2. Marianne Stanford - From Cancer to COVID19

Marianne Stanford, PhD, shares her career path that led to joining IMV Inc, a Halifax-based biotech company, almost 10 years ago. She also describes IMV's efforts to leverage their cancer immunotherapy technology and expertise towards developing an effective COVID19 vaccine.

Dr. Stanford is current Vice-President, Research and Development at IMV Inc, a Halifax based biotechnology company overseeing all preclinical research activities and clinical immunology assessment of cancer immunotherapies and infectious disease vaccines. She received her BSc and MSc from Memorial University of Newfoundland and her PhD from Dalhousie University. She performed post-doctoral research with Dr. Grant McFadden at Western University (London, Ontario) and Dr. John Bell at Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

Biography - Marianne Stanford, PhD (Vice-President, Research and Development, IMV Inc.)

Dr. Marianne Stanford oversees all preclinical research activities and clinical immunology assessment of cancer immunotherapies and infectious disease vaccines. She also serves as adjunct professor in Microbiology and Immunology at Dalhousie University, as a member of the Vaccine Discovery group of the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology, and as an Associate Member of the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute. Before joining the Company in 2010, Marianne conducted her postdoctoral training at the Robarts Research Institute and at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), focusing her research on the use of viruses in the development of novel cancer treatments. While at the OHRI, she worked with Jennerex Biotherapeutics (now SillaJen) in the development of Pexa-Vec for human clinical trials. She received her BSc and MSc from Memorial University of Newfoundland and her PhD from Dalhousie University. In her spare time, Marianne is involved in science outreach and policy and is the former Chair of the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars.