ECHO Pitch Judging Panel

Sarah Farr, PhD

Principal, Genesys Capital

Dr. Sarah Farr joined the Genesys investment team in 2020, bringing to the team eight years of experience at the bench in laboratory research and discovery. She is responsible for sourcing opportunities and leading biotech and medtech investments from both Genesys Ventures IV and the Genesys University Seed Fund. She serves on the Board of Directors of Antegrade Medical Inc. and is a board observer for Giiant Pharma Inc. and Questat Inc. Past board affiliations include Adapsyn Bioscience, Inc. and EBT Medical, Inc.

Before Genesys, Dr. Farr worked as a Business Development Officer in the Industry Partnerships & Commercialization office at the Hospital for Sick Children, where she managed IP, industry partnerships, and start-up opportunities. She received her PhD from the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, where she studied the effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) on lipid and lipoprotein metabolism. She also has a Bachelor of Health Science (Honours) with a minor in Biochemistry from McMaster University.

Sohaib Siddiqui, MD

Director, Technology & Venture Development, Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP)

Managing Partner, Kettlebeck Ventures

Venture Partner, Amplify Capital

Dr. Sohaib Siddiqui has built a diverse career in healthcare as a physician, clinical researcher, and venture investor. Shifting from patient care, he now provides medical, scientific, and business support to early-stage startups in TIAP’s ecosystem. He works alongside TIAP’s academic and institutional partners to identify promising medical technologies in digital health and medical devices. He works closely with companies to provide subject matter expertise, develop impactful technologies, structure investments and provide board governance. He currently sits on the boards of 7 healthcare companies and organizations providing strategic insight and ensuring long-term impact. Dr. Siddiqui is also a Managing Partner at Kettlebeck Ventures, a family-office backed healthcare fund where he manages their healthcare strategy, and a Venture Partner at Amplify Capital.

He also trained as a medical doctor and pediatric clinical researcher. His area of research focused on improving the access and quality of care for pediatric patients in rural and developing countries while improving the operational efficiency of the delivery of healthcare. He previously had academic appointments at Women’s College Hospital and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine as an EiR to support early-stage entrepreneurs. He holds a B.ScH from Queen’s University, degrees in Medicine, Surgery & Obstetrics from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Executive Education Certification in Digital Health from Harvard Medical School.

John H. Wong, MD MSc MBA FRCSC

Co-founder & CEO, Fluid Biomed

Associate Professor, Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Radiology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary

Director of Cerebrovascular and Endovascular Neurosurgery, Division of Neurosurgery, Alberta Health Services

Dr. John H. Wong is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fluid Biomed Inc., a medical device company of 30 people based in Calgary, Canada, developing a bioabsorbable neurovascular stent to treat brain aneurysms. He is an associate professor in the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Radiology at the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. He serves as Director of Cerebrovascular and Endovascular Neurosurgery and maintains an active surgical practice dedicated to treating patients with brain aneurysms and stroke. Dr. Wong received his medical education and neurosurgical training at the University of Alberta. After fellowship sub-specialization in neurovascular surgery at Yale University and interventional neuroradiology in New York City, he was recruited to Calgary in 2001. Dr. Wong has authored 95 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has served on several grant review panels including for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He has previously held several leadership roles including Head of Neurosurgery at the University of Calgary, President of the provincial Alberta Neurosurgical Society, and President of the Canadian Neurosurgical Society. Dr. Wong completed an MBA at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in Finance and Entrepreneurship & Innovation and was recognized with the Dean’s Leadership Award.

Stephane Angers, PhD

Charles H. Best Chair of Medical Research

Professor & Director, Donnelly Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto

Dr. Stephane Angers is the Director of the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is also a member of the Departments of Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and holds the Charles H. Best Chair of Medical Research. He obtained his PhD from the Université de Montréal and then completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. In 2006, Dr. Angers established his independent research program at the University of Toronto, focused on understanding the signalling mechanisms underlying the Wnt family of growth factors and their signalling mechanisms in development, adult tissue homeostasis, and in human diseases. His pioneer work led to the development of novel antibody molecules blocking and activating the Wnt pathway for the treatment of cancers and regenerative medicine applications.

Dr. Angers is the scientific co-founder of AntlerA Therapeutics, which was acquired by Roche in 2024. His work also led to the development of Remigromig (MK-3000, formerly Restoret), which came from a molecule developed by AntlerA Therapeutics and was licensed to EyeBio (acquired by Merck in 2024). Remigromig, a tri-specific antibody that turns on Wnt signalling to repair the blood-retinal barrier, recently met its primary endpoint in the pivotal Phase 2b/3 BRUNELLO clinical trial for the treatment of Diabetes Macular Edema.

