Maroun El Khoury

Senior Sales Director, North America

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Mass spectrometry from the laboratory to the industry – An ionic odyssey

Abstract

From the bench to the suit and tie, this presentation takes you on a 30-year journey through the evolution of mass spectrometry. We follow Maroun ElKhoury, who traded nitrile gloves for KPIs—without ever letting go of his ions. Over three decades, mass spectrometers have gone from “big boxes that make peaks” to instruments capable of weighing almost anything that moves, with a precision that would embarrass a Swiss watchmaker. We will revisit key milestones, from the arrival of the Orbitrap to today’s hybrid platforms, showing how each technological leap unlocked new applications in omics, environmental analysis, clinical research, and beyond. Finally, we’ll dive into the fascinating, often overlooked world of isotope ratio mass spectrometry, where we trace the age and origin of samples to the nearest thousandth of a mass unit. Warning: this talk may cause long-term emotional attachment to your mass specs.

Biosketch

Maroun ElKhoury completed his graduate studies in environmental mass spectrometry at the Université de Montréal. After early roles in academic research at McGill University and in industrial R&D, he shifted in 1997 to scientific sales with Varian. In 2000, he joined Thermo Fisher Scientific as an LC–MS sales representative for Eastern Canada and progressively advanced through a series of leadership roles. He ultimately became Senior Sales Director, Americas, overseeing USD 750M in revenue in 2023, including responsibility for isotope ratio mass spectrometry technologies. Widely recognized for his leadership and deep technical expertise in the mass spectrometry community, he has served on the boards of both the Canadian National Proteomics Network (CNPN) and the Canadian Federation of Biological Societies (CFABS).

Date
Date(s) - November 18, 2025
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Emplacement / Location
Université de Montréal - Campus MIL (Beer and pizza at 18h, conference at 19h in A-4502)