Posted by Denise Lalanne, Director of Innovation Services at the IWK, will once again be sitting on a national council to evaluate research proposals. Considering there are only approximately five people sitting on these panels, this is quite an achievement.
Denise is currently responsible for identifying and advancing innovation opportunities at the IWK to ensure these projects have maximum benefit to the IWK and its patients. Additionally, Denise leads all business development activities for the Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre (BIOTIC), the only hospital-based imaging research lab in Canada that has an explicit mandate to translate medical science innovations through commercial partnership.
This is Lalanne’s third time being an adjudicator since becoming a director the IWK a couple of years ago.
“Interestingly, I started out with my degree with a major in psychology, then did my business degree,” Lalanne says. “I started working in the tech transfer office at Dalhousie and realized there were amazing things happening in Halifax in terms of research, innovation and commercialization.”
Previously, she was responsible for all business development activities at the National Research Council in the areas of medical devices and marine biosciences. She also led the technology commercialization programs and services in the life sciences at Dalhousie University and the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.
Her experience and success are the reasons why Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada (NCE) keep recommending her.
“They keep saying I ask really good questions,” Lalanne laughs. “So, I guess that’s good.”
The last two panels were in the summer and fall of 2018 and the upcoming one is in winter 2018.