Dr Ilse Treurnicht has been appointed CEO of MaRS Discovery District, replacing part-time CEO Kenneth Knox. Treurnicht will assume the position January 1/05 and brings a strong set of commercialization skills to the venture, which was established to add value to Medical and Related Sciences (MaRS) research emanating from institutions in Toronto and throughout Ontario. John Cook remains as president and COO. The first phase of MaRS is slated to open in March/05, providing space to accommodate a mix of researchers, start-up firms, professional services, venture capital and larger companies. Treurnicht is currently president and CEO of Primaxis Venture Inc, a seed-stage venture capital fund affiliated with the Royal Bank of Canada. She received a BSc and MSc from the Univ of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and PhD from Oxford Univ and conducted post-doctoral research at the Univ of Western Ontario….