Member, Board of Directors
Ken Lawless was the founding president of the OLSC since its inception in May 1994 until June 2006 when it became OCRI. The Council is a not-for-profit development corporation for the life sciences sector.
Its mandate is to stimulate growth in the life sciences sector in the Ottawa region. In addition to his role with the Council, Ken has also served as Interim President of the Ottawa Life Sciences Technology Park and is a Founding Director of the Ottawa Biotechnology Incubation Centre. He also serves as Chair of the Canadian Bioprocessing Initiative (CBI) and the Advanced Biophotonics Consortium (ABC). Ken is currently the Presient of Epitope Capital Corp.
Ken has been very active in promoting investment in, and commercialization of, life sciences companies and technologies. Prior to his current duties, he was Bioscience Development Officer for the City of Ottawa, where he was responsible for the development of the Ottawa-Carleton Life Sciences Industry Strategic Plan. In 1988, he was Vice President, General Manager and a founding principal of AminoTech, a biotechnology firm specializing in peptides and reagents for research and pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries.
Ken has a master's degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ottawa and has conducted research in the hormonal control of gene expression, prostate cancer and artificial blood substitutes. He has also served on provincial, federal and local committees and task groups, including the National Research Council of Canada's Innovation Forum, the Ontario Biotechnology Task Force, BIOTECanada's Science and Technology Committee, the Biotechnology Council of Ontario, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation Multidisciplinary Advisory Committee, the Ottawa Biotechnology Innovation Fund and the Ontario Medical Devices Consortium.
In 2002, Ken was chosen by Ottawa Life Magazine as one of Ottawa's 50 most influential individuals.