CDRD Appoints Karimah Es Sabar as Senior Vice President, Business and Strategic Affairs
December 1, 2009
VANCOUVER, BC-December 1, 2009: The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) today announced the appointment of Karimah Es Sabar as Senior Vice President, Business and Strategic Affairs.
Ms. Es Sabar brings to CDRD an extensive background in the life sciences sector - most recently as President of Lifesciences BC- having worked in the industry since 1982 on five continents with business associations in over 60 countries.
"This is a pivotal point in CDRD's evolution and an ideal time to welcome Karimah into this new position. Since CDRD's inception, we have successfully built the foundation for a globally-recognized model of translational research to ensure that academic health discoveries advance and are successfully commercialized. Today, CDRD is expanding on an ongoing basis to include innovative research projects from across Canada and other countries.
Recognizing Karimah's expertise and experience in industry, international business and strategic alliances, we appreciate that under her leadership CDRD will attract new strategic and global partnering and investment opportunities," said Natalie Dakers, Chief Executive Officer for CDRD.
During her tenure at Lifesciences BC, Ms. Es Sabar successfully re-engineered, rebranded and led the organization to its greatest levels of success as a strong business development entity for life sciences. Previously, Ms. Es Sabar held senior management positions with international multinational companies, most notably as Director International Division, and later Director Marketing & Business Development at Connaught Laboratories Limited [now Sanofi Pasteur] based in Toronto. More recently, Ms. Es Sabar was Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for a Vancouver medical devices company, Medsurge Medical Inc. She was also the founder and Managing Director of SAL Healthcare Limited, a leading healthcare organization in Kenya at the time, specializing in pharmaceutical marketing, distribution and healthcare consulting services. Ms. Es Sabar holds a BSc. Joint Honours degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of Salford, England, and a MSc. degree in Neurochemistry from the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, England.
Ms. Es Sabar is currently President of LifeSciences BC, and will take on joint responsibilities with both LifeSciences BC and CDRD starting in January 2010 until she begins her dedicated assignment with CDRD in April 2010.
"Moving forward, CDRD and Lifesciences BC will continue to work closely together to champion investment and support for the local life sciences community," added Ms. Dakers.
About CDRD
The Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) (www.cdrd.ca) guides and supports early-stage drug development from leading academic and health research institutions to increase the successful commercialization of new therapeutics. CDRD provides drug development expertise and infrastructure to enable researchers to develop promising drug candidates. CDRD's commercial arm, Drug Development Inc (DDI), licenses technologies from affiliated institutions, advances projects by leveraging CDRD's expertise and infrastructure, and establishes working collaborations with other biotech and life sciences companies.
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For additional information, please contact:
Jodi Regts
Director, Communications
Centre for Drug Research and Development
(604) 221-7750 x182