Naheed Kurji

Former President, Recursion

Role: Associate

Sites: CDL-Toronto, CDL-Vancouver

Stream: Cancer

Naheed is currently in the process of co-founding two healthcare/healthtech companies.

Naheed was the President of Recursion Canada, where he oversaw the Canadian operations of Recursion, a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is decoding biology by integrating technological innovations across biology, chemistry, automation, machine learning, and engineering to industrialize drug discovery. He was in this role after Recursion acquired Cyclica, a company that he co-founded and led as President and CEO for over 10 years.

At Cyclica, Naheed pioneered and developed innovative computational chemistry and AI methods industrialize the drug discovery process. Cyclica grew from a startup to a global leader in the AI for Drug Discovery and Development space, with multiple partnerships, patents, publications, and awards. Additionally, Naheed is a co-founder and board member of the Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare (AAIH), a global organization that brings together 50+ industry influencers to develop and apply AI-based solutions for biomedical drug discovery, clinical research, data management, diagnostics, medical devices, and precision medicine.

Naheed holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management and a certificate in AI from MIT. He is passionate about harnessing the power of AI to create more effective, sustainable, and accessible healthcare for patients and society. Naheed is a proud father of two daughters, a music lover, a world traveler, and a food enthusiast.