Karimah Es Sabar

Senior Vice-President
Business and Strategic Affairs
Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD)

Karimah Es Sabar has had a dynamic career in the life sciences industry globally since 1982, having worked on five continents with business associations in over 60 countries. She currently holds the position of Senior Vice-President, Business and Strategic Affairs at the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) based in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Prior to joining CDRD, Ms. Es Sabar took on the role of leading BC Biotech in 2005, re-engineering and rebranding the organization to LifeSciences BC. As President she led the organization to its greatest levels of success as a strong business development organization for the life science industry and the scientific research community. Ms. Es Sabar has held senior management positions with international multinational companies, most notably as Director International Division, and later Director Marketing & Business Development at Connaught Laboratories Limited [now Sanofi Pasteur] based in Toronto. More recently, Ms. Es Sabar was Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for a Vancouver medical devices company, Medsurge Medical Inc. She was also the founder and Managing Director of SAL Healthcare Limited, a leading healthcare organization in Kenya at the time, specializing in pharmaceutical marketing, distribution and healthcare consulting services. The company set new standards in the marketing and distribution of biopharmaceutical products in the region.

Ms. Es Sabar serves as a board member for a number of organizations including The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR); Prostate Centre Advisory Board, Vancouver General Hospital; the Prostate Centre’s Translational Research Initiative for Accelerated Discovery and Development (PC-TRIADD); and MOSAIC, a multilingual non-profit organization dedicated to addressing issues that affect immigrants and refugees in the course of their settlement and integration into Canadian society. She also lends her leadership by participating in a number of advisory committees for organizations such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); the Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS); British Columbia Institute of Technology / University of British Columbia Biotechnology Degree Program; The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE); India Market Advisory Committee, British Columbia Asia-Pacific Trade Council. She is also a former board member of the Aga Khan National Economic Planning Board of Canada and Aga Khan National Health Boards in Canada and Kenya.

Ms. Es Sabar holds BSc. Joint Honours degree in Biochemistry/Chemistry from the University of Salford, England, and a MSc. degree in Neurochemistry from the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, England.

August 2010