William Maich, a PhD candidate in Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences at McMaster, has been awarded the John Whelen Family Innovation Advancement Fellowship.
Now in its third year, the Whelen Fellowship supports entrepreneurial-minded students, awarding them a four- to twelve-month placement with companies commercializing McMaster research, including those backed by the McMaster Seed Fund (MSF).
As this year’s Fellow, Maich will work with Block Biosciences, a McMaster startup and recent MSF recipient. The company is advancing a first-in-class precision medicine that will prevent secondary metastatic brain cancer, which happens when cancer cells from another part of the body travel to the brain.
Maich specializes in immunotherapies for brain cancers. He has developed expertise in this field through his PhD at McMaster and postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Sheila Singh, co-founder of Block Biosciences. He’s also complemented his scientific training with business programs through adMare and Mitacs.
Maich says he’s honoured to have been selected for the Fellowship and is looking forward to his placement at Block Biosciences.
“Having the opportunity to engage with both the scientific and business side of an early-stage startup will help broaden my understanding of what it takes to succeed in biotechnology and drug development. I’m looking forward to contributing to Block’s growth as we advance our pipeline towards the clinic,” he says.
Agata Kieliszek, co-founder and Head of Biology and Operations at Block Biosciences, says the company is thrilled to welcome Maich to the team.
“At our early stage, expanding scientific capabilities can make an outsized impact. This fellowship allows us to accelerate critical work while strengthening collaboration between academia and industry,” she says.
“Will’s work targeting brain metastasis and glioblastoma will be instrumental as we advance our pre-clinical pipeline.”
Established in 2023 by John Whelen, MBA ’88, and his wife, Stormie Stewart, the Whelen Fellowship was created to strengthen McMaster’s innovation ecosystem by supporting aspiring student entrepreneurs and advancing the real-world application of McMaster-generated research.
John Whelen says the family is very pleased and proud to support innovation advancement at McMaster.
“Congratulations to Will on being selected as the winner of this year’s Fellowship. We wish him and Block Biosciences the best of luck as they seek to further develop and commercialize their medical research. We hope it will be a win-win experience for both,” he says.
The Whelen Fellowship is part of a suite of opportunities at McMaster that gives students hands-on experience in dynamic startup environments, says Gay Yuyitung, Executive Director of the McMaster Industry Liaison Office (MILO).
“We’re grateful to the Whelen family for establishing this Fellowship. It makes a huge impact in students’ research and innovation journeys. It enables them to develop valuable entrepreneurial skills and provides support to Made-At-Mac startups as they work to transfer their discoveries from the lab to the market,” she says.
The Whelen Fellowship is administered by MILO and is part of a broader ecosystem at McMaster that champions student-led innovation. Learn more at entrepreneurship.mcmaster.ca