[Ottawa Chapter] Spotlight: Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization

OBIO®, founded in 2009, is a membership-based organization engaged in strategy, programming, policy development and advocacy to further the commercialization of Ontario's human health science companies. Members include health science companies, investors, academic and research institutions, not-for-profit organizations and multi-national corporations.

They target practical, downstream needs - OBIO® focuses on technology commercialization to increase access to capital, workforce development, and market acceleration to build the health science industry.

Webinar topics will include:

• Overview of OBIO’s® Workforce Development Programs – training and skills development for industry including Health to Business Bridge (H2BB™), Business Development Skills Program (BDSP™), Women in Health Initiatives (WiHI) and the OBIO® Job Board and Talent Network (JBTN™)
• Why we do it - beyond science and alternate careers for scientists
• Q&A session

Speaker Bios: 

Garima Ghale (PhD):

As a Senior Program Manager at OBIO®, Garima Ghale leads new programs and initiatives that support scaling and commercializing health science technologies. Prior to joining OBIO®, she worked as a Venture Manager at Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)- Toronto health stream. In her role at CDL, she evaluated commercialization potential of more than 500 emerging health science companies, supported over 20 early-stage science and tech-based ventures with fundraising, product market fit, go to market and regulatory strategy. Her experience lies in team and project management, diligence on scientific start-ups, financing strategy, stakeholder relationship management, and communications. She is passionate about bridging science, healthcare, business, investment, and government policy continuums.

Garima holds a PhD in Chemistry from Germany. She is a recipient of DFF-MOBILEX mobility grant from the Danish Council for Independent Research and was one of the young scientists selected to attend 59th Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting. 

Christina Yeh:

Christina Yeh is Vice President, Technology Commercialization at the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®) where she supports health science companies with investment readiness and strategic business planning, and advances OBIO’s® programming to strengthen the position of women in the health science sector. Prior to joining OBIO®, she led research and development at a synthetic biology startup company. Christina holds a PhD in Molecular Genetics from the University of Toronto.

Andreea Norman:

Andreea is the Director of Workforce Development, Health to Business Bridge program, at Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®), a membership-based organization engaged in strategy, programming, policy development and advocacy to further the commercialization of Ontario’s human health science companies. Prior to joining OBIO®, she worked in product development in regenerative medicine, looking to test and scale potential stem cell therapies toward the clinic. Andreea received her BSc in Cell and Molecular Biology and MSc in Molecular Genetics from the University of Toronto and worked in academia for several years before transitioning to R&D, and then later, to business roles in industry.