Conference Speakers

Ronald Kluger is a professor of chemistry at the University of Toronto. He was an undergraduate at Columbia University, doing research with Gilbert Stork. He did PhD research at Harvard University with Elkan Blout and Frank Westheimer. His areas of interest include the design of biomimetic reagents that target specific sites in proteins. He learned to apply that work to stabilize hemoglobin for clinical applications in collaboration with James Manning at Rockefeller University and then with Richard Jones at Oregon Health and Science University. His hemoglobin-derived materials were assessed in animal studies with Warren Zapol at Massachusetts General Hospital. In a current collaboration with thoracic surgeons at Toronto General Hospital, Ron and his students are developing new materials for use in ex-vivo donor lung perfusion. Ron has received recognition for his research, including the Chemical Institute of Canada Medal and was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the AAAS. Ron holds patents in the blood-substitutes and has served on a corporate advisory board in that area.