Faculty

Academic Director

Denis deBlois, PhD

Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy
Université de Montréal

Denis DeBlois is a professor of pharmacology at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Université de Montréal, where he teaches drug discovery and development. He is director of the Bachelor program on Biopharmaceutical Sciences and Head of the honour program on Drug discovery, development and evaluation at the PhD level. Dr. deBlois has published over 85 scientific publications and book chapters, mainly on the response to tissue injury. He has over seven years of experience as a scientific consultant for the pharmaceutical industry in Canada and the USA and is an alumnus of the American Course on Drug Development and Regulatory Sciences (2010) from the University of California, San Francisco. He co-directed the GRUM (University Research Group on Medicines) at UdeM from 2012 to 2022 and chaired the scientific organizing committee of the International Congress of Pharmaceutical Sciences (PSWC2020) organized in 2020 by the International Federation of Pharmacy (FIP).

Reena Atanasiadis

Dean, Williams School of Business
Bishop's University

Reena has this unique blend of work and academic credentials, related experience, and passion in lecturing graduate and undergraduate Finance students. She is a proven executive with an extensive record of delivering sustainable results as National Director, Senior Vice President and General Manager. Reena has achieved success as founding partner of a High-Net Worth Wealth Management practice (9 figures under management) and via a progressive career in banking and consulting. She also provides litigation support and expertise: structured settlements, family and labour law; she is experienced in business development, strategic planning / implementation in Personal and Corporate Finance and is equally comfortable in privately controlled companies and multi-national organizations.

Michelle Savoie, MBA, MPH, PhD, LL.M, IAS.S

Associate Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy
Université de Montréal

Michelle Savoie is an Associate Professor of Practical Training at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Montréal and CEO, Consilio Manuque. Until July 2015, she was also CEO of Montréal InVivo.

Mrs. Savoie has over 25 years of experience in the life sciences and pharmaceutical sector. She has held strategic positions at Schering Canada, Eli Lilly Canada and Bristol-Myers Squibb and participated on several boards including those of the Quebec Network for Personalized Healthcare (PHC), Montréal InVivo and Personalized Medicine Partnership for Cancer.

She currently participates on the NEOMED Institute’s and the International Congress on PHC’s boards as well as on the Fonds de solidarité FTQ – New Economy Investment Committee. She was actively involved in the creation of the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery, the Quebec PHC Strategy, NEOMED and the early phase clinical research initiatives.

A biochemist by training, she also completed an MBA, a Masters in Public Health, a PhD in biomedical sciences, a Masters in Law and Health policy and the Directors Education Program of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Edna Chosack

Head Coach
District 3 Innovation Centre

With a wealth of international experience in taking ideas to market and always at the dynamic intersection of where entrepreneurship and experiential learning meet, Edna Chosack, MSc, MBA, is a Coach at District 3. Chosack co-founded Simbionix Inc. As co-founder and VP Strategic Marketing, she became internationally recognized as being one of a handful of experts who leverage medical-simulation experiential learning into business success stories and was instrumental in transforming Simbionix into an international surgical-simulation leader, acquired by 3D Systems. In Montreal, Edna established and served as Director of CAE’s surgical-simulation business line. She was a member of the advisory committee at McGill University’s Steinberg Centre for Simulation and Interactive Learning. She is also a strategic marketing and product management consultant, carrying over her experience to other markets.

Johanne Pelletier, MA, ICD.D

Director, Public Engagement (Communications)
Concordia University

Johanne Pelletier works in communications at Concordia University in Montreal. She is considered a master storyteller, with work featured in showcases in both Canada and the United States. She is the winner of the National Storytelling Network Story Slam (a US national competition) and the GRIT Storytelling 99-Second Story Slam.

A graduate of McGill University and the University of Toronto, she is a certified coach, working with startups and entrepreneurs to craft the best possible pitch.

When not thinking about the next story, she is a certified boxing official in Canada and the US.