Our Team
Our team is composed of passionate and highly qualified individuals with combined expertise in chemical engineering, biochemistry, cellular biology, clinical development, business and finance.
- Team
- Senior Management
- Board of Directors
Anna Xue Cheng, PhD
Director R&D – Pulmonary Drug Delivery
Al Halifa Soultan, PhD
Director R&D – Biopharmaceutical Chemistry
Coraline Lauvaux, MSc
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST
Maud Auger, PhD
RESEARCH SPECIALIST II
Meriem Benchabane, PhD
VP - STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT & OPERATIONS
Anne-Marie Duperré, MSc
RESEARCH SPECIALIST II
Vincent Ménard, PhD, MBA, CFA
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
François-Thomas Michaud, PhD, Eng
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
Isabelle Deschênes
Accounting and Logistic Coordinator
Nancy Messier, PhD
VP - DRUG DISCOVERY
Jean-Pascal Lepetit-Stoffaes, PhD, Eng
Director - Strategic Development
Pierre-Alain Moisset, PhD, MBA
DIRECTOR - DRUG DEVELOPMENT
Vanessa Théberge, MSc
PROJECT MANAGER - DRUG DISCOVERY
Kelly Tanguay, BSc
Research Specialist I
Janick Sirois-Fraser, BSc
Executive Assistant
Nadine Brahiti, MSc
RESEARCH SPECIALIST II
David Guay, PhD
VP - INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY
Gina Desjardins
MAINTENANCE & LAB ASSISTANCE
Stéphanie Levesque, BSc, MBA
Director - Corporate Governance & Communications
Christine Pelletier, Eng
Clinical Study Manager
Imen Arbi, MSc
RESEARCH SPECIALIST I
Maxime Hervault, MSc
RESEARCH SPECIALIST II
Alain Houde, MSc
LABORATORY TECHNICIAN
Christine Hurley, MSc
Director - Quality Assurance & Compliance
Mario Harvey, MSc
SENIOR RESEARCH SPECIALIST
Luis Sorroza, MSc
PHD CANDIDATE
Mia Pelletier, BSc
PhD candidate
Catherine Lippé, MSc
VP - Clinical Development
Alex-Anne Allaire
COMMUNICATIONS & ADMINISTRATION ASSOCIATE
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Gaëlle Bourriquen, MSc
RESEARCH SPECIALIST II
Marie-Michèle Labrecque, MSc
CLINICAL PROJECT ASSOCIATE
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David Guay, PhD
VP - INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
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Nancy Messier, PhD
VP - DRUG DISCOVERY
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Vincent Ménard, PhD, MBA, CFA
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (CFO)
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François-Thomas Michaud, PhD, Eng
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER & CO-FOUNDER
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Meriem Benchabane, PhD
VP - STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT & OPERATIONS
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Catherine Lippé, MSc
VP - Clinical Development
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David J. Mazzo, PhD
Chairman
Dr. David J. Mazzo currently is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Lisata Therapeutics, Inc.
Dr. Mazzo is a pharmaceutical executive and strategic leader with almost 45 years of experience leading teams developing and launching drug products and devices for both big pharma and emerging pharma in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. He is also a seasoned public and private company board director having served and/or serving on boards for American, Canadian and Australian companies. In addition to serving on the boards for all the companies for which he was CEO, he served as a board director for Essex Chemie AG (EU subsidiary of Schering Plough), Avanir Pharmaceuticals, EyePoint Pharmaceuticals (also as chairman), and Visioneering Technologies, Inc. (also as chairman).
Dr. Mazzo earned a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry and a M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) prior to completing a research fellowship at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland). He also holds a B.S. (Chemistry) and a B.A. (Honors – Interdisciplinary Humanities) from Villanova University (Pennsylvania).
Elisabeth Sandoval Little, MBA
Board Member
Ms. Sandoval currently serves as a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry and is a member of the board of directors of Procept BioRobotics since October 2021 where she serves as a member of the nom-esg and compensation committees and Vyne Therapeutics, Inc., since March 2019, where she serves as chair of the compensation committee and member of the audit committee. Ms. Sandoval was previously a member of the board of directors of Satsuma Pharmaceuticals Inc. until its acquisition by Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories in June 2023 and Intersect ENT, Inc. until its acquisition by Medtronic plc in May 2022. Ms. Sandoval previously served as the Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Alder Biopharmaceuticals, a public biopharmaceutical company, from August 2016 until March 2019. Prior to that, she was Chief Commercial Officer for Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, a public biopharmaceutical company, from March 2012 until October 2015 and spent over 20 years at Allergan in a variety of commercial leadership roles of increasing responsibility.
Ms. Sandoval holds a B.S. in Biology from University of California at Irvine and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University.
