Dr. Moussa Magassa, PhD, IDI.QA

Dr. Moussa Magassa is a specialist in justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism education, human rights, social justice, intercultural conflict resolution, immigration & refugee studies, and curriculum development.

Dr. Magassa is the Associate Vice-President, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Mount Royal University, Calgary, AB. Previously, he worked as the Principal Strategist, Community Engagement, Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Anti-racism Education, University of Victoria. Dr. Magassa is also an associate faculty in both the UVic social justice program and the M.A in global leadership program at Royal Roads university, as well as an instructor at the UBC Centre for intercultural communication and in the UVic Intercultural Studies & Practice program.

He holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction (UVic) with special focus on critical race theory, anti-racism, Islamophobia, human rights education, and immigrants and refugees’ integration and adaptation in host communities; an MA in human security & peacebuilding (Royal Roads university); a BA (Hons) in conflict resolution and peace studies (Kwazulu Natal University, South Africa); a diploma in forced migration and refugee studies (York University); and various advanced certificates in human rights and humanitarian law (UNITAR), conflict mediation (UNISA). Dr. Magassa is also a qualified administrator of the intercultural competence assessment tool.

Previously, Dr. Magassa worked as an immigrant and refugee settlement and integration program coordinator, and as a specialist in non-violence education and research on peace, military spending and the impact of arms trafficking in Africa.

Dr. Magassa is also the CEO and owner of the consulting company, The Intercultural Capacity Building Inc. (www.magassa.ca), specialized in EDI, Intercultural capacity development and anti-racism education. Dr. Moussa Magassa was born in Senegal and speaks many languages in addition to English and French.

Entrepreneur. Innovator. Award-Winning Marketer. Mentor. Human.

Michael is a Canadian serial entrepreneur with nine for profit and not for profit start-ups under his belt and more than 30 years of experience in technology, innovation, business and creativity. Currently he is the Founder and CEO of MYND Therapeutics, a Vancouver-based digital health company that makes advanced digital therapeutics to prevent, treat and manage chronic diseases such as obesity and eating disorders and mental health by combining proven science, evidence-based clinical practice, immersive technologies such as AR/VR/XR and MXR, experiential learning, gamification and story-telling.

Michael is also the Founder and CEO of INTERFACE Health Society, a not-for-profit virtual digital health technology accelerator. Interface Health is a global platform and community that cares about innovators, the future of health and about making a difference in the world.

In 2022, Michael was invited to be a Strategic Advisor on NSERC’s Committee on Research Partnerships to offer expert feedback and share his advice and expertise in two strategic areas – Translate discovery into Impact and Mobilize knowledge on a global scale – as they fit into NSERC’s 2030 Strategic Plan.

With more than twelve years of experience in digital health, Michael was recognized as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Voices in Healthcare globally in May 2022 by Medika Life. Remarkable scientists, physicians, innovators and influencers like Dr. Junaid Bajwa, Dr. Daniel Kraft, Dr. Cheryl Pegus, John Nosta, Dr. Allyson Ocean and others made the cut.

Academically, Michael has earned an MBA from University of Bucharest, Romania in 1984. After he moved to Canada with his family in 1993 he also graduated BCIT with a Diploma in Tourism Technology in 1994. He was also a faculty member of the BCIT School of Business in 1999 when he developed and taught the first Internet Marketing Applications course in BCIT’s history. In 2017 Michael was invited to deliver the Convocation keynote for BCIT’s graduates of the School of Computer Science and the School of Health Sciences. Same year Michael was recognized as a BC Champion of Innovation by the BC Institute of Technology.