Marcia is a registered nurse with many years of clinical and industry experience. In addition to her past role as a clinical research data management subject matter expert, more than a decade of pharmacovigilance duties has helped Marcia acquire much of the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to help companies manage today’s evolving drug safety responsibilities and regulations. Marcia has been a DIA conference speaker and is currently a Safety Evaluation & Risk Management Scientific Director at GSK.

Rita Cassola is an Executive Director of Pharmacovigilance at Certus PV Services Inc. Rita is a registered pharmacist with over 20 years of experience in global and Canadian pharmacovigilance. Rita’s experience includes over 10 years of senior PV consultancy and 10 years in increasingly senior PV roles within the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry, Rita spent 4 years in academia and 10 years in hospital pharmacy. Rita is engaged in teaching pharmacovigilance courses and has presented at several conferences/webinars organized by professional associations.

Dr. D’Cunha is the Director, Global Medical Affairs at Apotex Inc. responsible for Medical Affairs activities within the group. Prior responsibilities included Pharmacovigilance. He has over 16 years experience in public health at both the local and provincial levels of government. He has held senior positions including Chief Medical Officer of Health, Commissioner of Public Health and Assistant Deputy Minister, Ontario, Chief Occupational Medical Officer, Manitoba and Medical Officer of Health, Scarborough. He has actively participated in national population health matters. Dr. D'Cunha graduated in medicine from the University of Bombay, and obtained his Masters of Health Science from the University of Toronto.

Karyn Pellatt-Caron has worked in several regulated industries, including broadcasting, consumer products and pharmaceutical products, for such companies as The Family Channel, TELETOON, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis. She is currently Corporate Counsel for Otsuka Canada Pharmaceutical Inc. and has been in this role since 2012.

Dr. Yu Chung Tsang is currently working at Apotex Inc. as Chief Scientific Officer, Biopharmaceutics and Biostatistics. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Pharmacokinetics in 1990 from the University of Toronto. To date, he has been involved with the design and data analysis of over a thousand bioequivalence/clinical endpoint studies for the registration of over 300 drugs or biosimilar products in Canada, US, EU and many other international marketplaces. He also provides statistical support in clinical trials of new chemical entities at ApoPharma. Dr. Tsang is currently the Chair of the Bioequivalence Committee in the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association.

Bill Wilson is the Acting Manager of the Data Management and Integrity Section at the Marketed Health Products Directorate of Health Canada. Bill has worked at Health Canada for the past 22 years. During his career, he has been involved in the pre-market review of drug submissions, but has spent the majority of his career working in the post-market surveillance of marketed health products, in the area of adverse reaction reporting. Bill graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.

Dr. Rania Mouchantaf is A/Executive Director at the Marketed Health Products Directorate at Health Canada with over 17 years of experience in the area of pharmacovigilance. Before entering the public service she worked in the private sector, however her interest in pharmacovigilance and public health led her to join the federal government at Health Canada where she has assumed different roles in assessment, management and strategic policy development from both a pre and post market perspective in the area of safety, efficacy and quality Her education includes a Bachelor degree in Microbiology and Immunology and a doctorate degree in Pharmacology and Therapeutics from McGill University.

Kristin Willemsen is the Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at Food, Health & Consumer Products Canada. Since 2008, she has been working with members to influence the regulation, policy and administration of over-the-counter drugs and natural health products. Kristin earned a Masters of Science from the University of Ottawa and is a Certified Association Executive.

Doctor Musende is a Manager at the Marketed Health Products Directorate (MHPD), which oversees regulatory advertising activities of regulated marketed health products. Additionally, as a commitment to transparency, Health Canada is publishing summaries of its Safety Reviews and Alain’s section leads this publication. Doctor Musende possesses a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry (Université du Québec à Montréal), a Master’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences (University of British Columbia), and a Ph.D. in pathology and laboratory medicine (University of British Columbia). Dr. Musende is as well a part-time professor at the University of Ottawa, where he teaches biopharmaceutical sciences courses.

Patricia is the Manager of the Risk Communications Section within the Marketed Health Products Directorate of Health Canada. Her section is responsible for providing central support for the development and dissemination of health product risk communications to healthcare professionals. Her section produces a monthly publication of safety issues for health professionals called Health Product InfoWatch (previously known as the Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter).