Ozmosis Research Inc

Paul Alofs

Since joining The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation as President and CEO in 2003, Paul Alofs has increased the organization’s revenues from $33 million a year when he joined to $70 million in 2008-09. The Foundation raises and stewards funds for Princess Margaret Hospital, one of the top 5 cancer research centres in the world.

Alofs’ career has been on a skyward trajectory since university. His resume includes Colgate-Palmolive Canada, The Marketing & Promotion Group, HMV Music Canada (annual revenue increased by 700% during his presidency), President of BMG Music Canada, The Walt Disney Company (overseeing 500 Disney Stores) and President, Strategic Business Units for the launch of MP3.com.

Paul has received the Outstanding Progress and Achievement Award from the Schulich School of Business and was named Innovative Retailer of the Year by The Retail Council of Canada. In 2005, Alofs was inducted into the Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends. He was named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40TM business leaders in 1995, and in 2005, was voted one of the ‘Best of the Best’ by his fellow Top 40 alumni. In 2007, The University of Windsor, his alma mater, awarded Paul an Honorary Ph.D.














Amit Oza

Dr. Amit Oza is a Senior Staff Physician and Professor of Medicine at Princess Margaret Hospital, University of Toronto. He is a Scientist with the Ontario Cancer Institute and cross appointed to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Toronto. He graduated from St. Bartholomew's Hospital, University of London (UK), in 1983 and completed his internal medicine and medical oncology training in UK. He completed Clinical Research Fellowships at St. Bartholomew's Hospital/Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London (UK), Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto and at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam. His postgraduate research thesis was on Molecular Epidemiology of Hodgkin's Disease. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and Canada.

Dr. Oza has been the principal investigator and co-investigator in phase I, II, and III trials for gynecological cancer and advanced colorectal malignancies. His research interests are focused towards the development, assessment and validation of novel therapeutic strategies for cancer including molecular targeted therapies. Many of these studies also incorporate novel endpoints and translational research which is developed in close relationship with scientists and pathologists from the OCI/PMH.

Dr. Oza has been the recipient of various awards such as the University of Toronto Award for Teaching Excellence for the Medical Oncology Training Program, the Hasselback Award for Teaching Excellence from Princess Margaret Hospital and many others. He has also been principal and co-author of numerous publications in major peer reviewed journals such as Cancer Research, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Oncology, Investigational New Drugs and Clinical Cancer Research.

He is currently Medical Director of the Clinical Cancer Research Unit at Princess Margaret Hospital and Co-Director of the Robert and Maggie Bras and Family Drug Development Program at Princess Margaret Hospital. This is the largest new drug development program in Canada and the only center outside the US to have a contract with the NIH for Early Phase Therapeutic studies. He is also Co-Chair of the Gynecology Site Committee of the NCIC Clinical Trials Group and represents NCIC CTG at the Gynecologic Cancer Inter Group.



Piyush Patel

Dr. Piyush Patel is the co-founder of Allied Research International. Dr. Patel has grown the organization into a leading provider of early-stage, bionanalytical and niche late-stage clinical research services to the life sciences industry. He has refined existing clinical models of allergy research to establish new ways of studying these areas. In 2006, ARI expanded to the U.S. with a major research unit in Miami. In 2007, Cetero Research acquired ARI, making it part of a wider family of clinical and bioanalytical research specialists.

He has designed numerous Phase I/Proof of concept studies, and has been involved as principal investigator in more than 300 clinical trials. His Board Certification in Clinical Immunology and Allergy, as well as his in-depth experience in respiratory and immunology clinical research has lead to his active participation in various appointments. These include Advisory Board Member (Allergy & Asthma) in several large Pharmaceutical companies, participation in FDA’s Pharmaceutical Sciences Advisory Committee, as well as his role as Chairman of the AAPS Nasal Drug Delivery Focus Group.A true leader in clinical research, Dr. Piyush Patel  was was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award for Canada in 2008.

Mary Gospodarowicz

Mary Gospodarowicz is the Medical Director of the Cancer Program at Princess Margaret Hospital and University Health Network and the Regional Vice President of Cancer Care Ontario. She is also the Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto and Chief of the Radiation Medicine Program at Princess Margaret Hospital.

She received her MD degree from the University of Toronto and holds specialty certifications in internal medicine, medical oncology and radiation oncology. She is an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists in the United Kingdom, an honorary member of the European Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO), a Fellow of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) and past president of the Canadian Association of Radiation Oncologists (CARO). 

She is engaged in active clinical practice of radiation oncology treating patients with malignant lymphomas and genitourinary cancers. Her research interests include clinical trials evaluating the role of radiation therapy in lymphomas, prostate cancer and testis cancer. Currently, her interests are in developing and implementing image guided precision radiotherapy, late effects research, survivorship programs and research. She has a major interest in cancer staging and prognostic factor classification. She currently co-chairs the TNM Prognostic Factors Project for the International Union Against Cancer (UICC). Mary Gospodarowicz has served on various provincial, national and international committees. She is member of the Board of Directors of UICC and the Chair of its Membership Committee. UICC is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the global control of cancer.

