Roundtable Luncheon with Michael May, Suzanne McGurn & Dr. Aaron Schimmer.
Canada produces world-class clinical research, yet promising trial results often fail to become treatments patients can actually access. What stands between a successful trial and real-world care, and what would it take to close that gap?
The conversation will explore the gap between research and patient access, and the policy and system conditions that shape how new treatments are commercialized and adopted in Canada. Panelists will share perspectives on the barriers and opportunities within the current system, and on what it would take to move more innovations from the lab to the bedside.
C.D. Howe Institute events and webinars are open to members and their guests.
Please follow this link or contact events@cdhowe.org to register.
Michael May, President and Chief Executive Officer, CCRM
Michael May is President and CEO of the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM), a Canadian non-profit public-private partnership that develops foundational technologies and launches new companies in the field of regenerative medicine, including cell and gene therapy, by catalyzing seed investment, enabling end-to-end manufacturing and cultivating sector-focused talent development. Prior to his 15 years at CCRM, Michael was the President, and co-founder, of Rimon Therapeutics Ltd., a company that he co-founded in 1995 in Toronto to develop novel therapeutic polymers (or “Theramers”) that possessed drug-like activity for tissue engineering applications.
Michael is the CEO of CCRM’s investment arm, CCRM Enterprises, and sits on a number of boards, including: the Biologics Manufacturing Centre (BMC) Inc., the Foundation for Cell & Gene Medicine, the Canadian Advanced Therapy Training Institute, ExCellThera Ltd., and CCRM affiliate hubs in Australia and Sweden. He is Chair of CCRM spin-offs LineaBio Inc and Apiary Therapeutics Ltd and Chair and Interim CEO of OmniaBio Inc., a unique cell and gene therapy CDMO differentiated by its ties to CCRM’s capability-building.
Dr. May completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto in 1998 as an NSERC Scholar and was awarded the Martin Walmsley Fellowship for Technological Entrepreneurship to launch Rimon Therapeutics. He is the recipient of the 2024 Don Panoz Distinguished Lecture, Trinity College Dublin, and the 2023 Le Prix Luc Sensebe Leadership and Innovation Award from the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy. This past year he received the Engineering Alumni Network Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Toronto.
Suzanne McGurn, Chief Executive Officer, Canada Drug Agency
Suzanne McGurn is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Canada’s Drug Agency. She leads the organization to deliver credible, objective evidence that helps inform decisions about the best use of drugs and health technologies in Canada.
Suzanne joined the organization in July 2020 and is focused on enabling transformative change that helps support evidence-based health system decision-making.
She spent 17 years working in clinical care as a registered nurse before moving to government. She has held various assistant deputy minister positions within the Ontario public service, focusing on the public drug program and health human resources strategy.
Throughout her career, Suzanne has developed strong relationships with patients, government officials, and industry. Her diverse experience as a clinical and senior leader has provided her with a deep understanding of the complexities in Canada’s health systems.
Suzanne led the implementation of the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) and served as its first chair. She is a member of the board of directors at the Victorian Order of Nurses for Canada and the Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC), as well as a member of the Strategic Advisory Council for MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital. Suzanne holds a BScN and an MPA from Queen’s University.
Dr. Aaron Schimmer, President and Scientific Director; Ontario Institute for Cancer Research; Senior Scientist, Staff Physician; Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network
Dr. Schimmer graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto and completed specialty and subspecialty training in internal medicine in and hematology. He subsequently pursued research training and received his PhD in Molecular Biology in followed by post-doctoral training at the Burnham Institute in San Diego, California.
Dr. Schimmer is the President and Scientific Director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. He is also a Senior Scientist and a Staff Physician at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network as well as a Professor in the departments of Medicine, Medical Biophysics, and Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. He is the Past Research Director of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and a Past President of the Canadian Hematology Society.
Dr. Schimmer’s clinical practice is focused on treating patients with acute leukemia and related disorders. His laboratory research focuses on developing new therapeutic strategies for leukemia by targeting dysregulated mitochondrial pathways in leukemia stem cells. Dr. Schimmer is the author of over 320 publications with over 27,000 citations and is an inventor on over 20 patent applications. He has been elected to the Royal Society of Canada, Association of American Physicians, American Society of Clinical Investigation, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and was named Scholar in Clinical Research by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
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