education and the arts, as well as industrial partners and practicing clinicians.
These collaborations have spanned many institutions and crossed borders into the U.S. and Europe.
Cramb Group conducts world-class research on the application of nanotechnology to biomedicine. With focus on viral modeling using nanotechnology, nanoparticle – serum protein interactions, three-colour molecular binding, nanoparticles in embryonic models and nanodelivery of nucleic acids.
Dr. David Cramb
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Dean of Faculty of Science Toronto Metropolitan University,
Chair of Collaborative Health ResearchProjects(NSERC/CIHR)
Dr. Tavallaei is a Canada Research Chair in Systems and Devices for Cardiovascular Interventions (Tier II) at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering. He is also a visiting Scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute, an Assistant Professor (status-only) at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, and an Affiliate Scientist at the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science. Dr. Tavallaei has been engaged with multiple medical device startups, and he is currently the President and co-founder of Magellan Biomedical Inc
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Tavallaei’s most significant contribution comes in the form of an advanced cardiac catheter, a device that has remained largely unchanged since its introduction in 1929.
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Dr. Ali Tavallaei
Co-founder and President at Magellan Biomedical Inc,
Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. & Toronto Metropolitan University
Dr. Yosuke Niibori
Co-founder and CSO of
Re:Pair Genomics
Dr. Yosuke Niibori is the Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Re:Pair Genomics and a Senior Research Associate in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto. With a deep background in neuropharmacology, molecular biology, and viral vector engineering, Dr. Niibori has spent years advancing adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene therapies for severe central nervous system (CNS) conditions, including Dravet syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and Rett syndrome.
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Building on these scientific insights, Dr. Niibori’s research focuses on overcoming major bottlenecks in gene therapy: off-target drug toxicity and the strict cargo size constraints of viral vectors. At Re:Pair Genomics, he leads the scientific development of machine learning platforms that design compact, cell-type-specific synthetic promoters. By translating months of manual candidate screening into computational design generated in days.
Panel 3: Medical Device
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Dr. Afshin Abrishamkar
Research Officer at National Research Council (NRC),
Assistant Professor at University of Toronto
Afshin Abrishamkar is a Research Officer in the Medical Devices Research center at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and an Assistant Professor (status) in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto.
Afshin holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the ETH Zurich and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the PSL Université Paris and McMaster University. His multidisciplinary research is at the intersection of microfluidics, biomedical engineering, and material science, and aims to develop new microfluidic platforms for controlled fabrication and processing of bio-inspired advanced materials for health-related and biomedical applications.
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He is currently working on collaborative research projects with researchers at NRC, University of Toronto, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, and McMaster University.
Dr. Tavallaei is a Canada Research Chair in Systems and Devices for Cardiovascular Interventions (Tier II) at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering. He is also a visiting Scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute, an Assistant Professor (status-only) at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto, and an Affiliate Scientist at the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science. Dr. Tavallaei has been engaged with multiple medical device startups, and he is currently the President and co-founder of Magellan Biomedical Inc
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Tavallaei’s most significant contribution comes in the form of an advanced cardiac catheter, a device that has remained largely unchanged since its introduction in 1929.
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Dr. Ali Tavallaei
Co-founder and President at Magellan Biomedical Inc,
Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. & Toronto Metropolitan University
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Dr. Jan Andrysek
Co-founder and CTO at Legworks.Inc,
Senior Scientist at Bloorview Research Institute
Dr. Jan Andrysek is a Full Professor within the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto. His research program focuses on the development and improvement of treatments and assistive technologies for children and adults with mobility impairments. Specific areas of study include prosthetic and orthotic limb design, bio sensing and biofeedback systems, and wearables to measure assistive-technology-facilitated mobility and physical activity in real-life environments. Current research is also focused on understanding the global need for prosthetic technology, and impact on mobility, physical function, and quality of life.
He is the recipient of prestigious awards including the 2017 Ontario Profession Engineers Engineering Medal for Research and Development, and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) fellowship in 2019. He is also the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer at Legworks Inc., a social for-profit enterprise focused on improving prosthetic technologies and care for individuals with amputations worldwide.
Closing Speaker
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Dr. Lee hold a PhD in Cell and Systems Biology and have about twenty years of research experience across the University of Toronto, Johns Hopkins, and UT Southwestern.
As Co-founder and CEO of Omphalos Lifesciences, Dr. Donghoon Lee lead the development of programmable virtual cells and biological digital twins: executable models grounded in mechanistic rules, experimental data, and our biosystem programming language, L++.
Omphalos Lifescience’s platform helps model growth, perturbation response, drug resistance, environmental stress, and engineered biological function across scales, from virtual cells to disease digital twins. The goal is to help life science teams make better decisions earlier and accelerate discovery in drug development, biomanufacturing, synthetic biology, and digital-first R&D.
Dr. Donghoon Lee
Co-Founder & CEO at Omphalos Lifesciences.