Management Team
Dr. Mohammad Ali Amini
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
DVM, PhD in Pharmaceutical Oncology
Mohammad Ali Amini is a serial entrepreneur with strong business leadership and is experienced in various aspects of business formation, operation, and management. He is a veterinary doctor with several years of clinical practice and is also a PhD in Pharmaceutics from University of Toronto. He possesses extensive experience in leading and managing teams and projects in this field. He co-founded QurCan Therapeutics (formerly known as Nanology Labs) in 2018 and has been successful in establishing strategic relations with leading healthcare organizations in Canada, as well as internationally. He is recipient of several prestigious entrepreneurship awards including the MEDTEQ Investment, MaRS HealthKick, OBI ONtrepreneurs, and the Royal Bank of Canada.
Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder
DVM, PhD in Pharmaceutical Oncology
Mohammad Ali Amini is a serial entrepreneur with strong business leadership and is experienced in various aspects of business formation, operation, and management. He is a veterinary doctor with several years of clinical practice and is also a PhD in Pharmaceutics from University of Toronto. He possesses extensive experience in leading and managing teams and projects in this field. He co-founded QurCan Therapeutics (formerly known as Nanology Labs) in 2018 and has been successful in establishing strategic relations with leading healthcare organizations in Canada, as well as internationally. He is recipient of several prestigious entrepreneurship awards including the MEDTEQ Investment, MaRS HealthKick, OBI ONtrepreneurs, and the Royal Bank of Canada.
Dr. Shirley Wu
Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder
PhD, Professor, FAAPS
Director of Advanced Pharmaceutics Laboratory
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder
PhD, Professor, FAAPS
Director of Advanced Pharmaceutics Laboratory
Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
Dr. Michael Milosevic
Chief Medical Officer
PhD, MBA
Dr. Milosevic is a clinician scientist and radiation oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Professor and Vice-Chair (Research) in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto. His clinical practice is in the management of gynecologic cancers. His research is focused on improving radiotherapy effectiveness and patient outcomes by targeting tumor hypoxia and harnessing the radiation-induced antitumor immune response. He has led numerous collaborative projects, including clinical trials of new treatment approaches, and published over 230 peer-reviewed papers.
Chief Medical Officer
PhD, MBA
Dr. Milosevic is a clinician scientist and radiation oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Professor and Vice-Chair (Research) in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto. His clinical practice is in the management of gynecologic cancers. His research is focused on improving radiotherapy effectiveness and patient outcomes by targeting tumor hypoxia and harnessing the radiation-induced antitumor immune response. He has led numerous collaborative projects, including clinical trials of new treatment approaches, and published over 230 peer-reviewed papers.
Dr. Azhar Zahoor Abbasi
Executive VP of R&D
PhD in Physical Chemistry
Dr. Abbasi is one of the founding members of QurCan Therapeutics and leads the R&D activities. In this role, he is overseeing the development of manufacturing processes, analytical methods, quality control and new product design to support QurCan Therapeutics portfolio. He brings over 15 years of experience in nanoparticle-based drug product development, their pre-clinical screening, and CMC related regulatory requirements from early to post-IND stage. Prior to joining QurCan Therapeutics, he worked in the R&D of Apotex Inc. Dr. Abbasi holds a PhD in nanomedicine from University of Marburg, Germany.
Executive VP of R&D
PhD in Physical Chemistry
Dr. Abbasi is one of the founding members of QurCan Therapeutics and leads the R&D activities. In this role, he is overseeing the development of manufacturing processes, analytical methods, quality control and new product design to support QurCan Therapeutics portfolio. He brings over 15 years of experience in nanoparticle-based drug product development, their pre-clinical screening, and CMC related regulatory requirements from early to post-IND stage. Prior to joining QurCan Therapeutics, he worked in the R&D of Apotex Inc. Dr. Abbasi holds a PhD in nanomedicine from University of Marburg, Germany.
Dr. Chanson (Chunsheng) He
Executive VP of Operations
PhD in Organic Chemistry
Dr. He is one of the founding members in QurCan Therapeutics and he leads the operations of the company in support of its goals. He has several years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and more than 10 years experience in nano-formulations development, scale-up, and drug product quality control. His expertise covers preclinical, nonclinical studies, and IND-enabling studies. Dr. He received his PhD degree from the East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
Executive VP of Operations
PhD in Organic Chemistry
Dr. He is one of the founding members in QurCan Therapeutics and he leads the operations of the company in support of its goals. He has several years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, and more than 10 years experience in nano-formulations development, scale-up, and drug product quality control. His expertise covers preclinical, nonclinical studies, and IND-enabling studies. Dr. He received his PhD degree from the East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
Dr. John Reid
Executive VP of Business Development
PhD, MBA
John brings over 25 years of experience in business development, pharmaceutical drug discovery, technology transfer and biotech operations to the opportunity and challenge of developing new therapeutics based on innovative medical research. Prior to joining QurCan Therapeutics in 2020, he was Director of Technology Development and Commercialization at the University Health Network, Director of Strategic Partnering and Business Development at AstraZeneca, Director of Molecular Sciences at AstraZeneca. He holds a PhD from the University of California (Berkeley), MBA from Le Bow-Drexel and Executive Education from Wharton.
Executive VP of Business Development
PhD, MBA
John brings over 25 years of experience in business development, pharmaceutical drug discovery, technology transfer and biotech operations to the opportunity and challenge of developing new therapeutics based on innovative medical research. Prior to joining QurCan Therapeutics in 2020, he was Director of Technology Development and Commercialization at the University Health Network, Director of Strategic Partnering and Business Development at AstraZeneca, Director of Molecular Sciences at AstraZeneca. He holds a PhD from the University of California (Berkeley), MBA from Le Bow-Drexel and Executive Education from Wharton.
Dr. Christopher Barden
Intellectual Property Liaison
PhD, Patent Agent
A registered US patent agent with over 10 years of experience in biotech IP, Chris supports patent filing and prosecution strategy on behalf of QurCan Theraprutics. He has a technical background in computational chemistry and drug design and is an inventor on 80+ patents in the area. Chris has considerable expertise in managing university and hospital IP portfolios in the service of commercialization / spin-outs.
Intellectual Property Liaison
PhD, Patent Agent
A registered US patent agent with over 10 years of experience in biotech IP, Chris supports patent filing and prosecution strategy on behalf of QurCan Theraprutics. He has a technical background in computational chemistry and drug design and is an inventor on 80+ patents in the area. Chris has considerable expertise in managing university and hospital IP portfolios in the service of commercialization / spin-outs.
