Dr. Christine Allen is a full professor at the University of Toronto and internationally recognized leader in drug formulation and development with more than 160 publications. She has received numerous career awards and is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Controlled Release Society (CRS), and the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences (CSPS). She is co-founder and a board member at Nanovista Inc., and co-founder and CEO of a VC-backed, JLABS resident, stealth company that is accelerating pharmaceutical drug development through integration of AI, automation and advanced computing.
She has held leadership positions in several scientific societies, notably as President of CRS (2022-2023) and CSPS (2020-2022). In academia, she served as the inaugural Associate Vice-President and Vice Provost Strategic Initiatives at U of T (2019–2022), and Interim Dean at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy (2018–2019). Furthermore, she took a leave of absence from U of T to contribute to adMare Bioinnovations as their Vice-President of Ecosystem Development (2022-2023).
Christine Allen’s research focuses on developing advanced drug delivery formulations for the treatment of a wide range of indications including cancer and osteoarthritis. The research is broadly divided into several project areas including oncology (encompassing the identification of novel drug combinations for cancer therapy and the design of thermosensitive liposomes), the development of implantable drug carriers for sustained release, as well as determining the therapeutic potential for a range of formulated cannabinoid compounds for different indications. The Allen lab is committed to driving these technologies from bench to bedside in collaboration with several startup companies in the Toronto area and beyond.
Christine is committed to promoting and actioning equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility in research and innovation.
