Meet the IP&C team
The IP&C team has broad expertise in biomedical research, product development, industry partnerships, business development, marketing, start-ups, technology licensing, and commercialization of innovations.
Karin Aguilar
Karin is part of the team that encourages and facilitates a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within SickKids. She manages a portfolio of innovations in the areas of life science, medical science and biotechnology. Karin is a trained scientist; she received her bachelor’s in biology from The Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) and her MSc in Genetics of Human Disease from University College London (UCL). She has experience in private sector working at a pharmaceutical company, gene testing company and gene therapy start-up. Her passion has always been applied science, getting new discoveries to market to positively impact patient’s health.
Ihor Boszko, M.Sc., MBA
Ihor joined SickKids to lead the IP&C office as Executive Director in November 2018, bringing close to two decades of experience in the life sciences sector. Previously, Ihor spent nearly fifteen years in the in vitro diagnostics industry developing, commercializing and partnering innovative molecular technologies at Tm Bioscience (TSXV: TMC), Luminex (NASDAQ: LMNX) and venture-backed start-up Xagenic. He also served as Vice President of Business Development at Ontario Genomics, and is currently a Director of CELS-SFO.
Anita Cloutier
Recently joining the Industry Partnership and Commercialization department to assist with ensuring compliance in Intellectual Property and Patent invoicing administrative matters, Anita is new to SickKids but not to research administration. From previous roles as IP Officer and Research Assistant at the University of Toronto, she is looking forward to organizing documents and records, and assisting in the timely processing of invoices and invention disclosure applications. Completed research administration certificate at CARA, the Canadian Association of Research Administrators.
Jevin Francis
Jevin provides strategic guidance and support for Investigators in identifying and evaluating new inventions, developing technology licensing opportunities and strategies, negotiating the terms and conditions of agreements and finding suitable partners for licensing of technologies developed at SickKids. He primarily focusses on AI/Machine Learning technologies, medical apps, clinical tools/devices, clinical health outcome measures (HOMs), quality-of-life questionnaires, research tools and educational tools.
With a strong background in research contract negotiation and market research, Jevin brings an innovative and tactical approach to the commercialization of technologies emerging from SickKids. Jevin received a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree from the University of Guelph, specializing in Biomedical Science.
Sara Goncalves
Sara Goncalves is the Administrative Coordinator to the Executive Director of IP&C and provides general administrative support to the team.
Sara holds a BSW from Ryerson University and over 5 years of experience in various senior level administrative positions within public sector healthcare organizations.
Sara joined SickKids as a full-time employee in January 2022 and is assigned to IP&C as a 0.5 FTE and 0.5 FTE with Research Operations, where she supports the Executive Director.
Sedric Pankras, PhD, MBA
Sedric, with his background in research, business and commercialization, involved in all stages of commercialization activities at IP&C including developing business plans, identifying & developing new partnerships, start-up creation and financial valuations to support deal structuring, negotiation & licensing. In the past he has worked as a Business analyst (TDC – UHN) and as a Consultant (First Principles Advisory Group) to enable commercialization of health technologies, and as a Research Fellow in the area of Life Sciences (UofT).
Sedric received his PhD from the University of Toronto, and an MBA & a Graduate Diploma in Health Industry Management from Schulich School of Business.
Konrad Powell-Jones
In his role as Director of Business Development, Konrad applies his extensive pharma and tech transfer experience in leading the SickKids IP&C business development team. With over 25 years of combined experience as a Biotechnology Commercialization Manager for institutions such as the University of Toronto, The Canadian Arthritis Network, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Sinai Health System, and over 15 years as a Contracts Specialist for CAMH and other hospitals affiliated with the University of Toronto, he brings a broad spectrum of knowledge to commercializing early-stage discoveries out of our institution.
Kamran Rezai
Kamran supports the IP&C office with identifying and evaluating new intellectual property, performing market and competitor analysis for invention disclosures and developing marketing materials for outreach and partnering purposes. Before joining IP&C, he worked at SickKids as a Contracts Specialist negotiating research funding agreements and site budgets for industry-sponsored clinical trials. He also worked at the Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) as a Venture Associate where he gained experience evaluating technologies in Cell & Gene Therapy for enabling therapeutics, improving existing platforms and company creation.
Kamran received his Master’s of Science in Molecular Genetics from the University of Toronto, and has a Bachelor’s of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Ottawa.
Rade Sajic
With almost twenty years of experience in research and innovation, intellectual property, licensing, and business development, Rade provides a proven and developed approach to the IP&C team at SickKids. Rade delivers expert legal advice and commercialization support to the SickKids Research Investigators wanting to bring their discoveries and innovations to market.
Rade’s diverse skills set and expertise in product development and commercialization was obtained from his work as in house counsel at a pharmaceutical company and a fortune 500 company; at the Federal Court of Canada relating to patented medicines (notice of compliance) litigation; and provision of strategic advice to start-ups in various national incubators.
Rade’s commitment to the IP&C team is seen through his involvement in all stages of commercialization from evaluation of early-stage discoveries and associated inventions to the assessment of potential business partnerships, to obtaining patent protection, to negotiations, and to the licensing of the invention. Rade is an integral part of the IP&C team and brings valuable legal knowledge to all IP&C endeavours.
Rade holds a PhD in Medical Genetics from the University of Toronto and a Juris Doctorate from Western University.
Anny Song
Anny supports the design of business strategies and manages day-to-day operations, including business administration, communications, financial and data analysis. She brings a unique blend of experience encompassing the development of information strategies and implementing improvement initiatives. Prior to joining the IP&C team, Anny held various roles in research administration and program/project management. Anny received a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree from the University of Waterloo, specializing in Life Science and Business
Stephanie Tammam, PhD
Stephanie received her BSc. Honours (Biochemistry) and MSc. (Structural Biology) from the University of Calgary and has been at SickKids for 14 years. First as a Ph.D. student and then as Lab Manager for the Howell Lab in Molecular Medicine. She is very much looking forward to promoting research at SickKids both internally and externally with the end goal of helping researchers move their ideas from the bench into practice.
Kaitlyn Warias
Kaitlyn supports the IP&C office with the development and delivery of various communications and events centred on championing innovation and entrepreneurship. She brings a unique perspective to the team having worked in the pharmaceutical and not-for-profit sectors before joining SickKids. Her work is driven by a passion for healthcare and social impact.
Kaitlyn received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Western Ontario, specializing in Media, Information and Technoculture. Kaitlyn also holds a Post-Graduate Certificate in Public Relations (Honours) from Humber College.
Get in touch!
Contact us to discover opportunities for commercialization and how to get started.