Martha R Bajec, Ph.D.
WTSA Advisor Martha Bajec, Ph.D. is the principal and founder of Bajec Senseworks Consulting, located in Burlington ON. Martha is a highly-regarded scientist, and an expert at designing, directing, and delivering evidence-based, actionable insights.
“The chemical senses are essential for life - they are key to human survival. In my experience and from the research I've conducted and reviewed, we are moving away from appreciation of taste and smell in that capacity. Reminding and educating humans on the utility and importance of our taste and smell senses as essential for interaction with each other and our environments is both necessary and timely. The foundation and context provided by WTSA, and the bringing together of a truly interdisciplinary group toward dissemination and engagement in this endeavour, is amazing. I'm thrilled at the opportunity to contribute to this collaboration and the greater objective.”
Alex Woo, Ph.D.
Alex is the founder and CEO of W2O, a flavor technology firm based in the USA for the past fifteen years. He specializes in creating Better Food with niche expertise in contemporary taste and smell neuroscience and state-of-the-art clean-label plant-based ingredients.
Food and beverage companies hire him to bring food science to their new product development efforts on sugar reduction, salt reduction and multisensory eating experience. Food ingredient firms retain him to lead the creation of plant-based ingredients, particularly taste modulators. Alex also served as Chief Science Officer of Sweeteners for Amyris, a precision fermentation clean ingredient company (2019-2021), and Chief Innovation Officer for Nascent, a stevia sweetener leader (2017-2019). He is currently on the science advisory board for Olfactive Bio, a biosensor startup; Advance International, a marine protein startup; and the board of directors for the World Taste & Smell Association.
Prior to that, Alex had held various R&D leadership positions in companies including Pepsi, Kraft, Starbucks and Wrigley. He led technical teams to achieve business results. Alex holds a PhD in Food Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Sandeepa Dey, Ph.D.
WTSA Advisor Sandeepa Dey is an Olfaction Neuroscientist.
“Dysfunctions in taste and smell are more common than we think, take away from the quality of life and pose health hazards. This area needs more awareness and public education so that more widespread self reporting and diagnostics can be achieved. More fund raising is needed to understand the pathways and basis of neurological disorders such as anosmia and parosmia.
WTSA's work is important because they are 1) bringing many professionals with different experiences but similar interests under the same umbrella to establish a school of thought and 2) organizing events and online seminars to educate attendees.”