McMaster’s top innovators will be celebrated at this year’s Innovation Showcase, taking place Tuesday, November 19th at McMaster Innovation Park.

The nominees for Lifetime Innovator and Innovator of the Year have made outstanding contributions in their fields of research and have transformed their discoveries into start-ups and technologies with national and global impact.

Learn more about the nominees below and register for Innovation Showcase to join us in celebrating the nominees and winners.

Mehran Anvari
Professor, Surgery

Mehran Anvari is renowned for his work in the field of telerobotic surgery, having performed one of the world’s first remote-controlled robotic surgeries. Anvari is co-founder of medical devices company Insight Medbotics, which harnesses space-age technology to revolutionize cancer detection.

Eric Brown
Professor, Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences

Eric Brown is the Canada Research Chair in Microbial Biology and founder and CEO of biotech company Synmedix. The company’s novel antibiotic platform, developed in Brown’s lab, enhances the efficacy and spectrum of many antibiotics, advancing antibacterial drug discovery.

Lauren Foster
Professor Emeritus, Obstetrics & Gynecology

Lauren Foster is co-founder and CEO of Afynia – a biotech company with the first-ever microRNA-based molecular screen for endometriosis. The company recently received $2M in pre-seed funding to advance EndomiR, which is currently being used in several Canadian fertility clinics as part of its pilot market launch.

Heather Sheardown
Professor, Dean, Faculty of Engineering

Heather Sheardown holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Ophthalmic Biomaterials and Drug Delivery. She is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of 20/20 OptimEyes Technologies, a McMaster-based spin-out that is developing improved treatments for patients suffering from vision loss and other ocular conditions.

Maryam Aramesh
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Maryam Aramesh is co-founder and CEO of McMaster start-up AraMill Inc. The company was created to bring-to-market Aramesh’s eco-friendly solid lubricant coating technology. The technology has the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing of essential materials in the medical, aerospace and automotive sectors, making processes more accessible, affordable, safe and sustainable.

James Cotton
Professor, Mechanical Engineering

James Cotton is a leading expert in the emerging field of energy harvesting and energy storage. He is the CEO and co-founder of Harvest Systems. The company’s groundbreaking technology harvests and recycles waste heat to reduce operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective and scalable fashion.

Tohid Didar
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Tohid Didar holds the Canada Research Chair in Nano-Biomaterials and is the co-founder of McMaster spin-off FendX Technologies, which is focused on developing pathogen repellant and antimicrobial coatings to keep surfaces clean. In 2024, Didar co-founded Sentinel Group Inc. to commercialize innovative food monitoring technologies developed in his lab.

Shawn Mondoux
Associate Professor, Medicine

Shawn Mondoux is an emergency medicine physician and CEO and founder of Prognostiq Health (formally LLIF Healthcare) – a software startup that focuses on improving emergency care through electronic health record (EHR) data analytics.

Onaizah Onaizah
Assistant Professor, Computing & Software

Onaizah Onaizah’s research lives at the intersection of robotics, magnetics, manufacturing and medicine. Onaizah’s HeART (Healthcare Applications for Robotic Technologies) Lab has developed innovative medical technologies that address critical challenges in healthcare.

Anthony Rullo
Associate Professor, Medicine

Anthony Rullo’s research integrates the fields of chemical biology and immunology to advance cancer immunotherapies. Rullo’s new startup venture, Bicova Therapeutics, is commercializing novel immunotherapies for oncology, virology and neurodegenerative diseases.

Jon Stokes
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences

Jon Stokes is at the forefront of Canadian researchers integrating machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite the drug discovery process. He is co-founder of Stoked Bio – an AI start-up company dedicated to finding new antibiotic medicines.

Harald Stover
Professor, Chemistry & Chemical Biology

Harald Stover is the co-founder of Allarta Life Science, a biotech company focused on developing next-generation biomaterials for immune-privileged delivery of cells, stem cells and biologics. Allarta has translated groundbreaking academic research into innovative medical solutions, including cell therapies for type 1 diabetes.