Meet
Susan Chapelle
Chief Executive Officer . Healthcare. Biotechnology. Consultant
Susan Chapelle is a visionary and thoughtful leader
with a highly successful career building innovative startup businesses, leading local politics, and influencing change that impacts entire organizations and industries.
She is skilled at fostering and leveraging relationships to create “win-win” scenarios which benefit business, community, and markets. As an impactful future-state thinker, she leads with innovation, market research, and best practices which promotes operational excellence, customer engagement, and streamlined business systems. Known to get things done through lobbying for policy change while advocating for sustainability and economic development.
Healthcare, Tech & Urbanism Researcher & Speaker
As a researcher and business builder, Susan has focused her time on technology and business development that allows people better access to science-based solutions.
"The old methodologies and paradigms need to shift with the growing body of literature on plant and mushroom based medicine and therapies. I am excited to use scientific data to break through dated stigmas, clearing a path for access to standardized methodology and evidence-informed policy".
Presently, Susan is the Co-CEO of HavnLife, a psychedelics company challenging dated opinions and social stigmas by using cutting edge scientific research to advance access to compounds that have been proven to better mental health, cluster headaches, PTSD and other conditions that have plagued humanity with little resolve.
Business Development, Partnerships & Operational Strategy
Susan is an entrepreneur and business expert that can help your company understand future markets, digital innovation, technology integrations and operations efficiencies. She is a published researcher in the fields of neuroscience and wound healing mechanisms, and is able to help you understand complex problems and the way forward to a workable solution. As a keynote speaker, Susan has presented her work on cities, technology and healthcare across the globe.
Passionate Change Maker & Entrepreneur.
In her government policy, research and business startups, Chapelle drives innovation and forward thinking through market research, customer engagement, and streamlined business systems.
Her clinic work has developed leading, evidence-informed and research proven treatments to help post-surgical patients with recovery. Her expertise in breast health and treatments have been taught globally, and published in peer-reviewed journals.
Chapelle is the founder of multiple companies that have led the innovation curve. She has helped global technology companies innovate medical charting, research and scheduling software.
Susan opened the first multidisciplinary clinic in Squamish, BC in 1999, and has been leading healthcare policy and development, as well as helping patients regain their health since 1987 when she became an RMT.
More recently, Aligned Collective was founded with the intention to help small businesses thrive in Squamish. Designed as a space where people can work together across sectors to help each other thrive in turbulent economic times, as well as a place for NFP's to gather to resolve social issues.
Susan's education has always revolved around community wellbeing. Her Community Economic Development education from Simon Fraser University has informed many of her choices, and has led her to focus on scaling nascent industries that all have one thing in common. Advocating for better access to health.
Curious, life-long learner, and scientific researcher
My curiosity has no bounds and I have celebrated being a life-long learner. My personal life and my experiences travelling the globe and learning from others have made it possible for me to share my wisdom; presenting my research findings as a Keynote speaker at major international conferences and facilitating workshops for healthcare providers and businesses.
As a researcher in the field of neurobiology, Susan has published extensively in the area of wound healing and mechanisms of manual therapy as co-investigator with Dr. Geoffrey Bove, D.C, PhD at the University of New England. Work on a National Institute of Medical Science grant to study mechanisms of post-operative adhesion formation has been published in PLOS One Her recent publication on mechanism of repetitive strain injury has been published in PAIN.
She has published in numerous peer reviewed journals, travelled the globe to present her research and has spoken on digital innovation, cannabis policy, psychedelic medicine and smart cities.
She completed an Executive Master’s Degree in Business Administration (EMBA) at Simon Fraser University and holds a certificate from Simon Fraser University in Community Economic Development.
She is an IAP2 practitioner in public engagement and facilitation. Helping bring people's ideation across divides to find workable solutions.
As an entrepreneur and community advocate for over 30 years, Susan has scaled businesses in healthcare, technology, cannabis and psychedelics
She became a therapist and scientific researcher in manual therapy with the purpose of using that knowledge to help people gain their health back.
Courageous Community Leader & Social Innovator
Susan is an advocate for healthy cities and was successful at moving the dial on access to rape kits for women in the province of BC. Her passion for evidence informed policy and community economic development has continued to inform her advocacy.
