Speakers
Keynote Speakers
Ron is an experienced family caregiver to his late father who lived well with Alzheimer’s for over 10+ years while partnering with his senior mother during their journey to help them age at their home and community. He is an advocate in dementia and aging communities with expertise in technology, aging in place, caregiving, and patient engagement. Ron is the co-chair for AGE-WELL's Older Adults and Caregiver Advisory Committee, which is Canada’s aging and technology network where he received their honorary fellows award for 2020. He is an advisor and presenter for groups such as the Alzheimer and Dementia Societies across Canada, a Coach with Healthcare Excellence Canada, and an active member with the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence. He is also a mentor in residence representing the caregiver and patient voice with University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine’s Translational Research Program .
Joby McKenzie is the Managing Director of Teladoc Health in Canada responsible for all strategy and operations, growing whole person virtual care to empower Canadians to live healthier lives. Dr. McKenzie also volunteers as a Board Director at Mackenzie Health overseeing their strategic, quality, and financial plans and decisions.
Dr. McKenzie has an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, a Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular and Medical Genetics from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Simon Fraser University.
John is a Clinical Professor and the Chair in Rural Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and acts as the Director of the Rural Education Action Plan, Medical Director for Carrier Sekani Family Services, and the Virtual Health Lead for the Rural Coordination Centre of BC. John draws on his rural healthcare experience in these roles to innovate services and supports in remote, rural and Indigenous communities to better address inequities in the healthcare system.
Born and raised in British Columbia, Pixie has lived most of her life on the West Coast, living in a few places surrounding B.C., residing in Abbotsford B.C.
Currently employed in HeartWork for our Nation, as well as the Fraser Valley Métis Association and other community groups within the city of Abbotsford BC.
Currently sit as FVMA’s President, also 2SLGBTGGIA+ rep, also holding the health/housing portfolios. While sitting on FVMA board for a few years.
Currently sits on other boards and committees within the city of Abbotsford B.C.
Sat as a voice for 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples for LFMO, working on the National Action Plan for MMIWGs and 2SLGBTQQIA+peoples.
Through many years of sitting on many boards and committees working with others to achieve common objectives and initiatives.
Always fighting to put the voice that is missing at the table.
I very much look forward to using my voice to strengthen the Métis Nation.
Welcome Remarks
Angela Chapman has been a champion of transformational change through philanthropy in education, research and health care on three continents for more than three decades.
Since 2020, Angela has been the President & CEO of VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, the primary philanthropic partner of Vancouver Coastal Health. Angela joined the Foundation in 2013 as the Senior Vice-President, Philanthropy, becoming the Chief Development Officer in 2018. Prior to returning to her native Vancouver, Angela served as the Director, Advancement & Campaign at the National University of Singapore, developing and executing Asia’s first billion-dollar fundraising campaign.
VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation has become the largest public health care foundation in Western Canada focused on innovation in health care. The Foundation strives to bring together donors with leading clinician-researchers to change the standard of care, improve health care delivery and saves lives. The Foundation’s 5-year strategic plan launched in late 2020, sets a course that anticipates the technological, social and demographic changes that are transforming health care and philanthropy in BC and across Canada.
Angela has volunteered her time for a variety of community and professional bodies, including serving on the Board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP, Canada), the Audit & Finance Committee of GNW (Great Northern Way) Trust, and the Regional and Civic Affairs Committee of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. She holds a BA (Hon) in History & Russian from McGill University and an MBA from Université Laval.
Laura Gray is the Vice-President, RBC Commercial Banking for Healthcare Professionals in British-Columbia. She has been with RBC since 2006 in a number of progressively more senior roles throughout Retail Banking, Operations, and Business Banking. In her current role, she manages a team of 15 Commercial Relationship Managers focused exclusively on supporting healthcare professionals with their banking needs.
