MEET OUR DEDICATED MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
He has held important leadership positions at Health Canada, including his previous role as the Executive Director of the Centre for Regulatory Excellence, Statistics and Trials (CREST) in the Biologics and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate at Health Canada. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he and his team contributed to the dynamic evaluation and approval of clinical trials and submissions for COVID-19 biological therapies and vaccines in Canada. Dr. Pham functions on several international fora of drug regulators, as well as professional associations. He holds faculty positions in both Medicine (University of Ottawa) and Pharmacy (University of Waterloo) and continues to be an active educator and a practicing health professional. Dr. Pham is a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences, and has been a standing member of the society’s Board of Directors.
Dr. Davies maintains an active and highly collaborative externally-funded research program, focused on pharmacokinetics and drug delivery as well as basic and clinical pharmaceutical sciences which have attracted National Institutes of Health and Industry funds. He holds five patent applications and has disseminated his work broadly through numerous journal publications, a book and book chapters, abstracts, and invited conference presentations. He has ~8000 citations and an H-index >50.
He is active in numerous professional organizations/associations, including the Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, and serves as a reviewer and on the editorial board of several pharmaceutical and pharmacological science journals. Over the past decade Dr. Davies has also been heavily involved in pharmacy education research including curriculum mapping, interprofessional education, online teaching, and implementing expanded scopes of practice programs. On September 1, 2016 Dr. Davies commenced his term as Dean and Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Alberta.
He brings a wide range of scientific, research and commercialization expertise in his work with emerging companies, vaccine manufacturers and global pharmaceutical companies, having worked for over 25 years with industry particularly regarding biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and vaccine products. In 2021, Ron was awarded the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences Award of Leadership in Canadian Pharmaceutical Sciences and in 2023 was awarded a Fellow of the Society, for demonstrated leadership in advancing the cause of pharmaceutical research and development in Canada. As a named inventor of over 60 US and international patent applications including nine different patent families, Dr. Boch developed new technologies for business opportunities and managed relationships with key opinion leaders in the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industry. At QLT Inc., he contributed to the development of Visudyne used for photodynamic therapy of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people over 60. He led pharmaceutical development and formulation activities of a wide variety of preclinical and clinical products. In 2022, Ron was invited to join the Academy of Translational Medicine, and the Regulatory Advisory Council, serving as an innovation hub to connect people from diverse sectors and accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into the clinic.
Dr. Boch serves advisory Boards including the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences and Industry Advisory Committee of the Drug Development and Innovation Centre at the University of Alberta. He completed postdoctoral studies at the University of British Columbia, a Ph.D. in Chemistry and B.Sc. in Biochemistry, earned from the University of Ottawa.
Parallel to his academic work, Dr. Muñoz held leadership roles in sports science and anti-doping, serving as CEO of the Chilean Weightlifting Federation, scientific advisor to the International Weightlifting Federation, and Latin American drug testing coordinator for the International Cycling Union. He was also recruited to lead the drug testing program for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Since joining the Ottawa Heart Institute, he has published extensively and received multiple honours, including the 2020 Strategic Endowment Fellowship, the 2021 Innovation Award, the 2022 uOttawa Award, the prestigious 2023 CIHR Fellowship, and the 2024 Regional Fellow of the Year.
Jasmina joined Simulations Plus in April 2019 as a Principal Scientist. Prior that, she was employed by a Canadian generic pharmaceutical company, Apotex Inc. (April 2007-April 2019), and the University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada, October 2000- April 2007), where she conducted her research in pre-clinical testing of novel drug molecules as Post-doctoral Fellow (October 2000-January 2004) and a Research Associate (January 2004 – April 2007). In her industrial role, Jasmina conducted multidisciplinary research to support product development from the early stages through the life-cycle with particular focus on pre-formulation and PBPK modeling and simulations, oral drug absorption, In vitro-In vivo correlations (IVIVC), and clinically relevant specifications. In her current role at Simulations Plus Inc., Jasmina is supporting needs of various clients in the area of new drug development using PBPK/PBBM modeling and simulations.
