Toronto – The Ontario Genomics Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Brian Underdown as OGI’s new Chair of the Board of Directors.
“We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Underdown as Chair of the Board,” commented Dr. Mark Poznansky, President and CEO of OGI. “Dr. Underdown has a wealth of investment and operations experience in the biopharmaceutical sector. His deep understanding of research at the lab bench and the commercialization process provides a valuable knowledge base to the organization as we seek to continue our role as a catalyst in the development of a life sciences industry in health, agriculture and the environment.”
Dr. Underdown has served on the Board of Directors since 2004. He is currently a Managing Director of Lumira Capital, a venture capital company focusing on transformational health and life sciences companies, which he joined in 1997. He has over 12 years of investment and operational experience and has been a key player in the growth of over 10 life sciences companies in Canada.
“The Ontario Genomics Institute has been at the forefront of life science research and commercialization in the province for many years, and I am looking forward to working with the dedicated and enthusiastic staff at OGI to continue building a better, more vibrant, successful and profitable life sciences community,” commented Dr. Underdown.
Before entering the investment world, Dr. Underdown was Assistant Vice President of Research at sanofi pasteur from 1994-1997, where he was responsible for the Canadian Universities Research program and several global vaccine development programs. During his academic career, he was Associate Dean of Research at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine and at McMaster University’s Faculty of Health Sciences.
Dr. Underdown has held senior positions on national and international bodies concerned with science policy and university-industry collaboration. He has served on boards of life sciences companies such as Argos Therapeutics, Ception Therapeutics, Cytochroma Inc., Golden Horseshoe Biotechnology Network, ID Biomedical, Nysa Membrane Technologies, Trillium Therapeutics, Transmolecular Therapeutics, and Viron Therapeutics.
