Welcome remarks
Dr Mohsen Akbari, Acting Director, UVic Biomedical Engineering
Program

Keynote
Dr David Juncker, Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering,
McGill University

"EDI considerations in biomedical engineering research"
Jessica Vandenberghe, Assistant Dean of Community and Culture, 
UVic Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science

Break

"Human-like cancer tissue models: From BME student to tissue engineer"
Annelise Lapointe, Biomedical Engineer, VoxCell BioInnovation

Showcase

Lunch

"The Journey from Start-up to Present of Victoria Hand Project"
Dr Nick Dechev, Associate Professor, UVic Department of
Mechanical Engineering

"Reverse translation and BME"
Dr Mike Berger, Principal Investigator, International Collaboration on
Repair Discoveries (ICORD) | Clinical Assistant Professor, UBC Division
of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Break

"Innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship"
Scott Phillips, CEO, StarFish Medical

BioInnovate Pitch Challenge

Closing remarks and presentation of prizes
Dr Mohsen Akbari

David Juncker is a Canada Research Chair in Bioengineering and Professor, serving as Chair of Biomedical Engineering at McGill University. He earned a Diploma in Electronics-Physics from the Institute of Microtechnology at the University of Neuchatel (now part of EPFL). After a year at Japan's National Research Laboratory of Metrology, he completed his PhD at IBM Zurich under Dr. Delamarche, followed by a postdoc at ETHZ. Joining McGill as faculty, his lab focuses on pioneering micro- and nanobioengineering technologies to improve health. Juncker's team has developed innovations like microfluidic probes, thread-based microfluidics, and multiplexed, cross-reactivity-free immunoassays, leading to two spin-offs, including Nomic Bio. His lab now explores extracellular vesicles and lipid nanoparticles, developing novel technologies for their analysis.

Jessica Vandenberghe, P.Eng., FEC, FGC (Hon.) is born of the Dene Thá First Nation, is a sixties scoop survivor and raised in an inclusive German farming family in northern Alberta. Her exceptional career is based on two engineering degrees from the University of Alberta. She has worked in the oil sands, mining, regulatory, infrastructure, consulting industries and academia. She is the Assistant Dean, Community and Culture with the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Victoria. She is a mother of two and at the intersection of two equity deserving groups in the Engineering Profession, which drives her passion for equity, diversity and inclusion. Her lived experience allows her to contribute significantly to Truth and Reconciliation to build strong, healthy relationships with Indigenous Communities and to build safe, brave places where we can be our authentic selves. Her approach, knowledge, and expertise bring value in terms of healing, instilling ethical behaviour, introducing two-eyed seeing and integration of Indigenous ways, inclusive leadership practice, and setting organizations and institutions on a strategic path to ensure community is built.

Annelise Lapointe is a biomedical engineer at VoxCell BioInnovation, where she has played a key role in the development and optimization of bioprinting tissue models over the past two years. Annelise holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Victoria, where she focused on bioprinting technologies and earned recognition for her capstone project on perfusion chamber design.

At VoxCell, she has been one of the primary contributors to internal perfusion studies, particularly in the perfusion of VoxCell’s vascularized tissue models. In addition to her R&D responsibilities, Annelise is an active team member in VoxCell’s first partnership project, focused on personalized T-Cell therapies. She is also dedicated to mentorship, supporting the professional growth of several team members and co-op students at VoxCell.

Nick Dechev is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Victoria since 2005.  He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2004. He is the Founder and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Victoria Hand Project, a registered Canadian charity focused on providing upper-limb prosthetic devices to amputees in-need throughout the world. Nick’s core passion is engineering design and the development of new technology concepts into practical working systems from initial concepts through to prototyping and testing. He has 23 years of experience in Mechatronics Design and Product Design.  Business and entrepreneurship are also a major part of his interests and work.

Dr. Mike Berger completed the MD/PhD program at Western University in London, Ontario. He then completed residency training in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at UBC, which included a clinical fellowship in neuromuscular diseases at the Vancouver Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases. In his clinical practice he diagnoses and treats a wide range of neuromuscular disorders, including neurodegenerative and inflammatory neuromuscular conditions. He is a Principal Investigator and Michael Smith Health Professional Investigator at the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries at UBC. His research laboratory explores underlying mechanisms of motor dysfunction in neuromuscular conditions and spinal cord injury, as well as develops neuromuscular biomarkers for natural history and treatment studies.

Scott Phillips is CEO and Founder of StarFish Medical. Scott holds a degree in Engineering Physics from the University of British Columbia. Prior to starting StarFish, he worked in diverse areas such as lithium battery development and manufacturing, UV spectroscopy instrumentation and hi-fi audio speakers. Under his leadership, StarFish has grown into a diverse professional organization with clients around the world and 100% focus on medical devices. Scott is a Fellow of The Canadian Academy of Engineering, winner of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2017 Pacific Awards Technology category, 2017 recipient of the VIATEC Technology Champion award, member of the LifeSciences British Columbia board, and volunteers with Junior Achievement, Entrepreneurs Organization, and University of British Columbia.