Ms. Natalie Dakers is a leading figure in the biotechnology industry in Canada. Ms. Dakers is the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Drug Research and Development, a new initiative in British Columbia to address the commercialization gap between early-stage technologies arising out of university based research and investment opportunities.

Previously, Ms. Dakers was President & CEO of Neuromed Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a private biopharmaceutical company developing drugs for chronic pain, anxiety, epilepsy and cardiovascular diseases. Prior to co-founding Neuromed, Ms. Dakers was a senior manager for life sciences technology transfer at the University Industry Liaison Office (UILO) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). In this capacity, she was involved in the creation and spin-off of more than a dozen start-up high-tech and biotech companies.

Ms. Dakers is Past Chair of BC Biotech (now LifeSciences British Columbia), the association supporting and representing the province’s biotech, medical device and life sciences community, and a board member of Genome BC, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and Genome Canada. Ms. Dakers is also an Adjunct Professor in UBC’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and a member of the Council of Canadian Academies’ Expert Panel on Business Innovation. Ms. Dakers was the recipient of a 2004 PEAK Award for Performance and Excellence by the Association of Women in Finance. In May 2009, Ms. Dakers received the BIOTECanada Gold Leaf award for Industry Leadership.