Benjamin Neel

Dr. Neel earned his Ph.D. in Viral Oncology from the Rockefeller University in 1982 under Dr. William S. Hayward, and his M.D. degree from Cornell University Medical School the following year.  He completed medical internship and residency training at the former Beth Israel Hospital (now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) from 1983-85, and then pursued post-doctoral work with Dr. Raymond L. Erikson at Harvard University from 1985-1988.  In 1988, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and began his own independent research laboratory in the Molecular Medicine Unit at Beth Israel.  He rose through the ranks at HMS, becoming a Professor of Medicine in 1999.  He also served as the Director of the Cancer Biology Program since 1994 and as Deputy Director for Basic Research, Hematology Division at BIDMC since 2003.  In 2006, he was appointed to the William B. Castle Chair of Medicine at HMS.  Also in 2006, he was appointed Director Designate of the Ontario Cancer Institute, a position that assumed full time in 2007, as well as the position of Professor of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Neel is an internationally recognized expert in the field of cellular signal transduction, with particular expertise in the biology and regulation of protein-tyrosine phosphatases.   He has held multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health, and private foundations (e.g., LLS, Waxman Foundation).    He is the author of ~140 original papers, several of which have been work published in leading scientific journals such as Cell, Molecular Cell, Developmental Cell, Science, Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Genetics.  His graduate work on oncogene activation by slowly transforming RNA tumor viruses had major impact on the field. He was the inaugural recipient of the Gertrude Elion Award of the American Association for Cancer Research, and also received a Junior Faculty Research Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and an NIH MERIT award.  He has served on study sections and ad hoc review panels for the NIH, ACS (Mass Division), and the California Tobacco and Breast Cancer Research Programs, respectively.   In 2009, he received a Premier’s Summit Award for excellence in medical research.

Pamela Degendorfer

Ms. Degendorfer is the Chief Operating Officer at Ozmosis Research Inc. After graduating with a Masters Degree from the University of Toronto, Ms. Degendorfer began her career at Princess Margaret Hospital in the Biostatistics department. 

She was recruited to the Drug Development Program in 2001 where she was appointed Manager of the Robert & Maggie Bras and Family New Drug Development Program helping build the program into the largest cancer drug development program in Canada.
    
Ozmosis Research Inc. hired Ms. Degendorfer in 2006 as Director and promoted her to Chief Operating Officer in 2008. She has been actively involved in all aspects of the organization including business development and clinical operations.  

Ms. Degendorfer has been seconded part time to PMH as Program Director for the Cancer Clinical Research Unit.  She is on Faculty at the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning and has worked with OICR as a facilitator for their Clinical Research Training Program and was part of the OICR SOP working group which delivered SOP templates for use across Ontario. Ms. Degendorfer completed the University Health Network- Rotman Leadership Development Program. Ms. Degendorfer was a member of the University Health Network Oncology Research Ethics Board and has been a certified member of the Society of Clinical Research  Professionals since 2001 and is a member of DIA. She has been an expert consultant for academic cancer centres in Canada and abroad.

Working with a variety of sponsors including pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and the National Cancer Institute in both the United States and Canada has given Ms. Degendorfer a wide breadth of experience in clinical trials management.  Ms. Degendorfer has been involved in several hundred oncology clinical trials.

Malcolm J. Moore

Malcolm J. Moore, MD is head of the division of medical oncology and hematology at Princess Margaret, University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospitals.  He is a professor of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Toronto and  is the University of Toronto Department of Medicine Division Director of Medical Oncology.  He is also the Regional Systemic Therapy Lead for the Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network.

Dr Moore’s major research interest is in new drug development for gastrointestinal cancers. He is co-director of the Robert and Maggie Bras and Family New Drug Development Program at Princess Margaret Hospital and has been a principal investigator for many phase I, II, and III studies. He has been instrumental in the development of a number of agents that have been approved for clinical usage such as and gemcitabine in pancreatic and urothelial cancer, erlotinib in pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Moore has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, review articles, and book chapters.  He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.  He has presented his work nationally and internationally, having given over 150 invited lectures worldwide.















Christopher J. Paige

Dr. Paige earned a Ph.D. in Immunology at the Sloan-Kettering Division of Cornell University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in 1979.  He became a Member of the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland where he worked from 1980-1987 before joining the Ontario Cancer Institute as a Senior Scientist in 1987.  In 1990, Dr. Paige became the founding Director of the Arthritis and Autoimmunity Research Centre as well as Director of Research at The Wellesley Hospital.  In 1998,  Dr. Paige returned to the Ontario Cancer Institute to assume the role of Vice-President, Research and, subsequently, he assumed his current position of Vice-President, Research at the University Health Network which is comprised of the Toronto General, Toronto Western and Princess Margaret Hospitals.  Dr. Paige is a Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Immunology at the University of Toronto. 

His continuing research interest is in the development of the immune system and in training the immune system to recognize cancer cells.  He has served on the Research Advisory Boards of both the National Cancer Institute and the Arthritis Society of Canada.   He is Chairman of BioDiscovery Toronto, a consortium of 12 Toronto based hospitals and universities engaged in the commercialization of research discoveries.  He also serves on the Boards of the Terry Fox Research Institute, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and the Council of Ontario Research Directors. He is the co-Director of the Shanghai-Toronto Institute for Health Science (STI), a partnership between the Shanghai Institute of Health Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, and the University Health Network.