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Eric Carter, PhD, M.D.
BOARD MEMBER
Eric Carter, Ph.D., M.D., is currently the Chief Medical Officer of IACTA Pharmaceuticals and serves on the Board of Directors and chairs the Scientific Advisory Committees of Aeon Biopharma and Visgenx, Inc.
Dr. Carter has more than 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. He previously served as Chief Medical Officer and Global Head of Clinical and Non-clinical Development of Allergan, Inc. Dr. Carter also held senior leadership positions at Alder Biopharmaceuticals, King Pharmaceuticals, GSK and Pharmacia.
He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (England), and his M.D. from the University of Miami (USA).
Nathalie Chauret, MSc
Board Member
Nathalie Chauret is Vice President, Early Phase Development at Bellus Health Inc where she directs the preclinical toxicology and clinical pharmacology programs of new products.
Ms. Chauret has over 30 years of experience in drug discovery and drug development in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Bellus Health, N. Chauret led DMPK, pharmaceutical sciences and phase 1 clinical activities with increasing responsibilities at Merck Frosst, Virochem Pharma and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Throughout her career, she has been involved in the discovery and development of several marketed drugs in different therapeutic areas (asthma, pain, osteoporosis and cystic fibrosis).
Ms. Chauret holds a Master’s degree in Chemistry from the Université of Montreal and has published over 50 research papers, abstracts and patents.
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Jamie Stiff, MBA
Board Member
Mr. Stiff joined Genesys Capital in 2002. During his tenure with Genesys, he has been responsible for investments in several early-stage portfolio companies that cross a multitude of clinical disciplines and technology areas. Current board affiliations include Giiant Pharma Inc., and Veralox Therapeutics, Inc. Past board affiliations include Allostera Pharma, EBT Medical, Fairhaven Pharmaceuticals (Acquired by Liminal BioSciences Inc. NASDAQ:LMNL), gIcare Pharma, Inversago Pharma (Acquired by Novo Nordisk) Interface Biologics, Matregen, Naurex (acquired by Allergan NYSE:AGN), NeurAxon, StemPath, Therapeutic Monitoring Systems and Zelos Therapeutics. Mr. Stiff also volunteers as a board member for BIOTECanada, and as an advisor to the Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI), the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) and Medicine by Design and as an associate with the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL).
Prior to joining Genesys, Mr. Stiff worked at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in the genetic diagnostics field. This experience, combined with an academic background in biology, has provided significant technical knowledge of many areas of life sciences. Mr. Stiff completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Queen’s University and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management.
Paul Truex, MBA
Board Member
Mr. Truex is the CEO and Chairman of Thryv Therapeutics (previously LQT Therapeutics).
Over the course of two decades, he has been involved in over $5 billion of life science financings and strategic transactions. His recent experience includes initial public offerings for Milestone (Board Member 2019), Trius (Board Member 2010), Anthera (CEO 2010), Peninsula (CEO 2004), and Versicor (Vice President 2000).
Prior to Thryv, Mr. Truex founded Anthera Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biotech company with large clinical programs in cardiovascular disease, lupus, inflammation and cystic fibrosis. Mr. Truex was Founder, President and CEO of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, an antibiotic development company that was acquired by Johnson and Johnson and Forest for more than $700 million.
Mr. Truex began his life science career at Eli Lilly and Company where his business development experience included the Lilly ICOS joint venture for the development of Cialis® and several successful out-licensing programs. He obtained his MBA from Indiana University and a BA in Economics from the University of Waterloo.
Mr. Truex currently serves on the Board of Directors for Find Therapeutics and Feldan. He is an Acting Board Member of the Indiana University Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He is a former member of the Board of Directors for Milestone (MIST), Anthera (ANTH), Trius (TSRX), CymaBay (CBAY), Eiger (EIGR), Protagonist (PTGX), and Peninsula Pharmaceuticals.
François-Thomas Michaud, PhD, Eng
Board Member & Chief Executive Officer
Dr. François-Thomas Michaud is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Feldan Therapeutics.
Dr. Michaud co-founded Feldan while completing his PhD in chemical engineering. Under his leadership and value-creating vision, Feldan has evolved from a producer and distributor of bioreagents into a pharmaceutical clinical-stage company focused on the development of therapeutics based on intracellular delivery. In addition to supporting the Feldan team in the development of a proprietary cell-penetrating technology, the Feldan Shuttle, Dr. Michaud has led several financing rounds, secured strategic partnerships and negotiated a licensing agreement, playing a key role in attracting funding and shaping the company's growth.
Dr. Michaud is actively engaged in corporate, academic, and entrepreneurial communities of the Province of Quebec and Canada as an administrator, speaker, and mentor. He is currently serving as board member of Bio-Québec and Feldan Therapeutics.
