Congratulations to the award winners at Falcons’ Fortunes 2025
Watch six rising stars pitch their Breakthrough Cancer Innovation
Who will win the $100,000 Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award?
The annual Falcons’ Fortunes event features six Ontario entrepreneurs vying for the $100,000 award in the province’s only pitch competition specifically promoting cancer breakthroughs. Join us and put on your investor hat to vote for your favourite pitch presentation to win the Audience Choice award.
Now in its 12th year, Falcons’ Fortunes is FACIT’s premier event to celebrate and grow the entrepreneurial spirit within the cancer research community. FACIT is cultivating entrepreneurial scientists who will drive a culture of commercialization where Ontario-based cancer research becomes Ontario-made solutions to benefit patients worldwide.
Falcons’ Fortunes
March 20, 2025 | 3:00 PM – 8:00 PM (doors open at 2:30 PM)
Vantage Venues, Garden Hall – 16th floor
150 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario
Agenda
2:30-3:00 pm Doors open
3:00-3:30 pm Opening remarks & Keynote
3:30-5:45 pm Pitch competition
5:45-6:00 pm Patient Partner reflections & Closing remarks
6:00-8:00 pm Networking reception & Announcement of winners
Master of Ceremonies
Brian Bloom
Co-founder, Chairman & CEO
Bloom Burton & Co.
Featuring
Keynote speaker
Thomas Hudson
Venture Partner, Versant Ventures
Tom joined Versant Ventures as a Venture Partner in September 2024, after retiring from his position as Senior Vice President & Chief Scientific Officer at AbbVie. During his 8-year tenure in AbbVie R&D, he led global teams of scientists and clinicians across therapeutic areas to identify potential new treatments for a variety of diseases.
Prior to joining AbbVie, Tom was the 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.
A Canadian genome scientist, Tom was a leader in mapping the human genome and is internationally renowned for his work in genomics, human genome variation and genetic diseases.
Patient Partner
Alyssa Vito
OICR Board Patient Representative
Alyssa works in Clinical Development at a biotech company developing novel radiopharmaceuticals for cancer therapy and recently joined OICR’s Board of Directors. Alyssa earned her MSc in radiopharmaceuticals, an MBA and a PhD in immunotherapy, and has since worked at biotech companies in positions spanning R&D through to clinical development.
As a breast cancer survivor, Alyssa provides unique and valuable perspectives from both professional and personal angles to her voice. Alyssa is also a passionate advocate for patients and collaborates with organizations to ensure that patient perspectives are integral to cancer research and clinical trial design. She aims to enhance awareness, education and support meaningful dialogue between researchers, clinicians, patients, and key stakeholders.
Pitch Competition
Six Ontario entrepreneurs will each have 10 minutes to deliver their best pitch, followed by 5-minutes of Q&A with the judging panel.
Entrepreneur Finalists
Judging panel
Maura Campbell
President & CEO, OBIO
FACIT Board Director
Vanessa Grant
Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada
Joel Liederman
President
ELARAD Venture Management
Jason Burch
SVP, Head of Small Molecule Discovery
Frontier Discovery
Prizes
- $100,000 Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award as selected by the judging panel for the best pitch.
- Audience Choice Award as voted by attendees for their favourite pitch presentation.
For additional details about the pitch competition, please click here.
Who should attend
Community members interested in supporting Ontario’s next-generation cancer innovations and entrepreneurial ecosystem, including entrepreneurs, investors, patient partners, and scientists.
Falcons’ Fortunes
March 20, 2025 | 3:00 – 8:00 PM (doors open at 2:30 PM)
Vantage Venues, 16th floor (Garden Hall)
150 King Street West, Toronto, Ontario
Sponsor
Thank you to Norton Rose Fulbright Canada for sponsoring the
networking reception and Audience Choice Award.
Naming of the Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award
In 2016, the Falcons’ Fortunes prize was named the “Ernsting Entrepreneurship Award” in honour of Dr. Mark Ernsting, Senior Biomedical Engineer at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research whose life was tragically cut short in December 2015. Mark exemplified the entrepreneurial spirit that FACIT strives to build and support within Ontario.