Our Services

Nick Allan

Bio Services Manager

Nick Allan is the Bio Services Manager at StarFish Medical. Allan joined the company as a Project Manager, becoming Bio Service Manager in 2016. He has provided innovative solutions to client issues ranging from proof-of-concept studies for rapid detection point of care assays to full scale regulatory submission studies, and designed and facilitated more than 500 Unique Research Protocols. Allan is President of Chinook Contract Research, co-founder and former GM of The Institute for Applied Poultry Technologies, and former Contract Research Manager at Innovotech Inc. Allan holds an MS in Microbiology and BS in Biology from the University of Guelph.

Lorenzo Gutierrez

Microfluidics Manager

Lorenzo Gutierrez is Microfluidics Manager and Interim Toronto Site Director at StarFish Medical. Gutierrez has over 30 years of product development experience in semiconductor, consumer electronics, and medical devices at companies including Mirux, ChipCare, and Kapplex.  His microfluidic applications include cell-based, immuno and molecular assays. Lorenzo specializes in overall system design, hardware engineering, integration, and translation of assay workflow to consumable cartridges. Gutierrez earned his PhD in Bio-Process Engineering at the University of Tokyo.

Gary Skarja

Bio Services Program Manager

Over his 20+ year career in the commercial life sciences sector, Gary has led the development of new medical materials & devices, regenerative medicine technologies and single-use biomanufacturing tools at companies ranging from pre-revenue start-ups to a multibillion dollar global organization.

Gary holds over 15 patents (applied & issued) related to medical polymers & devices and single-use biomanufacturing tools and methods. Gary serves on the commercial advisory board of the Nanomedicines Innovation Network, a Canada-wide research network dedicated to developing & commercializing next-generation nanomedicines. Gary holds a B.Eng. and M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto.

Maharshi Trivedi

Bio Services Program Design Lead

Maharshi Trivedi is the Bio Services Program Design Lead at StarFish Medical. He brings over 15 years of global strategy and operations experience in the field of medical devices and life sciences from companies including Ancera, Medtronic, and Boston Scientific. Trivedi earned an Executive MBA from Yale School of Management, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Gujarat University.

Joris van der Heijden

Bio Services Program Manager

Joris van der Heijden is the Bio Services Program Manager at StarFish Medical. He joined StarFish from Spartan Bioscience where he was the Director of R&D leading product development of Point of Care diagnostics for pharmacogenetics and detection of infectious diseases. He managed projects all the way from concept to market entry including managing the supporting clinical trials. Prior to this, he was the R&D and Manufacturing Manager at a contract manufacturing facility overseeing assay and process development for the manufacturing of viruses and vaccines destined for clinical research. In this capacity he helped build the infrastructure for the first Canadian Car-T cell therapy trials. Joris earned his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of British Columbia and holds a MS and BS from the Universities of Leiden and Delft in the Netherlands.