The UHN Office of Research Trainees (ORT) invites you to take part in our upcoming career panel titled “From UHN Trainee to UHN Professional“! Join us on Zoom on February 7, 2024, from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. to gain insights into different career areas at UHN.

In this session, you will hear from UHN professionals, Loraine Chiu, PhD (Grant Specialist), Erno Wienholds, PhD (Licensing and Commercialization Professional), Christine Snidal, MSc (Manager, Research Integrity and Responsible Conduct), and Jonathan St-Germain, PhD (Staff Scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre), who will share insights into their journeys as UHN trainees and postdocs and how their past experiences helped them transition into their careers at UHN.

This webinar is free and open to everyone! All event registrants are asked to make sure they have read and agree to abide by the ORT’s Code of Conduct.

Speaker Bios:

Dr. Loraine Chiu

• Loraine joined UHN as a Grants Specialist in the Research Grants team back in February 2022. Loraine obtained her Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto. Her theses were completed with Dr. Milica Radisic, with a focus on the development of biomaterials for vascularization of engineered cardiac tissues. She also completed postdoctoral fellowships at McMaster University and St. Michael’s Hospital, exploring cancer treatment strategies with Dr. Mick Bhatia, and developing functional engineered cartilage tissues for the reconstruction of the ear, nose, and trachea with Dr. Stephen Waldman. While working with Dr. Waldman, Loraine was also a sessional instructor at Toronto Metropolitan University for a fourth year Biomedical Engineering course. Loraine has received numerous academic awards including NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS-M and CGS-D), NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, and CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her research has resulted in 29 original research papers, 6 review papers, and 7 book chapters. Immediately prior to joining UHN, Loraine was a research associate in Dr. Waldman’s lab, and she now continues to partner with Dr. Waldman on a commercialization project in her spare time.

Dr. Erno Wienholds

• Erno Wienholds is currently a member of team Commercialization at UHN and works as a Licensing and Commercialization Professional, supporting the commercialization of Princess Margaret (PM) Cancer Centre’s extensive research/clinical portfolio. Erno’s experience bridges academia and industry: he is an accomplished biomedical scientist with a unique combination of experience in both academia and the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. In his role, he works with researchers at the PM Cancer Centre to accelerate research and innovation with commercial applicability to the next level through expert evaluation, IP, protection, marketing, licensing, and new company creation. He participates in supporting the de-risking of UHN technologies through our unique commercialization funding program, the Innovation Acceleration Fund, where promising research discoveries are de-risked and accelerated and often become new ventures; current projects in this area include cancer drug development for leukemia/breast cancer. With previous experience in three different start-up companies, including experience in pre-clinical drug development and within a director role at Deep Genomics, Erno draws on his many business relationships and biotech ecosystem know-how to maximize the impact of PM’s inventions, assets, and technologies. Focusing on technology development and innovation, Erno’s academic research gained him a broad knowledge and strong technological acumen in the fields of genetics, genomics, cancer and stem cell research. With his postdoctoral research experience studying cancer stem cells as a fellow in a research lab at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. Erno’s passion is to contribute to the development of novel pharmaceuticals and treatments for diseases with unmet clinical need.

Christine Snidal, MSc

• I am the Manager, Research Integrity and Responsible Conduct within UHN’s Research Quality Integration department. In this role, I manage UHN’s research integrity program, which receives and addresses questions and concerns about integrity and responsible conduct of research. This can include questions about authorship, data integrity, and research misconduct concerns. I also support various UHN projects and operational activities related to compliance with funder and regulatory policy and requirements, including relationship disclosure and COI management for researchers, research partnership security and managing UHN’s internal research policies. Prior to working with the Research Quality Integration team, I completed my master’s at UHN in the lab of Elise Stanley, studying pre-synaptic calcium channels. Following my masters, I completed a post-graduate certificate in Regulatory Affairs at Humber College and an 8 month internship in Quality and Regulatory Affairs at Teligent Pharma Canada.

Dr. Jonathan St-Germain

• After completing his B.Sc. and M.Sc. at the University of Ottawa/OHRI, Jon completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto/Sick Kids under the supervision of Dr. Michael Moran. He then worked in the pharma industry in Montreal before being recruited back to Toronto as a proteomics expert in the laboratory of Dr. Brian Raught (UHN/PMCC). Since then, he coordinates research projects using mass spectrometry both within UHN and via worldwide collaborations in the field of cancer proteomics. He is also a lecturer at the University of Montreal and part-time Professor at Seneca Polytechnic’s School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry. Every now and then, he can be spotted around town playing at various venues as the bass player in a local country cover band, The Hogtown Playboys.