Heather Ross CM, MD, DSc, MHSc, FRCP (C), FACC is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and Head of the Division of Cardiology at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. She received the Order of Canada in 2020 (CM), and an Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) from Queen’s University 2021. She is the Site lead for the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, and holds the Loretta A. Rogers Chair in Heart Function and the Pfizer Chair in Cardiovascular Research. She received her medical degree from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Cardiology training at Dalhousie University, and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cardiac Transplantation at Stanford University, California. She earned her Master’s Degree in Bioethics from the University of Toronto. She has published over 450 peer reviewed articles, with an H index of 80 and > 26k citations, trained > 45 highly qualified personnel and received > 46 million dollars in peer reviewed research funding. She has won numerous awards including Inventor of the year (UHN 2022), the Inter-American Society of Cardiology Lifetime Achievement Award (2025), the Canadian Society of Transplantation Lifetime Achievement Award (2022), the inaugural CCS Women in Cardiovascular Medicine/Science Mentorship Award (2020) and the Canadian Heart Failure Society Annual Achievement Award (2019). Importantly, her work with Indigenous communities in Ontario was recently awarded an Ontario Health Quality Award (2024). 

An accomplished healthcare and life sciences executive, Prakash brings over 25 years of diverse experience across biopharma, capital markets, and entrepreneurship. His track record spans private and public companies, startups and large corporations, and different business models, healthcare verticals and emerging sectors.  As a leader and strategist, he has held responsibility for people, P&Ls, financing, licensing, M&A, and go-public leadership.

He currently serves as Vice President at TIAP, a not-for-profit that identifies and accelerates medical innovations into high-potential Canadian companies, leading investment strategy, company mentorship, and portfolio management.

Prior to TIAP, Prakash was Chief Operating Officer and Head of Corporate Development at a mental health and psychedelic medicine company, where he led the development of a clinic network, took the company public, managed U.S. operations, and oversaw acquisitions and the eventual sale of the business.  Previously, as co-founder of a health technology company focused on individualized treatment strategies in a newly regulated market, he helped build the team, launch the product, and guide the company through to acquisition.

Prakash is also an experienced capital markets professional, having served in senior biotech equity research and investment banking roles at CIBC World Markets, National Bank Financial, and Canaccord Capital.  The foundation of his career was built over many years in commercial operations and new product development in the pharmaceutical industry.

Prakash serves on the boards of BioSyent (RX-TSXV), Appili Therapeutics (APLI-TSX) and HDAX Therapeutics (private), and has previously served as Director at FendX Technologies and Isotechnika Pharma (now Aurinia Pharmaceuticals). He holds an MBA from McGill University, degrees in Pharmacy and Zoology from the University of British Columbia, and is a Chartered Director.

Seema Mital, MD, FACC, FAHA, FRCPC

Staff Cardiologist, Heart Failure & Transplant, The Hospital for Sick Children

Senior Scientist, SickKids Research Institute

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada & Robert M Freedom Chair of Cardiovascular Science

Scientific Co-Lead, Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research

Professor of Pediatrics, University of Toronto

Dr. Seema Mital leads the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research Cardiac Precision Medicine program at SickKids that leverages genome sequencing, stem cells, AI and digital technology to model disease, test therapies, and implement precision-focused decision support tools. Dr. Mital established the SickKids Heart Centre Biobank, a multi-centre biorepository for childhood onset heart disease with over 10,000 participants. She leads the ERAPerMed/CIHR funded PROCEED network for Personalized Genomics in congenital heart disease, the multi-centre international Precision Medicine in Cardiomyopathy (PRIMaCY) network, the CIHR-funded multi-centre INSERT-HCM study, co-leads the CIHR-funded Precision Medicine for Heart Failure in the Young (PRIORITY) project of the Canadian Heart Function Alliance, and is a PI on two NIH grants. She is Academic Project Lead for the Genome Canada funded SickKids Precision Child Health Sequencing project that will sequence 10,000 childhood genomes. She discovered novel genetic causes of childhood onset heart disease that have been incorporated into clinical genetic tests, discovered precision therapies for pediatric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy using patient iPS cells that led to a successful clinical trial of myosin inhibitors in this population, and launched the first electronic health record integrated point of care digital tool for predicting sudden cardiac death in pediatric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.