As a two-term elected politician, she successfully lobbied for economic development and sustainability policy changes, and for small business zoning to be addressed through the Official Community Plan.
"I was motivated to work in politics because of a desire to influence community decision-making. As an inventive leader and two-term elected politician, I've had the pleasure of influencing changes that brings healthcare to those who need advocacy".
“Susan’s approach to tackling problems is as rare as the individual herself. She operates effortlessly in multiple arenas - science, business, public service, education - to name a few. This, along with an incredible work ethic and a natural gift for building relationships, explains the success she’s had to this point, and will explain all of her future success.
– Advisor, Speaker & HR Executive, Matt Burns
Career Highlights
- Manages company operations and strategy development
- Oversees Health Canada licensing and hypotheses development for laboratory
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Technology integrations
- Product development and oversight
- Team development
- Directed all strategy and initiatives to influence policy adoption within the cannabis industry.
- Serves as industry expert, invited guest speaker, and key company representative at international events and conferences.
- Interfaces directly with policy makers and executive stakeholders; cultivates and maintains trusting relationships with global leaders
- Develops and implements internal and external policy; researches and monitors market trends and forecasts to promote change.
- Opened Aligned Collective in Squamish, a co-working space and place for people to come together across sectors to working on resolving economic and social issues, as well as move smart city solutions is in it's third year of operations and houses 50+ Squamish entrepreneurs working on local economic development
- Founder/Director of Operations - Squamish Integrated Health - pioneered the first and largest multidisciplinary healthcare clinic in the Sea to Sky corridor. Largest clinic employer and practice in Squamish, BC. Owned the end-to-end business strategy from concept to negotiation and profitable acquisition (M&A) by a third-party. . Squamish Integrated Health maintains over 25 practitioners and serves the health of the community through evidence based treatments that have been developed and published in peer review journals.
and industry expert on research, science education, urban transformation, cannabis policy, and technology integrations.
in the District of Squamish. Chaired multiple committees.
for domestic and international postgraduate continuing education courses in Post-Surgical Care for Scars & Adhesions
on projects funded by the National Institute of Health; co-authored 6 publications in peer reviewed journals.
with a highly respected PhD which led to global speaking engagements covering healthcare and technology integration, land use, and evidence-informed policy. Complete list upon request.
Education, Experience, Certifications & Licenses:
My Values
I'm passionate about helping others optimize their health and performance.
Everything I do has been based on the core values of love, respect, wisdom, courage, honesty, humility, and TRUTH. When I see my peers and patients struggling to make the tough decisions that it takes to do that one little bit better than yesterday, I use this love and passion to help inspire and motivate them to achieve their goals.
My Story
I have been a healthcare advocate and practitioner for over 30 years. I have always integrated knowledge of the healthcare environment with my careers in politics, clinics, biotech and research. Access to treatments and knowledge and helping others understand the way our bodies and minds heal with input is the result of my lifelong experience with chronic illness. Having personally experienced the healthcare system, my passion for helping others overcome challenges, understand decision making options and see personal success has led many of my decisions. Entering politics to help plan urban environments with evidence informed decisions through healthcare data, opening clinics to help cancer patients with their recovery, access to cannabis and psychedelic medicine have all been personal choices to help others gain access to services that are known to help us heal. This includes preventative medicine, lobbying for access to Rape Kits across Canada, and utilizing smart technology to gain equitable access to healthcare for First Nations, women and differently abled.
My journey has empowered me to become a bold advocate for helping others and implementing solution-oriented thinking to all of the sectors I work in:
- teaching mechanisms of wound healing and working across the globe to help healthcare providers understand the effects of their work and achieve better outcomes
- training and supervising therapists around the world, including Massage Therapists, Acupuncturists, Osteopaths, Physiotherapists, Chiropractors, and Naturopaths
- Extensively publishing peer-reviewed literature so that others could benefit from my knowledge
- Sharing my knowledge as a keynote speaker on digital innovation and smart cities technology
- Advising global technology companies on the development of online platforms and scheduling solutions