Dr. Desjardins is the Founder and CEO of the Clementia Pharmaceuticals Inc. Previously, Clarissa was CEO at the Center of Excellence in Personalized Medicine, a federally and privately-funded non-for-profit created to promote personalized medicine through education, policy, and public-private research partnerships. Prior to this, Clarissa had been a serial entrepreneur, taking part in all aspects of company creation, from conception to financing, to the marketplace. She was the founder of Advanced Bioconcept which was sold to NEN Life Sciences (Perkin Elmer) in 1998. She also co-founded Caprion Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biotechnology company focused on proteomic biomarker discovery and drug development where she was executive Vice-President of Corporate Development. Clarissa received the BRIO award for outstanding contributions to the biotechnology industry from the Quebec Biotechnology Association, was nominated to Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award and was one of Canada’s top young Canadians likely to influence the future by the Globe and Mail. She has been a Board Member on numerous private and public companies including most recently the scientific advisory board of the Canadian Council of Academies. She earned a Ph.D. in Neurology and Neurosurgery from McGill’s Faculty of Medicine, and was a Medical Research Council postdoctoral fellow at the Douglas Hospital Research Centre.