The positive impact of BioTalent Canada programs on all those who participate is evident in these success stories. You can see first-hand how the talent of young innovators, newcomers, students and employees are shaping Canada’s bio-economy every day.
I am thankful to Biotalent Canada for running the wage subsidy program. It helped me at the right time to find myself at RightBlue Labs as an application developer and gave me a great opportunity to showcase my skills.”
Wage subsidies help businesses grow since there is an incentive to take on new workers, especially one like myself, coming right out of college.
I chose a career in biotech because... it is an exciting field that will continue to transform agronomic practices in the future. I come from an agricultural background and as such, I have been growing a wide range of field and vegetable crops for most of my life. Plant pathology offered answers to many of the problems I had encountered growing crops and as a result I became extremely fascinated. I chose to do graduate work in plant pathology and biotechnology has been a major player in recent advances in plant science.
I chose a career in biotech because... the field interested me greatly. I saw it as studying the workings of life’s complex systems and using the gained knowledge to serve humanity’s purposes in seemingly limitless ingenious ways. I wanted to be a part of that. To use life to help lives, you could say.
I chose a career in biotech because… it combined my scientific skills with the most innovative technologies, making me feel like I can have a genuine impact. Working in biotech has allowed me to collaborate with global companies who want to do the right thing, and together we are using technology that applies environmental priorities to the corporations that are driving our economy. Biotech puts me at the forefront alongside those manufacturers that can contribute the most to a sustainable future.
“BioTalent Canada really helps immigrants in some very deep ways,” says Rodel Imbarlina-Ramos of Toronto Regional Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC). “The breadth and the depth of their programming and the research and information that they offer to their sector helps to solve workforce challenges and shortages in biotech.”
It was during a break in sessions at a biotech conference in Vancouver. I overheard someone asking their friend if anyone from BioTalent Canada was at the conference. Turning around I introduced myself and met Elizabeth Velasque. “I just wanted to thank you,” she said. “Why? For what?” I asked. Elizabeth went on to explain how the BioTalent Canada website was instrumental in helping her start a new life and career in Canada.
Jason Leibert was an entrepreneurial business graduate looking for opportunities when he discovered life sciences and realized his business education and entrepreneurial spirit would enable him to make a contribution to the industry. Mr. Leibert helped write a business plan for an organ preservation solution while completing his university education, subsequently traveling to various schools across North America entering business plan competitions.
Dalton Pharma, a leading pharmaceutical contracting company in Toronto, started unremarkably enough. “I couldn’t find a job, so I created one in 1986 based upon research I had conducted during my Master’s degree,” remembers Peter Pekos, the company founder. Mr. Pekos had been part of a business incubator at York University where he excelled at making compounds. He partnered with a professor and named his fledgling company after John Dalton, the renowned English chemist, meteorologist and physicist of the 18th century.
Like many people with a scientific education, Nerissa Samad discovered that her educational background didn’t translate well onto paper. “My resumé was very scientific, very technical and very hard for people to understand,” she remembers. “My sister rewrote my resumé, and I always credit her with helping me land my job,” laughs Samad, recalling her foray into business development four years ago. Now Ms. Samad is a business development professional at Dalton Pharma, a leading pharmaceutical contracting company located in Toronto.
