Dr. Samuel Abraham

Dr. Samuel (Sam) Abraham received his PhD in Genetics from the University of British Columbia.  He joined Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals as a Senior Scientist in 1996, and later became Project Leader for the Transplant Program, as well as Division Leader for Cell and Molecular Biology.  He was with the BC Cancer Agency from 2000 to 2015, serving in a variety of positions, including concurrent appointments as VP Strategic Relationships beginning 2007, Executive Lead, Business and Intellectual Property Development for PHSA beginning in 2010 and Interim VP Research beginning in 2011. He also serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Quest Pharma. Past board service includes the BC Cancer Foundation and the Centre for Drug Research and Discovery

During his time with BCCA/PHSA Dr. Abraham led the development of a strong intellectual property portfolio, with over 350 invention disclosures leading to 180 patent applications over the last decade alone. He negotiated numerous multi-million dollar research collaborations between BCCA/PHSA and pharmaceutical companies, and managed the development of several spin-off companies by mentoring scientists, helping to secure development funds, negotiating industrial partnerships and recruiting senior management. He also developed intellectual property policies and ethical frameworks for addressing ownership and commercialization practice of genomic biomarkers and other seminal or platform developments, not only at BCCA and Genome BC but also nationally through a variety of mechanisms and internationally through the OECD.