For over 30 years, Elder Roberta Price has actively shared her leadership, wisdom and teachings at UBC and throughout the Lower Mainland to assist both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members to achieve improved outcomes in health care. A member of the Coast Salish Snuneymuxw and Cowichan Nations, she has been instrumental in helping to create shared spaces for both Indigenous and Western approaches to healing and health. Her ongoing involvement and leadership in research projects have been key to the continued work of decolonizing health care and creating cultural safety and equity for Indigenous patients.
As Regional President, British Columbia, RBC Royal Bank, Martin Thibodeau leads a team of over 4,000 employees in BC; dedicated to providing financial advice and services to over 1.5 million personal, small business and commercial clients.
Martin joined RBC over 30 years ago and has held several senior management positions that led him to travel across the country, notably as Regional President, Quebec; Regional Vice-President, Eastern New Brunswick and P.E.I.; Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, Quebec Headquarters; Regional Vice-President, Commercial Financial Services, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Ontario; and Vice-President, Canadian Banking, Toronto.
An energetic, inspiring and authentic leader, Martin is very committed to his community and has dedicated his time and skills in service to numerous organizations. Martin is the United Way British Columbia’s Campaign Cabinet Chair, a Governor of the BC Business Council, he sits on the Board of Directors for BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, Science World, Ocean Wise, Peter Dhillon Center for Business Ethics, Urban Development Institute and is part of the CABGU Board for BC & Alberta. At RBC, Martin has an immense passion as the Co-Chair for the Diversity Leadership Council.
During his career, Martin has received several distinctions and recognition from his peers, including being honoured by Ben Gurion University for his commitment to Sustainability and Climate Change, the Alter-Ego Award presented by the Association des femmes en finance du Québec, Global Citizen’s Award, presented by RBC, Pytagore Award from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Performance Award from ESG-UQAM, and Personality of the Year, Financial Institutions from Finance & Investment.
In his spare time, Martin can be found golfing and skiing the local mountains with his wife, Caroline, with whom he has three children. A graduate of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières; Martin holds an MBA from the School of Management at the Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG-UQAM).
Panel 1
Dr Greggain is a family physician who has spent most of his career caring for rural, Indigenous, and under-served populations across BC. For 17 years, he worked as a full-service family doctor in Hope, BC where he was privileged to provide office, emergency, in-hospital, and palliative care, as well as outreach to Indigenous communities in the Fraser Canyon. During that time he was also instrumental in the development of the House of Sexwna7m, an Indigenous-led primary care outreach clinic on reserve in Anderson Creek. Dr Greggain stepped into the role of Doctors of BC President in January 2023. He currently resides in Victoria, BC, and locums throughout the province.
Shannon is a highly skilled health informatics leader, passionate about transforming healthcare through digital technology and experienced in strategic planning, portfolio/program management, and systems implementation.
Shannon is Executive Vice President, Provincial Digital Health and Information Services at Provincial Health Services Authority. In her role Shannon supports local and provincial systems and partners with the Ministry of Health to establish, deliver and execute on BC’s provincial digital health strategies.
Prior to PHSA, Shannon served as Principal, Patient Engagement at TELUS Health. In her role Shannon led the strategy development, product management, delivery management, and operations of TELUS Health’s patient facing applications, including Personal Health Record, Home Health Monitoring, and Virtual Health solutions. She also led the execution of major health transformation initiatives and was responsible for the delivery of consulting services.
Shannon has also worked with a health management consulting company in Canada and in the United States and was engaged in strategic planning, project management and implementation initiatives. Shannon spent time working with various healthcare organizations, hospitals and private sector technology companies in Toronto, New York and Illinois where she was involved in the planning and implementation of a variety of clinical solutions.
Shannon serves as Past-President for Digital Health Canada. She has been recognized a Women Leader in Digital Health through the Canadian Health Informatics Awards by Digital Health Canada.
