February 9, 2023 — [HALIFAX]— Today, Sean Awalt, CEO of BioNova announced the appointment of Doris Grant as Vice President of Business Development and Strategy. BioNova is Nova Scotia’s health and life sciences industry association. We are committed to driving broader sector success by supporting companies in pursuing growth and development throughout all stages of commercialization.
In this executive role, Doris will lead the development of BioNova’s member and partner value proposition, revenue generation model and recruitment & retention strategy. Doris will also lead the business development strategy for partner collaborations with key stakeholders to enable commercial development that will lead to jobs, exports and economic growth for the province.
For over 20 years, Doris has led commercialization, intellectual property protection and industry business development initiatives. She brings a proven track record of attracting and building impactful partnerships and securing transformational funding to advance diverse innovation mandates along with extensive business experience in global markets.
“Nova Scotia has tremendous assets and unparalleled opportunity in this sector and now is the time to maximize our growth potential,” said CEO Sean Awalt. “BioNova is ready to contribute to this important provincial mandate and the addition of Doris Grant signals our commitment to bring deep experience and a partnership mentality to the table”.
Most recently Doris served as Senior Director of Innovation at Nova Scotia Health where she, as part of the Health Innovation Hub and the Research, Innovation & Discovery portfolio, led and co-led working with key partners the implementation of multiple high-priority, transformative and innovative initiatives to enhance healthcare and health of Nova Scotians. Key initiatives include the launch of the Strategic Partnership Office (SPO), VirtualCareNS and the newly established Care Coordination Center (C3), Virtual Emergency Nova Scotia, and the Oncology Transformation Project (OTP). She was also instrumental in the establishment of the Innovator in Residence Program and the Innovation Catalyst Fund. This work is making a difference for patients and providers today and sets the stage for a better system tomorrow.
“I am so pleased to join BIONOVA at a time of renewal. This new role will allow me the opportunity to continue to impact the health and life sciences agenda of our Province. I look forward to continuing to work with local, regional, national and global stakeholders in this new capacity,” said Grant.
Prior to this role, Doris served as a Director within the Dalhousie University Office of Commercialization and Industry Engagement where she was responsible for growing the research enterprise by partnering with industry in the life, health, and agricultural sectors. Doris also brings biopharma industry experience having served in the business development and intellectual property departments within Biogen Inc. where she introduced, evaluated, and executed business deals for biopharma therapeutics and managed intellectual property portfolios for several research and development stage programs.
Doris holds an MSc. Agriculture from Dalhousie University and BSc. Agriculture from Nova Scotia Agricultural College. Doris will begin her new role on March 6, 2023.
About BioNova
BioNova leads the Health and Life Sciences sector in Nova Scotia and the BioPort Conference. Our industry-led sector growth plan, BioFuture 2030, has made us the fastest-growing sector in Atlantic Canada. We represent over 150 companies in Nova Scotia that have raised over $73 million in investment dollars since the beginning of 2020. Visit our website at www.BioNova.ca.
Contacts
Kerri Mannette, Director of Operations, BioNova
902.421.5705 EXT 3
[email protected]
