Elagu V. Elaguppillai

Dr. Elagu V. Elaguppillai is a prominent Canadian of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, a businessman, nuclear scientist, university professor, medical researcher, municipal politician and a community services volunteer for over 35 years.

Dr. Elaguppillai was born in Sri Lanka and had his high school education in Northern Sri Lanka. He obtained his B.Sc. degree with a First Class Honours from the University of Ceylon, Colombo, and became the recipient of the Gold Medal for his best performance in the entire science faculty for the year 1964. Subsequently, he was awarded the Canadian Commonwealth scholarship to pursue his higher studies in the Department of Physics, University of Toronto, which brought him to Canada in September 1967. He obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Nuclear Physics from the Department of Physics, University of Toronto in 1968 and 1970 respectively.

After obtaining his Ph. D, he became a tenured professor in Physics at the University of Penang, Malaysia in 1970, and University of Zambia in 1972 and University of Toronto in 1974, authored several research publications. He joined the Carleton University in 1992, where he developed a graduate course (75.528) in Radiation Protection, and has been the instructor for the course since then. 

Dr. Elaguppillai joined the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) as a Senior Scientific Advisor and served there in several capacities until his retirement in 1997. During this period, he also served as a Canadian expert at the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency as member of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) from 1992-1996. He also served on the Expert Panel of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on “Nuclear science teaching in high schools and universities”.

In July 1997 Professor Elaguppillai joined the Institute for Research on Environment and Economy (IREE), [University of Ottawa] as a Scientific Advisor. In the same year, he founded the International Center for Low Dose Radiation Research after securing millions of dollars of research funding from nuclear agencies in USA, France, Japan and Germany, and became its Associate Director, directing interdisciplinary research on the effects of low doses of ionizing radiation. 

In 1998, he also started a bio-pharmaceutical start up company, Innopharm Inc., in Markham and became its Founding President and Chief Operating Officer; the company was later sold to investors in 2004. He also co-founded the Academy of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences, a post graduate pharmaceutical college in Toronto. In 2001 he also became the Chairman of the Editorial Board Advisory Board of a Markham based Pharmaceutical Canada magazine.

Dr. Elaguppillai authored several research papers, scientific reports and analyses, and text books, and served in a number of national and international committees.

Dr. Elaguppillai has also engaged in municipal politics of the Town of Markham, and unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for Regional Councillor, and secured 16, 246 votes. He serves in a number of community organizations, notably, Markham Arts Council, Co-Chair of Taste of Asia - annual cultural festival in Markham and many others. As a coordinator of a Markham based Tsunami Relief Program he provided extensive support towards relief and rehabilitation of the Tsunami victims.