Michael Midmer, MSc, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Michael is the Chief Executive Officer of Zucara and has over 20 years of experience in the life science industry, fund management, corporate finance and therapeutic development. Michael has been CEO of Zucara Therapeutics since 2016 and has advanced the company from preclinical discovery into Phase 2 clinical trials securing over US$30 million in capital.
Michael was previously an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at TIAP (Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners) providing management support to its portfolio companies. Michael also managed an industry/academia focused funding program with Genome Canada and spent nearly a decade with Rosetta Capital, an international venture capital firm.
Michael has an MSc in molecular biology from the University of Toronto (Canada) and an MBA from Imperial College Business School (UK).
Richard Liggins, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer
Richard is the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Zucara, and has led Zucara’s technology development from its discovery through to clinical development. Dr. Liggins is an inventor of certain aspects of Zucara’s intellectual property. Prior to Zucara, he was Senior Director of Advanced Projects at adMare BioInnovations (formerly CDRD), developing a portfolio of assets to commercialization through NewCo formation or out-licensing.
Earlier he was a Research Scientist at Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, responsible for development of injectable formulations in clinical development. With a background in both drug and device development, Dr. Liggins has contributed to multiple IND filings, advancing programs from pre-clinical through Phase 2 development.
Dr. Liggins obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia in 1998.
Susan Peers, PhD
Director of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs
Susan Peers, PhD, is a life sciences executive with drug development expertise developed over 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry including 20 years in regulatory affairs. Most recently Susan was Director, Regulatory Affairs at Transition Therapeutics ULC, a subsidiary of OPKO Health, Inc. in Toronto, ON.
In her previous position in OPKO Renal (formerly Cytochroma Inc.) she was responsible for regulatory function concerning drug development, including development and submission strategy, and NDA planning and preparation.
Prior to Cytochroma, Susan had progressive roles within NPS Pharmaceutics/NPS Allelix where she was the regulatory affairs representative on project team for recombinant product in phase 3 (CDER, gastrointestinal, two indications). She was also with Resolution Pharmaceuticals, and Allelix Biopharmaceuticals.
Susan Peers has a PhD (Pharmacology) and a BSc (Pharmacology, First Class Honours) from the University of London, King’s College, UK.
Michael Riddell, PhD
Chair, Clinical/Scientific Advisory Board
Michael is a Professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Sciences, Faculty of Health (since 2005) at York University in Toronto. He is also a senior scientist at Centricity Research (formerly LMC Manna Research) in Toronto. With over 120 peer reviewed articles and 16 book chapters, Dr. Riddell is an internationally recognized expert in blood sugar management in exercise and diabetes.
He completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Toronto with Dr. Mladen Vranic (a postdoctoral student of the renowned Dr. Charles H. Best), during which he conducted studies on the impact of stress hormones on diabetes-related metabolism. He received his PhD at McMaster University in 1999.
Dr. Riddell leads Zucara’s efforts as Chair of the Clinical/Scientific Advisory Board and through conducting preclinical studies for T1D/T2D at York University. Dr. Riddell has been living with T1D since the age of 14 years.