Sam Feldman

Founder & Chairman

Mr. Feldman is a successful music business executive, serial entrepreneur, and investor. With nearly 50 years of experience in the music, media, and entertainment sectors, Sam has become a Canadian icon, honing his ability to identify, bring together, and manage some of the world’s most influential talent. He is a full partner in A&F Music Ltd and its group of companies, which include Macklam Feldman Management, Bruce Allen Talent, Watchdog Management, The Characters Talent Agency, and INF Influencer Agency. Mr. Feldman is also a Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame and BC Entertainment Hall of Fame Inductee.

Dr. Eric Brown

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Brown is a Distinguished University Professor at McMaster University in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Brown is known for a large body of top-flight research in antibiotic discovery and resistance. His contributions to the fields of chemical biology, systems biology and academic drug discovery are extensive and world-leading. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and has received a number of other awards including the Canadian Society of Microbiologists Murray Award for career achievement.

Peter Crooks

Chief Innovation Officer

Mr. Crooks has 20+ years of senior executive experience in product and brand development across food & beverage, natural health products, medical devices and pharmaceutical development. As former Chief Product Innovation Officer at Dosecann, he successfully launched Canada’s largest portfolio of cannabis 2.0 products in 2019. As CEO of Canada’s Smartest Kitchen, he led Canadian suppliers into global markets and was recognized as one of Atlantic Canada’s Top 50 CEOs in 2017. Mr. Crooks holds advanced degrees in neurophysiology, pharmacology and software development.

Jonathan Jackson, CPA CA ICD.D

Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Jackson is a Chartered Accountant and Corporate Director with over 25 years of M&A and operations experience with both public and private companies. He has a B. Comm from the University of Saskatchewan, and is a designated member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia and the Institute of Corporate Directors of Canada.

Victoria MacPhail,
CPA, MPAcc

VP of Finance

Ms. MacPhail is a Chartered Professional Accountant with a Master of Professional Accounting at the University of Saskatchewan. She began her career at Deloitte and was most recently a Senior Associate with The Siegfried Group – the fastest growing CPA firm in the United States. Her 8 years of experience in financial reporting, investor relations, and audit spans across multiple industries and multifunctional organizations ranging from small private businesses to Fortune 500 and S&P TSX 500 corporations.

Dr. Joe Gabriele

Chief Science Advisor

Dr. Gabriele is a molecular pharmacologist specializing in signal transduction within the central nervous system. He received his B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from McMaster University, and Postdoctoral training at Queens University. Dr. Gabriele is a recipient of numerous awards including a Canadian Institutes of Health Research studentship award in pharmacology, NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship, Ontario Mental Health Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year in Health Care (2018).

Dr. Michael Frankel, MD

Chief Medical Advisor

Dr. Frankel is currently the Chief Medical Officer and Head of the Clinical and Allied Health Business units for Well Health Technologies. Previously, he was CEO of Biotech Resource MD, a biotech incubator, giving biotech start-ups access to a seasoned team of medical and business professionals to support their growth and development. He completed his Medical degree MBBCH at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and has 30 years’ experience as a Family Practitioner in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Dr. Mark Cohen, PhD

Science Advisor

Dr. Cohen is a professor emeritus of Psychiatry, Neurology, Radiology, Biomedical Physics, Psychology and Bioengineering at UCLA School of Medicine and is one of the inventors of functional MRI. He has a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior from the Rockefeller University, New York, NY and also completed pre-doctoral training in engineering, human biology, architecture and music.

Dr. Matthew Miller, PhD

Science Advisor

Dr. Miller is an Associate Professor at McMaster University and Canada Research Chair in Viral Pandemics. He is a member of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) High Consequence Infectious Disease Working Group, and several federal leadership bodies focused on pandemic prevention and response. He has ~15 years’ experience in the study of viral pathogenesis, immunology, development of viral vaccines, and antivirals.  His is internationally recognized for his work on influenza virus and coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19.

Dr. Gerry Wright, PhD

Science Advisor

Dr. Wright is the lead of Canada’s Global Nexus for Pandemics and Biological Threats at McMaster University. He is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and holds the Michael G. DeGroote Chair in Infection and Anti-Infective Research. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and is the recipient of a Killam Research Fellowship, Murray Award for Career Achievement of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists among other awards.

Dr. David William Molloy,
MB, BCh, BOA MRCP

Science Advisor

Dr. Molloy is a Professor of Medicine at University College Cork, Ireland, and Professor Emeritus, McMaster University. He is a Consultant Geriatrician in the Mercy University Hospital and St. Finbarr’s Hospitals, Cork. Dr. Molloy is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Canadian Heart Fellowship, R. Samuel McLaughlin Fellowship, Career Scientist Ontario Ministry of Health and Honorary Citizen Award (Louisville, Kentucky).

Valjean Trotman

Science Advisor

Valjean Trotman is the founder of Persimmon Group Inc., a pharmaceutical consulting firm that provides regulatory, quality and management consulting to health care companies. With over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, she has gained extensive experience working with different classes of products, including drugs, controlled drug substances, biologics, medical devices and natural health products.

Dr. Av Singh, PhD, PAg

Science Advisor

Dr. Singh is a leading proponent of regenerative organic agriculture being engaged in food security and natural medicine projects across six continents. He serves as the Chief Agricultural Scientist with Green Gorilla, the Director of Cultivation at ECO Canadian Organic, the Chief Soil Scientist at CaliCann (Colombia), and Senior Agronomist at Atlas Hemp (Malawi) as well as on several advisory boards including Veterans for Healing, Regeneration Canada, and the Canadian Organic Growers.

Dr. Kam Shojania, MD, FRCPC

Science Advisor

Dr. Shojania is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and Head of the Division of Rheumatology at Vancouver General Hospital. He’s also an Investigator at Arthritis Research Canada with over 100 scientific articles published in the area of autoimmune and rheumatic diseases diagnosis, rare conditions, novel therapeutics and health policy.

Leonard North

Science Advisor

Leonard North has more than thirty-five years of experience working in the mushroom industry in a variety of roles. These include specializing in mushroom production and diseases at graduate school and working as a Regional General Manager for a large Canadian mushroom company.  He also built and operated his own button and portobello mushroom farm in Nova Scotia for over 20 years.  He has a MS in Plant Pathology from Pennsylvania State University, a BSc in Agriculture from Dalhousie University.

Leah Cowen

Science Advisor

Dr. Cowen is Vice-President, Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Toronto, Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, co-Director of the CIFAR Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities program, and co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Bright Angel Therapeutics, a company focused on development of novel antifungals. She has received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award, Grand Challenges Canada Star in Global Health Award, E.W.R. Steacie Award, and Canada Research Chair in Microbial Genomics & Infectious Disease. She is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Max Cynader

Science Advisor

Dr. Max Cynader CM OBC PH.D FRSC FCAHS  is the Founding Director of the Brain Research Centre, and the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health  at UBC.  Max is one of Canada’s leading neuroscientists and his research career includes studies of neuroplasticity, visual and auditory processing mechanisms, and  neurodegenerative disorders. He has  received many honours and awards, including the Order of Canada, the Order of British Columbia , Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada, Fellow of The Canadian Academy for Health Sciences, and induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. He was a semi-finalist in the Canadian Astronaut Programme and has served as President of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience. Max is also a serial entrepreneur, and has founded or cofounded four startups based on advances in Neuroscience research.