About Us
NURA Medical Inc. was founded in 2020, with the mission to provide healthcare professionals with innovative tools to improve patient health outcomes and to optimize clinical workflow.
Our multi-disciplinary team is comprised of our three co-founders, Georgia Powell, BSc MSc (Chief Executive Officer), Jean-Gabriel Lacombe, BEng MSc (Chief Product Officer), Sofia Addab, BSc MSc (Co-Founder), as well as Louis-Philippe Lavoie, BEng MSc, (CTO), Harold Gervais, MBA (Chief Financial Officer), and Cynthia Kwan, PhD (Clinical & Regulatory Affairs Director).
NURA Medical has an extensive key opinion leader network consisting of our medical mentor, Dr. Ilana Bank, MDCM, FRCPC, FAAP (pediatric emergency medicine physician) and our business mentors; Steven Arless (biomedical technology entrepreneur) and Jack Cohen (business development mentor).
Georgia Powell
Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder
Georgia holds a Master of Science in Experimental Surgery with a concentration in Surgical Innovation from McGill University. During her masters, Georgia’s research focused on pediatric musculoskeletal disorders with additional efforts directed towards to the provision of goal-directed fluid therapy and postoperative recovery after major spine surgery. Prior to her masters, Georgia completed her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology (Honours), with research focused on neuroscience on the effect of feedback on motor learning through electroencephalo-grams. Her innovative vision for technology-driven solutions and patient-centred care inspired her to co-found NURA Medical.
Jean-Gabriel Lacombe
Chief Product Officer, Co-founder
Jean-Gabriel is responsible for product development at NURA Medical. He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Science in Experimental Surgery with a concentration in Surgical Innovation, and is currently completing his Medical degree at the Université de Montréal. Prior to co-founding NURA, Jean-Gabriel worked as an Associate at the Boston Consulting Group, where he advised clients on a variety of large-scale strategic initiatives.
Louis-Philippe Lavoie
Chief Technology Officer
Louis-Philippe is a technology enthusiast with 20+ years of experience building innovative software products in multiple business domains. With a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science in Bioinformatics, his multidisciplinary background fosters holistic solutions. Avid practitioner of all things agile and continuous improvement, LP has led multiple product and software teams to success and also advises early-stage startups in the life sciences sector.
Harold Gervais
Chief Financial Officer
Harold holds 35+ years of experience in managing businesses of all sizes. He began his career at Kimberly-Clark where for 13 years he held several positions as VP of Human Resources and VP of Finance. He then joined ABB for 7 years, where he held the position of Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer and CIO for ABB America. He was also CFO of Hartco and Quebecor Sports and Entertainment. He also co-founded the Quebec Manufacturing Fund, where he invested in several companies. He went on to establish his own consulting firm specializing in recovery and restructuring mandates and coaching startups, with over 50 mandates completed. Harold is highly skilled at making quick and accurate diagnoses and developing realistic action plans that deliver the expected results. Harold’s academic background includes a bachelor’s degree in finance from Université Laval, a master’s degree in business administration from Université de Sherbrooke, as well as post-graduate seminars from IMD in Switzerland and Duke University in California. He has served on the board of directors of numerous companies.
Cynthia Kwan
Clinical & Regulatory Affairs Director
Cynthia Kwan is leading clinical development and regulatory strategy at NURA Medical. She manages the oversight of clinical testing from study design to data analysis and aligns regulatory requirements with product development. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience, a Master of Science in Pharmacology, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacology.
Sofia Addab
Co-founder
Sofia Addab is one of the co-founders of NURA Medical. As a recent graduate from McGill University’s Experimental Surgery program where she conducted clinical research at the Shriners Hospitals for Children-Canada, Sofia is responsible for overseeing clinical testing of our products. Further, she maintains ties with healthcare professionals and oversees regulatory affairs to bring NURA Medical to hospitals.
Dr. Ilana Bank, MDCM, FRCPC, FAAP
Medical Officer
Dr. Ilana Bank is a pediatric emergency physician and associate professor of pediatrics at McGill University. She has over 20 years of experience in pediatric emergency care. Dr. Bank is the Director of the Pediatric Simulation Institute at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. In this capacity, she brings together interdisciplinary groups of health care professionals to optimize care in the emergency room. Dr. Bank’s commitment to the education of future health professionals has earned her numerous awards and honors, including the 2017 Faculty Honor Roll for Excellence in Education, the 2021-2022 Women in Leadership Award, and the 2020 Certificate of Achievement from the Canadian Association for Medical Education (CAME). At NURA, Dr. Bank serves as the medical mentor, providing the team with a network of emergency physicians and nurses, clinical expertise and insight in pediatric emergency medicine, and clinical environment for prototype testing.
