Inez Jabalpurwala (she/her) has extensive experience leading cross-sector collaborations with organizations in health research, academia, and international development. She is currently Global Director of VINEx, a non-profit corporation initiated by Rocket Science Health, to understand how viruses and other global environmental phenomena may affect the central nervous system. She was the Founding President and CEO of the Brain Canada Foundation from 2001 to 2020. When she joined, the organization had about $1 million in assets; over her tenure, Brain Canada provided research grants totaling $250 million and involving more than 1,000 scientists and clinicians based at 115 institutions across Canada. To achieve these results, Inez managed multiple stakeholders, and secured more than 100 partnerships, including leading the approach to secure $160 million in matching funds from the Government of Canada, and fundraising to secure $130 million from a range of donors, institutions and organizations.
Inez has previously been a member of the US National Institutes of Health BRAIN Initiative Multi-Council Working Group; the Institute of Medicine (of the National Academies) Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders; and BrainsCAN, a $66-million investment by the Government of Canada based at the University of Western Ontario, which seeks to create synergies with other Canadian institutions and international partners in the private and public sectors. She currently serves on the Board of Equitas; is the immediate past President of the McGill Alumni Association, and on the Board of Governors of McGill University; and a mentor through the Loran Scholars Program.
Inez is a member of the Economic Development and Public Finance committee of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal; a member of the Association of Quebec Women in Finance; a member of the International Women’s Forum since 2013; and a member of the Women’s Brain Health Initiative.
Inez was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 by the Women’s Executive Network, in the “Trailblazers and Trendsetters Category” in 2007 and again in 2016. A skilled public speaker, she has been featured at major conferences around the world. She is passionate about equity, diversity and inclusion, as the pathway to building more successful and just societies.
Inez holds a BA and MA in English Literature, and an MBA from McGill University; she has also completed the Master of Management program for voluntary sector leaders. Inez resides in Montreal, Quebec.