Meet The Team
Founder & CEO
Jeff Hardy
Jeff has been a successful serial entrepreneur for over 30 years. Higher education at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) inspired him to explore technologies that can transform lives. The untimely death of a friend in 2017 due to an opioid overdose inspired him to design the Lifeguard app (patented).
Global Advisor – Privacy and Security Technologies
Dr. Victoria Lemieux
Victoria is a professor at University of British Columbia and leads Blockchain@UBC – Canada’s largest and most diverse research cluster devoted to blockchain technology. She holds a doctorate from University College London, and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). She has authored award-winning publications, won the 2015 World Bank Big Data Innovation Award and in 2020 was named one of Canada’s Top 20 Women in IT security by IT World. She has held senior positions such as Vice President of IT security for Credit Suisse and served at the World Bank.
Research Engineer
Siddiqui A. Hakim
Siddiqui is an electrical engineer with a M.Sc. and B.Eng. from McGill University. He joined Lifeguard Labs in 2022 and works on developing hardware designs and embedded code across product lines . At McGill, he researched and developed a vital sign monitor based on the mechanical vibrations of the heart. He is skilled in digital signal processing, numerical simulations, cardio-respiratory functioning, and wearable device design. He also co-founded Stocate while at McGill, which is an online platform that connects local businesses to their communities.
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Chandana Unnithan
Chandana is an expert Scientist in digital health (AI, IoT, Blockchain, Geo-spatial apps, precision public health); with a PhD (Digital Health & Informatics) from Australia and recipient of many awards (from INTEL/IBM) having pioneered e-health, AI/IoT interventions for public health in Australia. She joined Lifeguard in 2019 and was CTO /CIO/CSO until 2021. She is a professor in digital health with >140 scientific papers; currently, holding ongoing roles at WHO Digital Health Advisory, United Nations (COPUOS STSC) ,GEO Health (run by NASA/NOAA), Canada's Digital Technology Supercluster, Torrens University Australia and University of British Columbia. She is a frequently invited key note speaker/panelist in Australia, Canada, Europe and USA including Geneva Health Forum, Dataconnectors (USA) and is currently leading Lifeguard Labs for research innovations and patents.
Senior Research Engineer
Alex McGovern
Alex is a biomedical engineer from Simon Fraser University, Canada, specializing in electronics design and manufacturing (IoT/AI). He is skilled in medical device design, circuit design, software maintenance, signal processing, image processing, medical image acquisition, wearable devices, wearable materials, optical systems, medical imaging devices and vital sign monitoring and interpretation. He had founded ODEN health solutions aimed at harm reduction solutions in opioid crisis for Canada.
Software Engineer
Meng Kang
Meng joined Lifeguard Labs in 2022 after completing a Masters in Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from University of British Columbia. He currently works on blockchain based privacy preserving solutions in digital health. He has designed a novel blockchain-based solution which aims at the prevention of unauthorized secondary use of personal data, by integrating advances from decentralized identity management, condential computing, and data usage control. He has also worked with performance assessment and diagnostics of piezoelectric sensors using deep learning techniques. His interests are in machine learning, data anomaly detection, and privacy preserving blockchain and DLTs.