Speaker: Dr. Donald Weaver

Donald Weaver MD, PhD, FRCP(C) is Director of the Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network and professor in the Departments of Medicine, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chemistry. He obtained his MD in 1981 from Queen’s University and a PhD in theoretical organic chemistry in 1986. He also completed a residency in clinical neurology. He was on faculty at Queen’s University (1988-2001) and at Dalhousie University (2001-2013) before coming to Toronto in 2013. At Queen’s, he was Chair of Clinical Neurology and professor of neurology and chemistry; at Dalhousie, he was Director of Research for the Department of Medicine and professor of neurology and chemistry. His research is focussed on the design and synthesis of drugs for the treatment of chronic neurological disorders with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. He uses large scale in silico computer simulations to explore the structural biology of putative receptors relevant to Alzheimer’s disease. This information is then employed to enable rational drug design. He has had two compounds reach Phase III human clinical trials. He has also co-founded six start-up biotech companies. Dr. Weaver holds a Canada Research Chair, Tier 1, in Protein Misfolding Diseases and is a Harrington Scholar-Innovator; he has published more than 300 peer reviewed publications and holds 47 issued patents in drug design and discovery. He has won multiple national and international awards for his research.