Team

Bob has been Chief Executive Officer since Clera’s founding in 2001, leading the company’s financing and strategy and coordinating the activities of its research and development team.

Previously, Bob was CEO of GDE Inc., an Internet technology company, leading its global partnering activities. He was also a partner in Origin Strategy Inc. based in Toronto and London, England, an intellectual property consulting firm. Bob was Head of Strategy for Microsoft Network UK in London, England where he helped develop its online strategy.

He has also been a technical and regulatory expert advising The European Commission throughout Europe on the impact of new communications technologies. Bob previously practiced administrative and regulatory law with Bull, Housser & Tupper, a full-service Canadian law firm based in Vancouver.

He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science with Honours from the University of Toronto, a Master of Business Administration from EDHEC University in France, and a Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia. Bob is a non-practicing member of the California State Bar. He has published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, the International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the Psychiatric Times.

As one of the world’s most respected antipsychotic drug scientists, Dr. Seeman worked with the University of Toronto, Department of Pharmacology since 1967, and served as Chairman between 1977 and 1987. His work between 1964 and 1974 on the membrane actions of drugs led him to the discovery of the antipsychotic receptor, now re-named the dopamine D2 receptor. This research forms an experimental basis for the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia.

In 1990-91, Dr. Seeman and his research group, including H.B. Niznik, H. Van Tol and R. Sunahara, cloned three dopamine receptors: D1, D4 and D5. He has trained over 100 graduate students and Fellows.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has received 23 awards, including the Lieber Award of NARSAD (the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression), the Stanley Dean Award of the American College of Psychiatrists, the Tanenbaum Award for Schizophrenia Research from the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation, the first Prix Galien award in North America, the Pasarow Foundation award in Neuropsychiatry, and the Killam Prize in Health Sciences from the Canada Council.

Dr. Seeman received a B.Sc. and an M.D. from McGill University. He received a Ph.D. in Life Sciences in 1966, working with Dr. George Palade (1974 Nobel Laureate, Medicine/Physiology) at Rockefeller University.

In 2002, Dr. Philip Seeman received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Toronto and also was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour.

Mary V. Seeman is Professor Emerita, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. She graduated from McGill University Medical School in 1960 and trained in Psychiatry in the US and the UK. Her research interest has been in schizophrenia and its different manifestations in women and men.

Dr. Seeman has written over 200 scientific articles, co-authored Living and Working with Schizophrenia and Psyche in the Lab and edited/co-edited Gender and Psychopathology, Parental Psychiatric Disorder, and Women’s Mental Health.

She has served as Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Mt. Sinai Hospital and CAMH and as Vice-Chair of the U. of T. Department of Psychiatry, as well as inaugural Tapscott Professor and Chair of Schizophrenia Studies.

She received the Canadian Psychiatric Association Gold Award for Advancement of Psychiatric Research in 2001 and a Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal as well as an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Toronto in 2002 and became Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006.

Paul was the former Director of Sales and Marketing for Polar Securities, one of Canada's leading hedge fund companies, where he raised assets from both domestic and international high net worth investors and institutions. Previously, he was a Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Mackenzie Financial, one of Canada's largest mutual fund companies, where he lead the marketing arm of its structured products division and oversaw a $ 1 billion sales territory of investment advisors.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Queen's University and a Master of Business Administration from IESE Business School. He speaks English, French, German and Spanish.

Dr. Toleikis is CEO of Sernova Corp. and has over 20 years of research, intellectual property, management and business experience in the pharmacology and biotechnology sectors. He was Vice President, R&D Pharmacology and Drug Screening, for Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, where he built a major scientific and information technology team that included senior scientists, research scientists and technicians.

Dr. Toleikis’ major achievements at Angiotech included successful completion of Phase II European Clinical Trials, chairing the Joint Research Committee, in-licensing and out-licensing of technologies, and management of key patents and patent applications. Dr. Toleikis is the author of multiple issued patents and over 110 patent applications.

His research training and experience includes biochemical pharmacology, diabetes, oncology, inflammatory diseases (psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, surgical adhesions, Alzheimer’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis), osteoarthritis, neurological diseases and cardiovascular conditions including ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, hypertension and aneurysms.

Suman Rakhit was the Chief Scientific Officer of Neuraxon, Inc. and also Founder and CEO of MCR Research Inc. a medicinal chemistry CRO. He is the former Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Allelix Biopharmaceuticals and BioMega-Boehringher Ingelheim and has more than 37 years experience in drug discovery and development. Dr. Rakhit co-discovered Rapamycin, an anti-rejection drug, at Ayerst Laboratories and discovered the anti-migraine drug ALX-646, an antimigraine drug currently undergoing Phase II clinical trials by Allelix.

He was responsible for the dopaminergic antagonist program for the treatment of schizophrenia which was licensed to Aventis for over $50 million in 1995 and was part of a team which established Bio-Mega and its research programs, eventually acquired by Boehringer-Ingelheim. Dr. Rakhit has more than 70 publications and 25 patents in synthetic chemistry and lead optimization.