Leadership

Walter H. Berukoff
Chairman of the Board

For over fifty years, businessman Walter Berukoff has built a solid reputation as a successful mining entrepreneur, fund and money manager, real estate developer, organic agriculture enthusiast and financier. His half century of business success and as influencer has earned him lasting notoriety for his varied accomplishments.

Born and raised in the Kootenays, Berukoff later moved to the west coast and received his degree in Economics from the University of British Columbia. Mr. Berukoff founded Red Lion Management Ltd., in 1971, a global family office, which has since amassed considerable holdings in real estate and manufacturing facilities. He has taken an active role in developing and turning-around business enterprises throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Mr. Berukoff has been an international advisor in Cuba, Argentina and Peru providing strategic input to national infrastructures. Having raised in excess of five billion dollars in shareholder value for global mining and real-estate projects throughout his career, he has solidified his reputation as a leading Canadian operator and financier.

As a seasoned business personality, Mr. Berukoff was among the invited guests, along with Nobel laureates and well-known intellectuals to the “The Festival of Thinkers” in Abu Dhabi, aimed at shaping the future of the Middle East and the rest of the global community. He is a frequent participant of the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) in Switzerland, which operates as a think tank with the primary objective to promote optimal framework conditions for the Swiss financial centre in Switzerland and abroad.
 

Mr. Berukoff is also known for his philanthropic contributions locally and abroad. He was on the board of Ballet BC from 2006-2009 and was instrumental in saving the company from bankruptcy. In his home community, Berukoff helped establish the Supported Child Development Program (SCDP) that assists families of children with extra support needs to access inclusive child care that meets family needs. He established “Foundry North Shore” which offers young people between the age of 12-24 access to mental health and substance use support, primary care, peer support and social services.  Mr. Berukoff’s work abroad also helped establish the Wharton Entrepreneurship and Family Business Research Centre for women in Abu Dhabi, through the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a preeminent private education provider in the Middle East.

Mr. Berukoff is currently president of Red Lion Management and Chairman and CEO of Lion One Metals Ltd.

Dr. Nihar R. Pandey
Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Pandey is the company’s Chief Scientific Officer. With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, he has played a key role in developing and guiding several Research and Development Pharmaceutical Programs at various stages. He received his doctorate in Clinical Biochemistry and conducted his postdoctoral studies at University of Montreal and at McGill University, Canada. He was a Group leader for Drug Discovery and development at Liponex Inc., Ottawa. During his tenure at Liponex Inc., Dr. Pandey played pivotal roles in bringing 2 novel molecules, through research into clinical trials, and for commercialisation for the treatment of dyslipidemia and neurodegeneration.  He served as Research Scientist at University of Ottawa Heart Institute and Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI)-Neuroscience, University of Ottawa. He was Health and Safety Evaluator at the Health Canada’s Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission. He has extensive life sciences and pharma experience in the discovery, development, drug formulation, clinical trials, and commercialization of drugs. His career highlights include the development of receptor modulators for the treatment of metabolic disorders, anxiety, learning impairments, and neurodegeneration. At Medipure, Dr. Pandey is responsible for promoting leading edge research, including collaborative and interdisciplinary research in endocannabinoid-targeting prescription drug development. In addition, Dr. Pandey leads Medipure Scientific and R&D programs with his immense expertise in Pharmaceutical development of novel drugs. Dr. Pandey has received several awards and is co-author on over 50 publications, patents, medical commentaries, and scientific abstracts. He is the member of several international professional societies and serves as editorial and scientific reviewer in high-impact biomedical journals.

Dr. Nihar Pandey speaks about the Scientific research at Medipure.

Dr. John Maynard
Medical Director

Dr. John Maynard brings more than 44-years of clinical and leadership experience to the Medipure team.

After graduating from the University of Calgary’s Medical school, Dr. Maynard did a two-year internship in Victoria, followed by 10-years of Emergency Medicine in both Victoria and Vancouver. It was at Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria that Dr. Maynard was also involved as Director of Internship. He also served as the Canadian Association of Emergency Medicine continuing medical education committee chairman and Co- Medical Director for Expo 86.

Dr. Maynard moved on to full-service family practice in North Vancouver and during more than 24 years of family practice, he served as Department Head at Lions Gate Hospital, Chief of Staff, and as a physician board member for the North Shore Health Region.

When the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority was established, Dr. Maynard was appointed as Co-Senior Medical Director, overseeing medical care in six facilities as well as Director of Risk Management and Patient Safety. During this time, Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics and Dr. Maynard served on the committee responsible for ensuring appropriate Medical Care for Athletes and Visitors. After leaving his Family Practice to assume the above duties, Dr. Maynard continued to provide clinical care in an urgent care setting.

Dr. Maynard subsequently served as a member of the Senior Executive Team of Vancouver Coastal Health and was appointed Chairman of the Authority’s Medical Advisory Committee.

Dr. Maynard’s extensive clinical experience as an emergency physician and full-service family physician, combined with his outstanding administrative background within the medical community both provincially and federally, provides Medipure a conduit to the physician community and to government bodies nationwide.

Dr. John Maynard speaks about how Medipure's Scientific research into the endocannabinoid system will be so helpful to doctors when prescribing treatment options.

Rman Walia
Executive Vice President, Finance

Mr. Walia received Canadian CPA in July, 2015, his CA from New Zealand in March, 2010 and his CA from India in April, 2001. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce (HONS) from Punjab University in Chandigarh, India and a Diploma in Business Management from Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.

Mr. Walia has extensive Canadian & International corporate experience in the oil & gas, manufacturing and retail industries.  His previous responsibilities include the financial planning and reporting for an entire Canadian operation, and for projects from start to commercialization. He also introduced stringent cost control and cost reduction measures to optimize manufacturing and R&D overhead costs, as well as being heavily involved with Kaizen projects for continuous improvement including emphasis on the application of Lean Principles.