Our People

Management

Peter A. Singer

Peter A. Singer OC, MD, MPH, FRSC

Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada

Peter Singer has dedicated the last decade to bringing science and innovation to tackle the health challenges of the world’s poorest people. He is well known around the world for his creative solutions to some of the most pressing global health problems.

Dr. Singer is Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada and Director at the Sandra Rotman Centre (University Health Network and University of Toronto). He is also Professor of Medicine at University of Toronto, and the Foreign Secretary of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Dr. Singer chairs the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences’ new assessment on Canada’s Strategic Role in Global Health. He has advised the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UN Secretary General’s office, the Government of Canada, Pepsico, BioVeda China Venture Capital Fund, and several African Governments on global health.

Dr. Singer was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2011 for his contributions to health research and bioethics, and for his dedication to improving the health of people in developing countries. In 2007, Dr. Singer received the Michael Smith Prize as Canada’s Health Researcher of the Year in Population Health and Health Services. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the U.S. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, and The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).

Dr. Singer has published over 300 research articles, received over $50 million in research grants, and mentored hundreds of university students. He recently co-authored, along with Dr. Abdallah Daar, The Grandest Challenge: Taking Life-Saving Science from Lab to Village. He studied internal medicine at University of Toronto, medical ethics at University of Chicago, public health at Yale University, and management at Harvard Business School. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Dr Heather Gilley, and his family, and has served his community as Board Chair of Branksome Hall, an acclaimed and internationally-minded school for girls.

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Dr. Singer has appeared on The Agenda with Steve Paikin to discuss Canada’s Role in Global Health and more recently, Women and Children’s Health.  In March 2011, he gave a talk at the TEDxChange @ TEDxDelhi in New Delhi, India, on the grand challenges in Women and Children’s Health.  To watch these videos, please click the following links:

 

Follow Peter A. Singer on Twitter @PeterASinger

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Abdallah S. Daar

Abdallah S. Daar D.Phil (Oxon), FRSC, FRCP (Lon), FRCS, FRCSEd

Chief Science and Ethics Officer of Grand Challenges Canada

Dr. Daar is Professor of Public Health Sciences and of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He is also Director of Ethics and Commercialization at the Sandra Rotman Centre and Director of Ethics and Policy at the McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine.

After medical school in London, England, he went to the University of Oxford where he did postgraduate clinical training in surgery and also in internal medicine, a doctorate in transplant immunology/immunogenetics, and a fellowship in transplantation. He was a clinical lecturer in Oxford for several years before going to the Middle East to help start two medical schools. He was the foundation Chair of Surgery in Oman for a decade before moving to the University of Toronto in 2001.

Dr. Daar has co-authored five books (on tumour markers; surgical radiology; ethical, legal and social issues in organ transplantation; bioindustry ethics; and nutritional genomics) and has over 300 publications in immunology, immunogenetics, organ transplantation, surgery, and bioethics. He works in various advisory or consulting capacities with the UN, the World Health Organization and UNESCO, and is a member of the African Union High Level Panel on Modern Biotechnology. He recently completed, as chair, a report of the External Review Committee of the WHO/World Bank/UNDP/UNICEF Special Program on Tropical Diseases Research and Training.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, the New York Academy of Sciences and a Senior Fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto. He is a member of UNESCO’s International Bioethics Committee and of the Ethics Committee of the Human Genome Organization. He holds the official world record for performing the youngest cadaveric donor kidney transplant.

In 1999 he was awarded the Hunterian Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. In 2005 he was awarded the Anthony Miller Prize for Research Excellence at the University of Toronto and also in 2005 the UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics of Science. His current research interests are in ways of avoiding knowledge divides and in the exploration of how genomics and other biotechnologies can be used effectively to ameliorate global health inequities.

Follow Abdallah S. Daar on Twitter @AbdallahDaar

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Andrew D. Taylor

Andrew D. Taylor M.Sc.

Executive Vice-President of Grand Challenges Canada

Andrew D. Taylor is Executive Vice President of Grand Challenges Canada, currently managing a staff of 18 employees. In his role at Grand Challenges Canada, Mr. Taylor is responsible for maximizing the organization’s operating performance and achieving its strategic goals.  This includes working closely with the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Peter A. Singer, to develop strategic directions and to ensure the strategy is translated into practice. In addition to directing the operational aspects of the organization, Mr. Taylor is also the lead of Grand Challenges Canada’s focus on scaling innovations. This involves working closely with the Chairman, Mr. Joseph L. Rotman, and Dr. Singer to develop the strategy, forge the necessary partnerships and to set a path forward in translating the pipeline of Grand Challenges Canada, through Integrated Innovation, into commercial products.

Mr. Taylor is also Managing Director at the Sandra Rotman Centre (University Health Network and University of Toronto). In this role, Mr. Taylor is responsible for the strategy, development, implementation and operations of the Centre.

Mr. Taylor is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where he completed his MSc degree in 2005. Before joining the Sandra Rotman Centre, Mr. Taylor worked for a biotechnology company in London, England, in their sales, marketing and business development departments, and finished his undergraduate studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he studied Mandarin, Chinese culture and China’s biotechnology industry.

 

Follow Andrew D. Taylor on Twitter @TaylorAndrew1

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