Ron is an experienced family caregiver to his late father who lived well with Alzheimer’s for over 10+ years while partnering with his senior mother during their journey to help them age at their home and community. He is an advocate in dementia and aging communities with expertise in technology, aging in place, caregiving, and patient engagement. Ron is the co-chair for AGE-WELL's Older Adults and Caregiver Advisory Committee, which is Canada’s aging and technology network where he received their honorary fellows award for 2020. He is an advisor and presenter for groups such as the Alzheimer and Dementia Societies across Canada, a Coach with Healthcare Excellence Canada, and an active member with the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence. He is also a mentor in residence representing the caregiver and patient voice with University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine’s Translational Research Program .
Dr. Chris Lee is an emergency physician at Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Hospital, and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the UBC Department of Emergency Medicine. He is the Physician Lead for Innovation at Vancouver General Hospital Emergency Department. In addition, Dr. Lee also serves as the Lead Physician for Disaster Management at Vancouver Acute, Spreading Quality Improvement at VCH and PHC and Associate Medical Director at Health Emergency Management BC, with interests in disaster preparedness, medical technology, and innovation.
Yasmine brings industry networks and trust capital built over years as a SME and senior advisor in health care, gaming, and tech start-ups. She brings deep experience working across a wide range of contexts including start-ups, venture capital and investment funds as well as large multilateral organizations. This includes work to generate go-to-market and customer insight, social impact measurements, metrics, and alignment - with the funding strategy across a wide variety of complex stakeholders. Yasmine recently joined Deloitte as a Partner in the Omina, AI consulting practice with a focus on health care.
With over 18 years’ experience as an executive strategy leader—she has an unparalleled ability to bring the right stakeholders to the table. Tasked with critical decisions, she brings visionary concepts to life. As a deeply compassionate organization leader, Yasmine has the unique ability to identify and connect across pre-seed, early stage, government, private and public organizations. She is best known for her extensive experience enabling impact investing through monetization of data, and the value ad of QA to ensure high impact data.
Panel 2
Waldo Beauséjour is a quantitative economist with a passion for telling great stories with data. He is a senior analyst at Canada Health Infoway where he has been working for over three years. During this period, he has led several projects and analyses including the digital health equity analysis, the 2023 Canadian Digital Health Survey, and Canadians’ Health Care Experiences during COVID-19 Survey.
Waldo has extensive experience in conducting impact evaluations aiming at assessing the effects of government-funded initiatives on health outcomes. He holds a master’s degree in applied economics and has a solid background in statistics and econometrics.
Dr. Damian Claydon-Platt is an experienced physician, technologist, and certified health informatician with a strong clinical, academic, and technology background. He worked as a physician for 20 years, predominantly in Intensive Care Settings, formally cross trained in IT, and holds a medical doctorate focused on informatics. He worked as a Chief Clinical Information Officer for 8 years in large public and private healthcare organizations in Australia and Canada, and currently works as an Executive Director in KPMG’s National Digital Health Transformation Practice. He is extremely passionate about enabling healthcare improvement and transformation through the intelligent implementation of health information technologies and the leveraging of digital clinical data to drive innovation, transformation, and the shift to a truly 21st century healthcare system.
Jessie Checkley is a Senior Program Lead on the Health Innovations Programs team at Healthcare Excellence Canada - the amalgamated organization formed from the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute. She brings over 15 years of experience in leading the design, delivery and evaluation of pan-Canadian quality improvement initiatives including Partnering on Appropriate Virtual Care, Essential Together (Better Together), Bridge-to-Home, Call for Innovations in Palliative Care and the EXTRA: Executive Training Program. Jessie's background is in Project Management, Business Administration and Accounting.
Karim Khan, MD, PhD, MBA, is a professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He is the Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis.
From 2008-2020, he was Editor-in-Chief of the BMJ’s British Journal of Sports Medicine He is co-author of all 5 editions of the sport and exercise medicine textbook Brukner & Khan’s Clinical Sports Medicine.
He has received two international Honorary Doctorates and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to medicine and community health (2019).
