Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur born in Hubli, Karnataka, India. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, an MEng in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, and PhD in Data Communications from Queens University, Kingston.Although an engineer by training, he is most often considered a “serial entrepreneur”, and has pursued an entrepreneurial career for the past three decades. He is the foun...
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Dr. Jean-Pierre Changeux is Professor Emeritus at the Collège de France and at the Department of Neurosciences at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. He is one of the world’s leading molecular biologists and scientific theoreticians, and a pioneer of modern molecular pharmacology and neuroscience. Although he is known for his research in several fields, his seminal work has been on the structure and function of allosteric proteins, on isolating and determining the structure of the first neurotransm...
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Gilles Brassard received a PhD in computer science in 1979 from Cornell University, specifically in cryptography. Since then, he has been a professor at the Université de Montréal and has held the Canada Research Chair in quantum information processing since 2001.Professor Brassard is interested in all aspects of quantum information science, a field that is at the crossroads of computer science and quantum mechanics. In the late 1970’s, he was one of the first researchers to apply quantum mecha...
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Born and educated in Moncton, New Brunswick, Claudette Bradshaw began her career at the forefront of the community-based, non-profit sector as the Program Director for the Moncton Boys and Girls’ Club. Six years later, she founded and became Executive Director of the Moncton Headstart Early Family Intervention Centre, which designed and ran programs for high risk children and their families. She became a passionate advocate and speaker for adult literacy, at-risk children and youth and those su...
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Sheila Block chairs Torys LLP’s litigation and dispute resolution practice and serves as a trial and appellate counsel for a broad civil litigation practice. She has acted as counsel on numerous high-profile cases that span a wide range of disciplines, appearing before all levels of court in Canada and in international arbitrations.Ranked by Lexpert as one of Canada's top 25 corporate litigators and one of Canada's top 25 women lawyers, Sheila Block has taught advocacy in Canada, the United Sta...
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Michel Waldschmidt is a world-renowned mathematician whose research has had a profound impact on number theory. He is considered the father of the great French school of transcendental number theory, has at least 65 scientific descendants, and is known to be an exceptional teacher. Michel Waldschmidt is a professor emeritus at l’Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6), where he taught for nearly 40 years. This exceptional teacher makes the most complex topics seem clear and understanda...
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Jennifer Stoddart is Canada’s federal Privacy Commissioner, a position she has held since 2003. During her tenure, she has made Canada a world leader in the area of privacy protection, and has brought a sense of renewal to her office. Her team has taken a forward-looking approach to this field, identifying four emerging issues: information technology, genetic information, national security and identity integrity. Regarding the new challenges in privacy protection, she has said, “Uncharted terra...
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Heather Munroe-Blum, PhD, OC, OQ, FRSC, is an accomplished university administrator and distinguished scholar in the fields of psychiatric epidemiology and public policy.  She served as the 16th Principal (President) and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University (2003-13), the first woman to hold this position, and as Vice-President (Research and International Relations) of the University of Toronto (1994-2002).  Dr. Munroe-Blum has authored or co-authored more than 60 scholarly publicatio...
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No one could better exemplify the University’s efforts to foster community engagement than the Right Honourable Paul Martin. His career, which spans the fields of law, business, politics, diplomacy and philanthropy, stands as a true testament to his deep commitment to Canada and to the world. Although he briefly attended the University of Ottawa, Paul Martin completed both his undergraduate degree and law school at the University of Toronto, and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1966. Before e...
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André Marcheterre is an acknowledged leader in the pharmaceutical industry. A University of Ottawa alumnus (BAdm ’75), he has had a long and distinguished career, which includes serving as President of Merck Frosst Canada, one of the largest pharmaceutical research companies in the country.   Mr. Marcheterre began working at Merck Frost Canada in 1977. He rose through the ranks, holding positions of increasing responsibility in the areas of sales, marketing and government relations. In 19...
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