Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SoPE) Toronto Chapter is the regional chapter for the non-profit global biomedical and healthcare innovation network SoPE. Members include doctors, nurses, dentists, healthcare entrepreneurs, investors, engineers, IT professionals, and industry representatives. SoPE is here to provide the network to encourage, educate, and connect biomedical and healthcare entrepreneurs so that new ideas get a chance to get to market!
The Greater Toronto Area is a North American powerhouse of medical service delivery, clinical/scientific research, and medical education. However, too few physicians are trained or mentored locally in how to convert their innovative ideas into commercial and financial success outside of their clinical practice. Dr. Ken Pritzker and John Soloninka, both entrepreneurs in medical technology, discovered the Denver-based SoPE, felt it met an important unfilled need in the GTA, and founded the Toronto Chapter. There is no good reason the level of medical entrepreneurship in Ontario cannot reach that in Boston, San Francisco, New York and Minneapolis.
SoPE operates in the very early stages of innovation commercialization: encouraging physicians and other medical professional entrepreneurs with ideas about how to improve healthcare, to explore the possibilities and empower them should they decide to take those initial steps to “go to market”. The Society is the only known organization founded and led by physicians with the specific purpose of providing support to those physicians and other medical professionals on the front lines of delivering healthcare that need help in bringing to life their ideas, inventions and innovations for improving healthcare.
With the inaugural meeting in June 2019, the Toronto Chapter tapped into a long overdue need for Greater Toronto Area physicians and healthcare professions to interact with their community of entrepreneurial practice. We meet at various locations in the GTA approximately 4 times a year. Please join us!
Chris O’Connor, President and Founder, Think Research and Critical Care Physician Trillium Health Partners.
John Soloninka, BSC (ENG PHYSICS) PENG MBA
Co-Leader
John is a medical technology innovator, entrepreneur and health systems strategy consultant having created, grown and sold companies in oncology, radiology, SaaS EMR, pathology, diabetes, and POCT diagnostics. He is the President and Founder of Accelerant Health Innovations, a strategic Medtech consulting company, and currently SVP Acquisitions and Exits for Relay Medical Corp, a public medtech innovation accelerator based in Toronto, Israel and Holland. His career includes high-impact health system transformation projects, consulting extensively to government and private sector clients (pharma, medtech, health IT, health services), and created and led large medical research coalitions, specifically in oncology, neuroscience and clinical trials. As CEO of a Medtech venture debt fund, he financed 36 early-stage medical technology companies, founded another 6 healthcare technology companies, and raised angel and venture and angel funds in Canada, the US and Europe.
Five Top Reasons You Should Attend SoPE-Toronto Chapter events
- Learn from other experienced physician entrepreneurs and their business partners.
- Understand what seasoned investors expect in real life terms.
- Networking with like-minded professionals and service providers who can help you.
- Connect with others across the international SoPE network.
- Be Part of a community of practice of like-minded professionals