Ron is an experienced family caregiver to his late father who lived well with Alzheimer’s for over 10+ years while partnering with his senior mother during their journey to help them age at their home and community. He is an advocate in dementia and aging communities with expertise in technology, aging in place, caregiving, and patient engagement. Ron is the co-chair for AGE-WELL's Older Adults and Caregiver Advisory Committee, which is Canada’s aging and technology network where he received their honorary fellows award for 2020. He is an advisor and presenter for groups such as the Alzheimer and Dementia Societies across Canada, a Coach with Healthcare Excellence Canada, and an active member with the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence. He is also a mentor in residence representing the caregiver and patient voice with University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine’s Translational Research Program .
Born and raised in British Columbia, Pixie has lived most of her life on the West Coast, living in a few places surrounding B.C., residing in Abbotsford B.C.
Currently employed in HeartWork for our Nation, as well as the Fraser Valley Métis Association and other community groups within the city of Abbotsford BC.
Currently sit as FVMA’s President, also 2SLGBTGGIA+ rep, also holding the health/housing portfolios. While sitting on FVMA board for a few years.
Currently sits on other boards and committees within the city of Abbotsford B.C.
Sat as a voice for 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples for LFMO, working on the National Action Plan for MMIWGs and 2SLGBTQQIA+peoples.
Through many years of sitting on many boards and committees working with others to achieve common objectives and initiatives.
Always fighting to put the voice that is missing at the table.
I very much look forward to using my voice to strengthen the Métis Nation.
Dr. Chad A. Kim Sing is an academic Emergency Physician specialist, practicing for 16 years. He is a senior physician healthcare leader and executive, currently serving as Associate Vice President of Medicine, Quality, & Safety. He is the Co-Director of the UBC DEM-Brigham Health-Harvard physician leadership fellowship and executive lead of the well received VCH Medical Practitioner Occupational Safety and Health (mPOSH) program which serves and supports the needs of medical staff. This past year he has increased his leadership acumen as an International Coaching Federation (ICF) trained organizational and executive coach. Chad is energized by compassionate leadership, medical leadership development, building up others to show up as their best selves, and in bringing multidisciplinary stakeholders together to meaningfully advance and improve patient and provider models of care and impactful experiences. A mantra he espouses is relentless decency.
Panel 3
A graduate of the McGill School of Medicine, and Dalhousie University where he studied history, Ewan Affleck has worked and lived in northern Canada since 1992. He is currently serving as the Senior Medical Advisor - Health Informatics, College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta, Strategic Advisor - Clinical and Informatics at the Canadian Institute for Health Information, and Chair of the Alberta Virtual Care Working Group. He is the past Chief Medical Information Officer of the Northwest Territories, was co-chair of the national Virtual Care Task Force, served on the Expert Working Group of the pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy, and is the Executive Producer and co-writer of The Unforgotten (2021), an award-winning film about inequities in health service for Indigenous people living in Canada. In 2013, he was appointed to the Order of Canada for his contribution to northern health care.
Kelly Hogan has worked at the Canadian Institute for Health Information since 2010. Over the past 13 years, she has led projects related to population health and health equity, data standards and health system performance measurement. Since early 2021 she has managed CIHI’s virtual care program of work which includes new standards, analyses and indicators that can inform the understanding and use of virtual care/digital health into the future.
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Dr. Maureen O’Donnell is Associate Deputy Minister Health System Innovation in BC’s Ministry of Health and Executive Vice President, Provincial Clinical Policy, Planning & Partnerships at the Provincial Health Services Authority. She leads collaborative system-wide strategies which use evidence, data and analytics, and discovery to improve health care and systems.
Maureen is a subspecialist pediatrician and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics UBC. She has served on a number of national and international boards including current membership on the Board of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
Joby McKenzie is the Managing Director of Teladoc Health in Canada responsible for all strategy and operations, growing whole person virtual care to empower Canadians to live healthier lives. Dr. McKenzie also volunteers as a Board Director at Mackenzie Health overseeing their strategic, quality, and financial plans and decisions.
