About INOVAIT

M Cynthia Goh

Dr. M. Cynthia Goh, PhD is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Toronto and a successful entrepreneur focused on translating scientific knowledge into products that benefit society. In addition to having founded 7 science-based companies, Dr. Goh has also developed and implemented training programs, such as Techno and Entrepreneurship101 (E101 at MaRS).

Steven Beyea

Dr. Steven Beyea, PhD is the Scientific Director of the Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre, a research facility based at the IWK and QEII Health Centres in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and focused on medical imaging that spans academic research, clinical translation, and industry partnership/commercialization. In addition, he is also a Professor in the Department of Radiology at Dalhousie University, with cross-appointment to Health Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, and Physics. 

Linda Brown

Linda Brown is a self-employed consultant leveraging her global healthcare experience, best practice business processes and marketing and sales leadership to help start-up companies bring their technology and solutions to market. Linda previously worked at Siemens healthcare for more than 20 years as a senior executive in national and global sales management and marketing positions.

Kullervo Hynynen

Dr. Kullervo Hynynen, Ph.D., is Vice President of Research and Innovation and a senior scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI), a professor in the Department of Biophysics at the University of Toronto, and is a world leader in focused ultrasound research with over 500 scientific papers and about 30 issued or pending patents. Throughout his career, he has built various networks and consortia on focused ultrasound research and commercial development. His work has led to the creation of four companies – Insightec, Ultradiagnostics, Arrayus, and FUS instruments – and as Vice President of Research and Innovation and earlier as the Physical Sciences Platform Director at SRI, he has played a key managerial role in developing SRI commercial activity, including 17 start-ups in the last 13 years.

Cara Ferreira

Raphael Ronen

Raphael Ronen, M.Sc., CFA, has over 17 years in the medical device industry, with wide-ranging experience in business development and commercialization, including product development, financing, technology assessment, licensing, and IP management. For the past 10 years, he has had increasing managerial positions in technology transfer and business development with various world-renowned academic institutions, including MaRS Innovation, University of Toronto, and Robarts Research Institute. Most recently, he serves as Director, Business Development at Sunnybrook Research Institute. Raphael has also held senior management and advisory positions within several emerging Canadian image-guided therapy companies, including FUS Instruments and Harmonic Medical. Throughout his career, Raphael has raised over $75M in grants for commercialization activities for several industry and academic partners across Canada, including the previous FedDev TDP and ICP awards to SRI, bringing together 28 industry and academic partners to advance IGT technologies. Raphael holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, an M.Sc. in Medical Biophysics from the University of Western Ontario, and a B.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Ahmed Nasef

Ahmed Nasef, MD, MBA manages INOVAIT’s networking, outreach and training programs. Ahmed is an enthusiastic clinician entrepreneur who brings more than 11 years of lived experience in healthcare innovation, health science research, and technology commercialization. Ahmed holds an Adjunct Lecturer appointment at the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, and has been managing Medventions, Sunnybrook’s flagship healthcare innovation training program. Ahmed earned his MD degree from Cairo, Egypt and holds an MBA in healthcare management and technology innovation from Schulich School of Business at York University.

Leo Mui

Leo Mui, MSc manages INOVAIT’s funding program for collaborative research and commercialization and works closely with industry and academia to create and sustain impactful projects in IGT and AI. He has spent his career in a variety of roles to bring science to society through entrepreneurship and commercialization. Leo obtained a master’s in organic chemistry from the University of Toronto after completing a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and human geography.

Teresa Bellantone

Teresa Bellantone is an Administrative Assistant with the INOVAIT team, supporting Raphael Ronen. She is excited to be a part of a growing network that provides the opportunity to do interesting, complex work that’s meaningful to the lives of all. She has a varied background supporting senior management in the mining, asset management and hydro utility businesses.

Kristian Hau

Kristian Hau, MBIOT, conducts project-related tasks for INOVAIT’s funding program by working closely with Network participants, from application submissions to facilitating reviews and reporting. He has held an assortment of positions during his career – from scientific research labs in academia and industry, to business development role in biotech startups. Kristian obtained his Master of Biotechnology from the University of Guelph after completing a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at the University of Waterloo.

Mandy Ho

Amar Gill

Clara MacKinnon-Cabral

Philip Boyer