Gemina Laboratories Ltd. announced Dr. Michael Shannon has been appointed to constitute and Chair the Company's Clinical Advisory Board. Dr. Shannon is one of Canada's pre-eminent public health leaders. He spent 31 years in the Canadian Forces, retiring at the rank of Commodore (Brigadier General equivalent) as Deputy Surgeon General for Canada.

In 1996 he assumed responsibilities within Health Canada for re-organizing the Canadian blood system. Subsequently, he was appointed Director General for the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, a position he held for three years. Later he served as an Audit Principal and Senior Medical Advisor to the Canadian Auditor General and then accepted responsibilities for rebuilding the Emergency Medical Response System within the newly formed Public Health Agency of Canada.

In this regard and under his direction, the largest emergency medical response exercise in the history of the country, involving the overnight construction of a mobile hospital, hundreds of doctors and thousands of patients, was successfully conducted in Toronto. Outside of public service, Dr Shannon has been an advisor to numerous life science companies in both therapeutic and other bioscience applications. His formal training includes a medical degree from Queen's University, and post-graduate degrees in neurochemistry and physiology.

He has been actively engaged in applied medical research within these areas for 30 years.