Courtny Vandervelde is Director, Development for NexusHealth at McMaster University. Courtny is a donor-centric development leader with over 15 years of experience in the philanthropic space. Courtny is a creative and strategic thinker with demonstrated skills in collaboration with senior staff and volunteers. Prior to joining the NexusHealth team, Courtny was a Director of Major Gifts for The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, tasked with raising funds for various cancer care and research initiatives. Courtny’s work focused on multiple disease sites and programs, including breast, gynaecology, joint department of medical imaging, laboratory medicine, neuro-oncology, and others. In 2023, Courtny was awarded the 40 Under 40, by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), which recognizes 40 professionals each year who have helped shape the future of healthcare philanthropy. Her advancement leadership experience in a large, complex healthcare setting is instrumental to the NexusHealth mission.

Courtny Vandervelde is Director, Development for NexusHealth at McMaster University. Courtny is a donor-centric development leader with over 15 years of experience in the philanthropic space. Courtny is a creative and strategic thinker with demonstrated skills in collaboration with senior staff and volunteers. Prior to joining the NexusHealth team, Courtny was a Director of Major Gifts for The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, tasked with raising funds for various cancer care and research initiatives. Courtny’s work focused on multiple disease sites and programs, including breast, gynaecology, joint department of medical imaging, laboratory medicine, neuro-oncology, and others. In 2023, Courtny was awarded the 40 Under 40, by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), which recognizes 40 professionals each year who have helped shape the future of healthcare philanthropy. Her advancement leadership experience in a large, complex healthcare setting is instrumental to the NexusHealth mission.

Sam Afkhami is the Operations Manager for NexusHealth at McMaster University and a Senior Research Scientist at the Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub (CP2H), where he provides scientific oversight in advancing innovative therapeutics for infectious diseases from the lab to the market. He earned his PhD at McMaster University in the laboratory of Dr. Zhou Xing, focusing on the development and evaluation of respiratory vaccine candidates for tuberculosis. Sam has published over 40 peer-reviewed research articles and contributed to McMaster’s inhaled aerosol vaccine portfolio, including a phase I study of an adenoviral-vectored tuberculosis vaccine. He is also a co-developer of McMaster’s inhaled next-generation COVID-19 vaccine and serves as a co-investigator on a multi-site, randomized, placebo-controlled phase II trial evaluating this vaccine in Canada.

Sam Afkhami is the Operations Manager for NexusHealth at McMaster University and a Senior Research Scientist at the Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub (CP2H), where he provides scientific oversight in advancing innovative therapeutics for infectious diseases from the lab to the market. He earned his PhD at McMaster University in the laboratory of Dr. Zhou Xing, focusing on the development and evaluation of respiratory vaccine candidates for tuberculosis. Sam has published over 40 peer-reviewed research articles and contributed to McMaster’s inhaled aerosol vaccine portfolio, including a phase I study of an adenoviral-vectored tuberculosis vaccine. He is also a co-developer of McMaster’s inhaled next-generation COVID-19 vaccine and serves as a co-investigator on a multi-site, randomized, placebo-controlled phase II trial evaluating this vaccine in Canada.

Blake Dillon is the Strategic Communications Manager at NexusHealth and the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) at McMaster University. His primary responsibilities include research promotion, institutional journalism, and media strategy, with a focus on developing and leveraging communications pipelines that make complex science understandable and engaging for diverse audiences.

Blake has a rich background in health communications, producing content across a wide range of disciplines and contexts. These include fitness, nutrition, surgery, infectious disease, and drug discovery. His work spans research communications, journalism, media relations, marketing, and strategic storytelling, with a particular interest in translating emerging science into stories that resonate beyond the laboratory.

He has led communications for a Public Health Agency of Canada-funded antimicrobial resistance research project and an industry-funded initiative focused on improving access to antibiotics. Through his work at NexusHealth, he has helped communicate research and innovation spanning infectious disease, cancer, metabolic disease, and more.

Blake Dillon is the Strategic Communications Manager at NexusHealth and the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) at McMaster University. His primary responsibilities include research promotion, institutional journalism, and media strategy, with a focus on developing and leveraging communications pipelines that make complex science understandable and engaging for diverse audiences.

Blake has a rich background in health communications, producing content across a wide range of disciplines and contexts. These include fitness, nutrition, surgery, infectious disease, and drug discovery. His work spans research communications, journalism, media relations, marketing, and strategic storytelling, with a particular interest in translating emerging science into stories that resonate beyond the laboratory.

He has led communications for a Public Health Agency of Canada-funded antimicrobial resistance research project and an industry-funded initiative focused on improving access to antibiotics. Through his work at NexusHealth, he has helped communicate research and innovation spanning infectious disease, cancer, metabolic disease, and more.