Leadership

Elizabeth Douville, PhD, ICD.D, (Committee Chair)

Dr. Elizabeth Douville is the inaugural Chair of FACIT’s Investment Committee. She is currently the Vice-President of Corporate Development at Biologics Manufacturing Centre and is recognized for her leadership and expertise in venture capital, biotechnology innovation, and partnership development.

As the Founder and Managing Partner of AmorChem, a leading venture capital fund focused on academic innovation and its transformation into early-stage biotech companies, Dr. Douville has sourced, led and overseen investments in a dozen of the fund’s promising academic technologies, and has successfully created several spin-off companies that have raised capital or partnered with pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Douville is a highly committed and active participant in the life sciences ecosystem including serving on Genome Canada’s Board of Directors for nearly a decade, and as Chair from 2019 to 2025.

Dr. Douville earned her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Ottawa and completed her postdoctoral fellowship from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, UK. In January of 2023, she successfully completed the ICD-Rotman Directors Education program and obtained the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Kelly Holman, MBA

Mr. Kelly Holman is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Genesys Capital, one of Canada’s leading venture capital firms, investing in early-stage healthcare and biotechnology companies. Since co-founding Genesys Capital in 2000, Mr. Holman has been actively involved in raising over $400 million of venture capital and has been instrumental in deploying capital across 41 investments. Mr. Holman has extensive commercial and technical experience in the biotechnology industry and has served or is currently on the Board of Directors for a number of life sciences companies.

Prior to Genesys Capital, Mr. Holman was a Senior Investment Manager with MDS Capital Corporation. Previously, Mr. Holman worked in the laboratory of Dr. Peter St George-Hyslop at the University of Toronto where he was a key member of the international research team that discovered several genes responsible for Alzheimer’s disease. Mr. Holman holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Biochemistry and an MBA, both from Queen’s University.

Ken Newport, ICD.D, CPA

Mr. Ken Newport is an entrepreneur and life sciences business executive who has served leadership roles on several corporate and non-profit board of directors. As a graduate of the University of Waterloo and a Chartered Accountant, Mr. Newport had early success in the financial services industry and served as a partner in a Chartered Accounting firm.

His focus changed to life sciences in the mid-nineties with the formation of CroMedica Global Inc., a contract research organization. As Co-Founder and President, he witnessed CroMedica’s growth to 600 employees within six years. By the time that CroMedica merged with PRA International Inc. in 2002, CroMedica had annual revenues of over $40 million with 13 offices in 9 countries.

Mr. Newport is a founding member of Virica Biotechnology, Zelos Therapeutics Inc., Prime Trials Inc. and other life science organizations. He has served on the Board of Directors for several companies including Jennerex, Nordion, MedGenesis, Aeterna Zentaris and many others. In addition, Mr. Newport has volunteered on many not-for-profit boards including serving as Chair of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and Chair of BioCanRx, Canada’s National Centre of Excellence for Immunotherapy Cancer Research.

Tom Hudson, MD, O.C.

Dr. Tom Hudson is a Venture Partner at Versant Ventures, focused on a number of ambitious objectives including support for the development of Versant’s Frontier discovery engine in Toronto to enable the launch of biotechnology companies in Canada.

Prior to joining Versant, Dr. Hudson retired from his position as Senior Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer at AbbVie where he led global teams of scientists and clinicians across therapeutic areas to identify potential new treatments for a variety of diseases. Previously, Dr. Hudson served as the inaugural President & Scientific Director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research where he led the institute’s work in translational research for the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.

Dr. Hudson earned his Medical Degree from the University of Montreal and is globally renowned for his work on the human genome. Dr. Hudson was awarded an Order of Canada in 2013.