About Us
ILLUMISONICS IS A COMPANY BASED ON APPLIED NEW PHYSICS (PARS®) TO ILLUMINATE DEEP DATA
Our proprietary PARS® (Photon Absorption Remote Sensing) technology is a revolution in optical imaging.
Our company is developing and plans to commercialize its PARS® advanced optical imaging systems for a wide range of pre-clinical and clinical applications.
Our proprietary PARS® (Photon Absorption Remote Sensing) technology is a revolution in optical imaging.
Our company is developing and plans to commercialize its PARS® advanced optical imaging systems for a wide range of pre-clinical and clinical applications.
Experienced Leadership
DR. JOHN MACKEY, MD.
CEO & CMO Dr. Mackey is a medical oncologist and Professor Emeritus of Oncology at the University of Alberta. In addition to acting as director and clinical advisor to illumiSonics, Dr Mackey brings deep MedTech commercialization experience. He co-founded Pacylex Pharmaceuticals, J2 Endeavours, and SMHeartCard Inc. As Chair of the Alberta Pre-Phase I Program steering committee, he has a highly skilled team committed to bringing new anticancer therapies into clinical testing (www.prephaseone.com). Dr. Mackey has authored or co-authored more than 300 biomedical peer-reviewed publications.
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DR. PARSIN HAJI REZA, PhD.
CTO Dr. Reza discovered and pioneered the PARS® imaging techniques. In November 2014, he co-founded illumiSonics inc., holding the position of CEO from 2014 to 2018 and the chairman from 2014 to 2023. Dr. Reza is an award winning professor at the University of Waterloo and leads a large team of technical experts at PhotoMedicine Labs. He brings more than 12 years experience in optics and biomedical engineering, and continues to advance the validation of PARS® through these efforts. He currently has 35+ peer reviewed journal papers in optics and biomedical Engineering. He also holds 12+ family of patents regarding PARS® technology. Dr. Reza has been recognized for his innovative scientific contributions to advancing the state of optical imaging.
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GLEN MACKEY
CFO Mr. Mackey is a seasoned corporate executive with extensive experience in marketing, trading, compliance, and financial management in the commodity marketing and financial sectors. Currently Chairman of the board at VRP Farms Ltd., he previously served as Chief Risk and Procurement Officer at NRG Energy, overseeing risk management, procurement, and financial activities. Mackey has also held leadership roles at Nexen Inc., EnCana, Duke Energy, and TD Bank. He is an advisory board member at Rutgers University and a member of the Market Risk Advisory Committee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
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Management
MIKE BISHOP
Director, Product Dev. and Hardware Architecture Mike Bishop spent 10 years at Apple, most recently as an Engineering Manager in hardware technologies, where he led a team in designing and prototyping biophotonic hardware systems. Before Apple, he was with Christie Digital, where he played a key role in developing the first high-power RGB laser-based cinema projector. Mike holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University. He also holds numerous patents in nanotechnology, optical sensors, optomechanical design, and thermal architectures.
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KRISTOF SUBRYAN
Director, Software Architecture Kristof Subryan is a software professional with experience in robotics research, medical imaging, education, and commercial software development. He worked 16 years at Apple where, amongst other projects, he managed development of Aperture, software for professional photographers. Prior to Apple he worked for Sun Microsystems where he managed number of large infrastructure projects supporting Sun’s business as well as projects powering large telecom companies. He holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Computer Science from University of Manitoba.
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JILL STEFANELLI, PHD
Advisory Board Member and Consultant in Digital and Molecular Pathology Dr. Stefanelli, a pioneer in precision medicine, brings over 20 years of experience in pathology and molecular diagnostics to illumiSonics. She has held key leadership roles, including President and Chief Business Officer at Paige, where she drove corporate strategy and commercial growth, and led strategic partnerships in life sciences and biomarker development. Previously, she served as Senior VP of Partnerships at Invitae, leading global Companion Diagnostic initiatives. Dr. Stefanelli also established the first Companion Diagnostic program for the OncomineDX assay at Thermo Fisher Scientific and has held positions at Pacific Biosciences, Roche Diagnostics, and the USDA.
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DEEPAK DINAKARAN, MD.
