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David Q. Chen

Co-founder, BenchSci

AI for drug discovery

David Q. Chen is one of BenchSci's four co-founders. BenchSci's about page says co-founder Tom Leung approached him as a machine learning expert at the University of Toronto, asking whether AI could be trained to read scientific papers and extract the experimental evidence inside. The company was founded at U of T's Creative Destruction Lab in 2015.

David hasn’t spoken on a TechTO, TechVancouver or TechWaterloo stage. This profile is here because David co-founded BenchSci, which appears in 2 talks in the archive.

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Quick answers

Is David Q. Chen actually a co-founder of BenchSci?

Yes. BenchSci's about page (benchsci.com/about), checked 2026-09-20, says 'Tom reached out to machine learning experts David Chen and Elvis Wianda at the University of Toronto', and the same page's timeline entry for 2015 reads 'Founded at the Creative Destruction Lab, University of Toronto. Four co-founders.' The four people named in that story are Tom Leung, David Chen, Elvis Wianda and Liran Belenzon.

What was his role at the company?

A BetaKit CTO-series interview dated 2017-11-09, checked 2026-09-20, describes him as 'founder and CTO of BenchSci' and says his work uses machine learning in the biomedical and life sciences field.

Is he still on BenchSci's leadership team?

Not according to the company. BenchSci's company page (benchsci.com/company), checked 2026-09-20, lists John Jackson as Chief Technology Officer and does not list David Chen among current leadership. No present-day role is claimed here because none could be sourced.

How do we know this is the right David Chen?

'David Chen' is a common name, so the link was checked against BenchSci itself: BenchSci's own about page, checked 2026-09-20, names David Chen as the University of Toronto machine learning researcher who built the first prototype, and the 2017 BetaKit interview, checked the same day, is titled and written about BenchSci's David Chen. Both tie the same person to the same company.

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Maintained by TechTO · facts sourced and dated · last reviewed Sep 20, 2026