Professor Emeritus, University of Ottawa, Chemistry & President, Souroubea Botanticals Inc.

Tony is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa. During his career as professor and researcher he taught organic and medicinal chemistry to more than 15,000 undergraduates, directed almost 60 M. Sc. and Ph. D. thesis, mentored close to 30 PDFs and published more than 175 refereed papers. He is a co-inventor on 14 patents. He has received awards for both teaching (Professor of the Year, Univ. of Ottawa) and research (Canadian Chemical Society) and was awarded a Queen Elizabeth 60th Silver Jubilee medal in 2013. He has presented invited lectures at universities throughout Canada, and the world and plenary lectures at international conferences. During his career he served on, and was chair of three NSERC grants committees; he also served as member of US National Institute of Cancer major research program committees. His research interests have included organic sulfur chemistry, beta lactam antibiotics, anti-cancer compounds, anti-anxiety and cortisol lowering compounds, asymmetric synthesis based on dynamic kinetic resolution and benzocylcobutenes as intermediates in the synthesis of complex ring systems. During the past twenty years his research has focused on the isolation, evaluation and modification of natural products with potential medical application obtained from plants native to Central America. He is president of Souroubea Botanicals Inc., incorporated in 2015, which developed and currently markets a natural product anti-anxiety treatment based on a Costa Rican vine and an Ontario tree. He serves as a consultant to Greensky Labs, Victoria B.C., a company in the medical marijuana industry. He has been a member of the Mitacs Research Committee for the past five years. Mitacs is dedicated to fostering strong University-Industry research interactions throughout Canada.