Director Molecular Imaging Dr. Dinakaran is a radiation oncologist and clinician scientist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, Canada. He holds degrees from the University of Toronto, McGill University, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Alberta, with postgraduate training at the NIH. His research focuses on biophotonics, nanoparticle-based therapeutics, and radiotherapy-drug interactions. He pioneered a therapeutic strategy using radiation-activated photodynamic therapy (radioPDT) nanoparticles, leading to a patent, industry licensing, and CIHR funding. Dr. Dinakaran has authored 20+ publications and is a co-investigator on multiple clinical trials with major pharmaceutical partners.
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Board of Directors
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STEVEN BASTA
Chairman |
JOHN MACKEY, MD.
CEO & CMO |
PARSIN HAJI REZA, PhD.
Founder & CTO |
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Mr. Basta is a seasoned Senior Executive with 25 years of experience leading biopharma and medical technology companies. He has a strong track record in launching and scaling life science products and leading product development. Currently, he serves as CEO of Sanotize and as a director of VYNE Therapeutics and Dermbiont. Steve has successfully led two companies through IPOs and managed multiple partnerships, financings, mergers, and licensing collaborations. He previously served as CEO of BioForm Medical and AlterG, driving both companies to industry leadership. Steve holds a BA in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins and an MBA from Kellogg.
GLEN MACKEY
CFO & Director Mr. Mackey is a seasoned corporate executive with extensive experience in marketing, trading, compliance, and financial management in the commodity marketing and financial sectors. Currently Chairman of the board at VRP Farms Ltd., he previously served as Chief Risk and Procurement Officer at NRG Energy, overseeing risk management, procurement, and financial activities. Mackey has also held leadership roles at Nexen Inc., EnCana, Duke Energy, and TD Bank. He is an advisory board member at Rutgers University and a member of the Market Risk Advisory Committee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
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Dr. Mackey is a medical oncologist and Professor Emeritus of Oncology at the University of Alberta. In addition to acting as director and clinical advisor to illumiSonics, Dr Mackey brings deep MedTech commercialization experience. He co-founded Pacylex Pharmaceuticals, J2 Endeavours, and SMHeartCard Inc. As Chair of the Alberta Pre-Phase I Program steering committee, he has a highly skilled team committed to bringing new anticancer therapies into clinical testing (www.prephaseone.com). Dr. Mackey has authored or co-authored more than 300 biomedical peer-reviewed publications.
BRUCE JOHNSON
Director Mr. Johnson has been the Chief Executive of a number of companies primarily in the technology sector. He was the co-founder and CEO of Intuit Canada and UK and grew that organization to 700 staff and revenues of around $115M. He currently is active in coaching entrepreneurs and sits on a number of boards including HeadCount Corporation, Vertical City Inc., Rehabtronics Inc., and the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute.
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Dr. Reza discovered and pioneered the PARS® imaging techniques. In November 2014, he co-founded illumiSonics inc., holding the position of CEO from 2014 to 2018 and the chairman from 2014 to 2023. Dr. Reza is an award winning professor at the University of Waterloo and leads a large team of technical experts at PhotoMedicine Labs. He brings more than 12 years experience in optics and biomedical engineering, and continues to advance the validation of PARS® through these efforts. He currently has 35+ peer reviewed journal papers in optics and biomedical Engineering. He also holds 12+ family of patents regarding PARS® technology. Dr. Reza has been recognized for his innovative scientific contributions to advancing the state of optical imaging.
KEVIN FAHEY, PhD.
Director Dr. Fahey is an accomplished executive known for driving significant growth in both large and small companies. At Xradia (acquired by ZEISS) and FEI (acquired by ThermoFisher), he quadrupled business within four years by restructuring operations and expanding into new markets. He also led startups like ESI, Metrosol, and OptoAtmospherics from pre-revenue to commercialization, securing major B2B customers. Dr. Fahey has successfully pivoted companies like ESI, KMLabs, and ZEISS into new markets, creating new business lines and boosting sales. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford and a B.S. in Physics from MIT.
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Our Development and Technology Partners
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PHOTOMEDICINE LABS
The PhotoMedicine Labs (PML) is a research group in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. Professor Parsin Haji Reza founded PML in September 2018, with the vision of growing it to become a major hub within the fields of biomedical optics and optical imaging. PML is composed of talented graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, scientists, engineers, and clinicians, all working to design and develop innovative medical imaging techniques in the field of digital pathology, oncology, pre-clinical research, drug discovery, and ophthalmology. » PhotoMedicine Labs |