Meet Our Team
Stéphane Gagné, President & CEO
Co-Founder of Ovensa and three other companies, Mr. Gagné holds 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical (anticancer drugs and drug delivery), cosmetics and nutritional supplements industries. He was instrumental to the growth of Aeterna-Zentaris, a company that was developing an angiogenesis inhibitor for non-small cell lung cancer. He was also a co-founder of Constab Pharmaceutical, a company developing a drug delivery system using alpha-fetoprotein. Mr. Gagné also contributed to the international expansion of Atrium Biotechnologies and several Canadian private and public companies. He is recognized for his leadership, for building teams, growing sales and for his negotiation skills. He holds 2 bachelor degrees (Economics and Multidisciplinary), has a Master Degree in Business Administration and speaks several languages.
Ravin Narain, PhD, P.Eng., Full Professor & an established researcher, Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering – University of Alberta
Dr. Ravin Narain is currently a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia. He has made original and innovative contributions to the design, fabrication, and characterization of novel polymers, hydrogels and nanomedicine for a wide range of applications. Dr. Narain’s research mainly focus on biomaterials, nanomedicine and regenerative medicine, with an emphasis on developing new biomaterials for drug and gene delivery applications. In particular, he has made significant contributions in the area of glycopolymers and glyco-nanomaterials for a range of applications primarily for biomedical uses. His laboratory focuses essentially on the controlled radical polymerization process for the synthesis of well-defined polymers. He has published over 170 articles and is the editor of 5 books namely Engineered Carbohydrate-Based Materials for Biomedical Applications (Wiley), Chemistry of Bioconjugates (Wiley), Glycopolymers: Synthesis and Applications (Smithers & Rapra), and Polymers and Nanomaterials for Gene Therapy (Woodhead Publishing & Elsevier Inc.). He is currently on the Advisory Board for Polymer Chemistry (RSC) and is the Editor for three special issues for Polymers (MDPI): Polymers and Nanogels for Gene Therapy; Responsive Polymers for Drug Delivery, Imaging and Theranostic Functions; Advanced Polymers for Engineering Applications. He has also been appointed as the section editor for the second edition of Comprehensive Glycoscience (Elsevier) and editor for a new book, Polymer Science and Nanotechnology (Elsevier).