Clarissa Desjardins

Biography

Dr. Clarissa Desjardins founded Clementia in 2011 and has served as the company’s chief executive officer since then. Prior to Clementia, she was CEO at the Centre d’excellence en médecine personnalisée (CEPMED), a Montreal-based federally and privately funded non-profit enterprise created to promote personalized medicine. Dr. Desjardins is an award-winning entrepreneur with more than 18 years of biotechnology experience. She has founded three successful biotech companies, leading all aspects of company creation including conception and financing. She founded Advanced Bioconcept, a research reagent and diagnostics company sold to NEN Life Sciences (Perkin Elmer) in 1998. Dr. Desjardins also co-founded Caprion Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on proteomic biomarker discovery and drug development, where she was executive vice-president of Corporate Development. She received the BRIO award for outstanding contributions to the biotechnology industry from the Quebec Biotechnology Association and was named one of the top young Canadians likely to influence the future by the Globe and Mail. Dr. Desjardins has been a board member of numerous companies including the scientific advisory council of the Canadian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Desjardins earned a doctorate in Neurology and Neurosurgery from McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and was a Medical Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the Douglas Hospital Research Centre. Dr. Clarissa Desjardins founded Clementia in 2011 and has served as the company’s chief executive officer since then. Prior to Clementia, she was CEO at the Centre d’excellence en médecine personnalisée (CEPMED), a Montreal-based federally and privately funded non-profit enterprise created to promote personalized medicine. Dr. Desjardins is an award-winning entrepreneur with more than 18 years of biotechnology experience. She has founded three successful biotech companies, leading all aspects of company creation including conception and financing. She founded Advanced Bioconcept, a research reagent and diagnostics company sold to NEN Life Sciences (Perkin Elmer) in 1998. Dr. Desjardins also co-founded Caprion Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company focused on proteomic biomarker discovery and drug development, where she was executive vice-president of Corporate Development. She received the BRIO award for outstanding contributions to the biotechnology industry from the Quebec Biotechnology Association and was named one of the top young Canadians likely to influence the future by the Globe and Mail. Dr. Desjardins has been a board member of numerous companies including the scientific advisory council of the Canadian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Desjardins earned a doctorate in Neurology and Neurosurgery from McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and was a Medical Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the Douglas Hospital Research Centre.

Research Interest

Clinical Pharmacy  Pharmaceutical Administration Medicinal Chemistry