Scientific Advisory Board

The members of deutraMed’s Scientific Advisory Board draw on a wide array of deuterium expertise and professional experience to advise the company on its science and innovation-focused activities. They meet periodically to peer review the company’s scientific work, provide expert input on research proposals, and share ideas for the exploration of new breakthrough innovations.

Headshot of Joseph P. Porwell against a grey background.

Joseph P. Porwell, BS, PhD

Former President, Aldrich Chemical Company

Chair of the Scientific Board

Dr. Porwoll has had a close association with deutraMed that includes service on the Board of Directors and advisory services to expand the company’s deuterium capabilities in both business and science. As the former President of Aldrich and VP of Supply Chain of Sigma Aldrich, Dr. Porwoll’s knowledge of customer requirements, products and technical isotopic expertise is world-class. He has developed, manufactured and managed various stable isotope production systems, including those with deuterium.

Alistair I. Miller, BSc, PhD, DIC, FCIC

Former Head of Hydrogen Isotopes Group, AECL

Scientific Advisory Board Member

Dr. Miller has helped guide the scientific direction of deutraMed since its inception. During a more than 40-year career, he has gained extensive experience in hydrogen isotope separation, deuterium oxide technology and nuclear energy. He is the retired former head of the Hydrogen Isotopes Group of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and is a listed inventor on numerous patents who is recognized as an expert in the field of deuterium oxide technology. Dr. Miller has a B.Sc. in Applied Chemistry from the University of Glasgow and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of London (Imperial College). He is a Past President of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering.

Graham Murphy, BSc, PhD

Associate Professor, University of Waterloo

Scientific Advisory Board Member

Dr. Murphy has been engaged with deutraMed since 2017, guiding the development of deuterated organic synthesis processes. His research is focused on organic chemistry, specifically the development of hypervalent iodine reagents. These reagents are key to his work developing new methods for carbene formation, C-C bond formation and α-carbonyl functionalization – chemistry that in turn is used to develop designer electrolytes for battery technologies and to target natural medicinal products.

Denis Gris, BHSc, PhD

Professor of Immunology, Université de Sherbrooke

Scientific Advisory Board Member

Professor Gris began his association with deutraMed in 2020, in the field Bio-Pharmaceuticals. Professor Gris earned a Masters degree and Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Dr. Lynn Weaver’s laboratory at the University of Western Ontario, where he discovered that the influx of neutrophils is detrimental for recovering after spinal cord injury.

Samantha E. L. Stuart, BASc, MASc, EIT

Data Scientist, Machine Learning Researcher, University of Toronto

Scientific Advisory Board Member

Ms. Stuart has contributed to scientific innovations and intellectual property management at deutraMed since its inception. A University of Toronto National Scholar, Ms. Stuart completed her MASc in Biomedical Engineering at the university, with a focus on machine learning in nanomedicine at the Frank Gu Lab. There, she co-founded an open science platform based on her research developing a framework for the machine-learning driven design of nanoparticle drug delivery systems targeting mucosal membranes. Samantha is an author of several peer reviewed papers and has developed multiple open-source code repositories, and today builds cutting edge cloud technology platforms in the business world as a Professional Services Consultant.