Faculty and Staff

Chemistry
Part-time Instructor
Office: TBA
Email: ivan.hemeon@smu.ca

Biographical Sketch

BSc (Hon) (Saint Mary’s University, 2001)
MSc (Saint Mary’s University, 2003)
PhD (Simon Fraser University, 2007)

Growing up in Lake Fletcher, Nova Scotia, Ivan was always interested in all things science-related. He naturally decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree and applied to Saint Mary’s University after hearing how much undergraduate research was valued by the faculty. After trying to decide between biology and chemistry, Ivan applied for an NSERC summer research award in his second year to work with Dr. Robert Singer and never looked back. Ivan travelled to Geelong, Australia with Dr. Singer to carry out his honours thesis research in the lab of Dr. Peter Scammells at Deakin University and graduated with a double honours degree in biology and chemistry in 2001. Ivan continued to work with Dr. Singer and in 2003 became the first student to graduate from the MSc in Applied Science program. Not to be too far from the ocean, Ivan moved to the West Coast to pursue his PhD in the lab of Dr. Andrew Bennet at Simon Fraser University, which he obtained in 2007. He then decided to add to his synthetic chemistry skills with molecular biology and enzymology while an NSERC post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Vern Schramm at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York. Ivan then returned to Vancouver to work as a research scientist at Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where he applied his broad skill set to developing next generation pain and epilepsy drugs. Eventually the pull of home was too strong though as Ivan returned to Nova Scotia in 2016, settling in Dartmouth where he and his wife run a consulting business developing online training materials and homeschool their young son.

Ivan has always enjoyed being in the lab, making molecules, figuring out structures of new compounds, setting up and maintaining instruments, as each day presented new challenges to solve. He has always enjoyed teaching and mentoring younger chemists, both in academic and industrial settings, and teaching at Saint Mary’s allows him to continue passing on his knowledge and experience to the next generation of chemists. Ivan has always had an interest in synthesizing molecules of biological importance either as probes of biological reaction mechanisms or as potential drugs. Outside of chemistry Ivan is a self-professed “craft beer enthusiast” and has been seen lining up at many a brewery on new beer release day for the next weird and wonderful concoction. He has dabbled in homebrewing but has yet to get serious about it. He also loves teaching/spending time with his son and the two can often be found zipping around Downtown Dartmouth on their kick scooters.