Michel Bédard - CEO

Michel Bédard is a technology entrepreneur with more than 20 years experience in photonic measurement instruments. In 1991, Mr. Bédard co-founded Nortech Fibronic, a leading fiberoptic sensor and test equipment company that is now a part of EXFO Electro-optical Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ: EXFO; TSX: EXF). As CEO and Vice President of Research and Development for Nortech Fibronic, Mr. Bédard led the development of innovative photonic instruments and developed OEM partnerships with global companies, such as WWG (now part of Ideal Industries), Microtest (now part of Fluke Networks) and Urologix.

Mr. Bédard holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Université Laval. Mr. Bédard has been a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec since 1988. He won the Quebec Entrepreneur Award in 1991 for the best business plan and was President of the Québec Optics and Photonics Association from 1999 to 2001.

Robert Oringer - Marketing Advisor

Robert Oringer is Co-Chairman and a Board Director of AMG Medical (Montreal, Canada). In addition, Mr. Oringer is a Board Director of CanAm Care, an Access Product Marketing company, (Alpharetta, Georgia) and dLife, a LifeMed Media company (Westport, Connecticut). He is also board advisor at AgaMatrix (Salem, New Hampshire), providing guidance on marketing and business development strategies.

From 1990 through 1998, Mr. Oringer was the President of CanAm Care, a leading supplier of branded and private label diabetes care products. In 1998, he led the sale of CanAm Care to Inverness Medical. Upon the sale of CanAm Care to Inverness, Mr. Oringer joined the Board of Directors of Inverness. When Inverness Medical’s diabetes assets were sold to Johnson & Johnson in 2002, Mr. Oringer was involved in Access Product Marketing’s acquisition of CanAm Care from Johnson & Johnson.

Mr. Oringer is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Pavel Hamet - Scientific Committee Chairman

Born in the Czech Republic, Dr. Hamet is the Canada Research Chair in Predictive Genomics. He works at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) where he is Chief of Genetic Medicine Services, a member of Endocrinology Services and the Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Medicine. Dr. Hamet was former Director of Research at the CHUM from 1996 to 2006. He is also a tenured professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Montréal. He serves on many national and international boards, including the Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health of the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR).

In 1996, Dr. Hamet received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society’s Achievement Award. The Quebec government paid homage to Dr. Hamet in 2001 when he was awarded the Wilder-Penfield Award, the most prestigious honor in medicine in Quebec.

In 2008, he was elected Officer of the Ordre national du Québec, the most prestigious distinction awarded by the Province of Québec and received the International Okamoto Award, a prize from Japan awarded to researchers who made outstanding contributions to cardiovascular research on diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis and diabetes (ref: IRCM).

In May 2009 he received from the Czech and Slovak Association the Masaryk Award and in September he received a distinction award from the Russian Society of Cardiology and the Russian Antihypertensive league.

In October, 2009, the Dr. Hamet had the honour to be invited as speaker by the Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metaolism to present the annual reading. He was also the 1st prize winner to receive from the CHUM Fondation «le Prix Hommage» to underline his life and remarkable career. Dr. Hamet has a PhD in Experimental Medicine from McGill University. He is a licensed endocrinology specialist in Quebec (CSPQ) and has been a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada since 1984.

Dr. Jean-Louis Chiasson - Principal Investigator

Dr. Jean-Louis Chiasson is Professor of Medicine at the Université de Montréal. He is also Head of the Research Group on Diabetes and Metabolic Regulation at CRCHUM (Research centre of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal), and Head of the Division of Endocrinology at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM). In addition to being the principal investigator of the STOP-NIDDM Trial, Dr. Chiasson’s research interests include the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism as well as the development and evaluation of new strategies for the treatment and prevention of diabetes.

Dr. Chiasson has received numerous awards and honours, including the Fellowship of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Research and Development Award from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and the Medical Research Council of Quebec Fellowship. Dr. Chiasson is a member of numerous associations including the American Diabetes Association (ADA), European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Association de langue française pour l'étude du diabète et des maladies métaboliques (ALFEDIAM), and Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA).

Dr. Chiasson has contributed to over 203 scientific publications and has given lectures nationally and internationally on diabetes mellitus, its pathogenesis, treatment and prevention. He earned his medical degree from Université Laval in Québec City.

Jean-Pierre Desmarais, Regulatory Affairs Advisor

Mr. Desmarais obtained a BSC in Microbiology from the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada. He is a seasoned executive with over 30 years experience in the medical device industry. As Chief Scientific Officer at Cryocath Technologies he developed the regulatory and clinical strategies for an innovative Class III cardiovascular device for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. These strategies led to multiple IDE and pre-CE mark complex clinical trials. These trials culminated into several CE mark and PMA approvals. He led the first Canadian PMA approval of a therapeutic device.

Results driven, he consistently met the company’s strategic goals and helped the organization through a successful IPO offering in Fall 2000. Most recently, he led the strategy and execution of the Arcic Front Stop-AF FDA land mark IDE multicenter trial. He completed enrolment that became the trigger for the company’s acquisition by Medtronic USA in Fall 2008.

During his tenure, he established strong relationships with regulators at the FDA and LRQA European Notified Body. He also worked with a network of KOLs in Europe, Canada and USA, and became the face of CryoCath to the world.

Mr. Desmarais served on boards of device start-up companies in the fields of orthopedic (Biorthex) and cardiovascular devices (Cardianove LVAD). He also served on the board of BioSyntech (cartilage repair) as the industry expert to support their regulatory, clinical and compliance strategies.

As a consultant, Mr. Desmarais helps various companies to set their regulatory and clinical strategies in the field of cardiology, diabetes and orthopedics as well as assists VCs in technology due diligence and assessments.