The team and the story behind Syantra
Syantra was formed in 2016 by Dr. Tina Rinker, Dr. Ken Fuh, Dr. Randy Moore and Bob Shepherd.
It was conceived from work performed out of the Rinker Lab at the University of Calgary in Canada. Dr. Rinker and Shepherd had been researching and publishing in the areas of cardiovascular disease and inflammation for about a decade, and through this work, developed a biomarker and drug target discovery platform that is now patented in several countries.
From the start, the vision and mission were clear: To make early cancer detection part of routine healthcare, and to provide a globally available platform — the revolutionary patent-pending Onco-ID™ — that both enables the earliest possible detection of cancer and empowers oncologists and pharmaceutical scientists to create personalized, precision treatments for cancer.
Our team
Rob joined Syantra in November 2023, bringing 23 years of experience in commercially disruptive technologies at private and public companies across the healthcare arena. In his leadership roles at companies such as Cardea, Specific Diagnostics and Sequenom, he has driven business growth, scaling and the successful sale of the company. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Limmi, an Artificial Intelligence company serving the life science sector, and Gaia Medical Institute, a company focused on saliva-based point-of-care diagnostics for brain health. Rob holds a degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Bob has over 25 years of experience in cell bioengineering research and development. He has co-founded several companies, including Syantra, to commercialize innovative technologies and is a co-inventor on ten international patents.
Kristina is a biomedical engineering innovation professional focused on technology development, translation to implementation, mentoring and training, and entrepreneurial thinking. Additionally, Kristina is co-lead of biodiagnostics and a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Calgary. She’s also a member in the Charbonneau Cancer Institute.
Kenneth completed his doctorate degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Calgary and is actively involved in assay development, optimization, and clinical demonstration of Syantra DX.
Randy is a consultant vascular surgeon with over 20 years’ experience in innovation, research and biotech development. Randy is a co-founder of Syantra and is currently the CMO of ViTAA Medical Solutions, a software as medical device company based in Montreal.
Olesya has over 17 years of experience working in the biotech industry, academia and research. She has an extensive experience in breast cancer, translational biology, drug discovery, epigenetics, and target validation. She has over 10 years of research and development experience leading oncology and discovery teams addressing resistance to current therapies as well as pre-clinical development of small molecule therapeutics and tool compounds. She holds a Ph.D. in bioinorganic chemistry from the Bowling Green State University, OH, USA. She has authored and co-authored over 35 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on several patents.
Our Board of Directors
Rifat is chairman, president and CEO of Midway Pharmaceuticals based in Philadelphia. Previously he was founder, director and CSO of Cell Pathways Inc. where he was instrumental in obtaining over $140 million of capital and in transforming CPI into a public company.
Alice is a successful technology entrepreneur and dedicated community leader and mentor. Alice is a co-founder and director of The51, a financial platform for democratized access to female capital for female led businesses. She serves on the board of Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund and is the former Board Chair of Startup Calgary and The A100.
Paul is the medical director of Rejuvenation Dermatology, which has clinics in Alberta, Ontario and B.C., and a co-founder of Calgary-based mobile lab services startup, TapLabs Corp. He has published extensively on skin cancer topics including melanoma, squamous cell and basal cell carcinoma. He has a strong interest in laser and aesthetic dermatology and has trained with some of North America’s foremost experts. Paul is a graduate of the University of Alberta’s prestigious Dermatology Residency Training Program.
Rob joined Syantra in November 2023, bringing 23 years of experience in commercially disruptive technologies at private and public companies across the healthcare arena. In his leadership roles at companies such as Cardea, Specific Diagnostics and Sequenom, he has driven business growth, scaling and the successful sale of the company. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of Limmi, an Artificial Intelligence company serving the life science sector, and Gaia Medical Institute, a company focused on saliva-based point-of-care diagnostics for brain health. Rob holds a degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Bob has over 25 years of experience in cell bioengineering research and development. He has co-founded several companies, including Syantra, to commercialize innovative technologies and is a co-inventor on ten international patents.
Randy is a consultant vascular surgeon with over 20 years’ experience in innovation, research and biotech development. Randy is a co-founder of Syantra and is currently the CMO of ViTAA Medical Solutions, a software as medical device company based in Montreal.
Dr. Rick Mangat has over 20 years experience as a medical device executive. While carrying out research at the University of Manitoba for his PhD thesis in Pharmacology, Dr. Rick Mangat invented the SPY Imaging System – a product that can be used in surgeries to assess blood flow and perfusion thereby impacting the lives of patients and doctors across the world. Through this, Dr. Mangat co-founded NOVADAQ Technologies Inc. in 2000 and has held numerous positions within the company including the role of CEO from 2000-2003 and from 2016 until the company was sold in September 2017.