Dr. McKenzie has an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, a Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular and Medical Genetics from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from Simon Fraser University.
Arjeta Oka is an Emergency Room Nurse at Vancouver General Hospital. Passionate about emergency and event medicine, Arjeta has held a number of clinical and operational management roles for various mass gatherings. She is a graduate of the Professional Diploma in Tropical Nursing program through the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is interested in humanitarian aid work. Her other interests include disaster and emergency response planning, advocacy for women’s health and refugee/migrant health.
Dr. Vincent Ponette, MDCM'02, MBA'02, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He is a specialist in Maternal-Fetal Medicine and an attending physician at the McGill University Health Centre, where he provides care for high-risk pregnancies.
Dr. Ponette completed his engineering degree at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology, his OBGYN training at McGill University. He then pursued advanced training in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at McGill University and St. Georges University Hospital in London before returning to McGill University as a faculty member.
Dr. Ponette's research interests include the use of ultrasound in prenatal diagnosis, fetal growth restriction and adolescent medicine. In addition to his research and clinical work, Dr. Ponette has a keen interest in the McGill OB/GYN educational program, serving initially as the Undergraduate Education Program Director and then as the Director of the Post-Graduate Education Program.
Dr. Kendall Ho is an emergency medicine specialist, Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Medicine, and Lead the Digital Emergency Medicine Unit. He is the medical director of the BC Ministry of Health HealthLink BC virtual physician program, and collaborates with provincial partners on implementing and evaluating the BC Real Time Virtual Support provincial virtual care services.
His digital health research in BC and internationally focuses on virtual care, wearables and sensors, data science, and multicultural engagement in digital health literacy to support patient transition between emergency departments and the community. His research and education in digital health has received awards and recognition of the BC Medal of Good Citizenship.
Panel 4
Dr. Ibukun Abejirinde is an implementation and evaluation Scientist at Women's College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on digitally enabled models of care and specifically on equity-promoting applications. Through the Canadian Network for Digital Health Evaluation, she led the development of the pan-Canadian digital health evaluation framework to inform a common reference for shared learnings on digital health across Canada. She is the Principal Investigator of an ongoing study to understand how digital health compassion is conceptualized and realized for immigrants and refugees to Canada.
Scott is the Director of Primary Care at the First Nations Health Authority and an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia, at the School of Community and Regional Planning. He has written extensively on health care systems change, social determinants of health, including a focus on poverty, food security, mental health and problem substance use, as well as community capacity development.
In this work, he has partnered with many organizations, including: Canadian Commission for UNESCO, Canadian Mental Health Association, City of Vancouver, City of Surrey, City of Richmond, City of North Vancouver, College of Health Disciplines at UBC, Columbia Basin Trust, Doctors of BC, First Nations Health Council, Fraser Basin Council, Ministry of Advanced Education, Ministry of Health, Public Health Services Authority, Public Health Agency of Canada, Public Health Services Authority, Vancouver Foundation, United Way of the Lower Mainland, United Nations Development Programme, Vancouver Coastal Health and many others. Scott is regularly invited to collaborate in presenting at conferences locally and internationally, with a view to advancing community-led knowledge efforts that shape planning and policy directions.
Scott is a third generation Scottish-Swedish immigrant whose family initially settled on the territory of the Denesuline in northern Saskatchewan. He currently lives on the territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Watuth Nations and is humbly engaged in reflections, learning, un-learning and actions toward being a helpful ally with Indigenous peoples and their leadership work in transforming health care systems toward being culturally safe, high quality and accessible closer to home.
Chantz loves working across disciplines to solve difficult problems and strives to make the complex simple. His portfolio includes research, data science, privacy & records management, data management, and business intelligence; all are focused on insights that improve decision-making, reduce risk, and improve patient safety. Chantz holds a BSc (Computer Science and Economics) from McGill University and an MSc (Systems Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Business) from MIT. He has years of proven leadership experience, such as the Executive Director of Research and Analytics with Canada’s national tourism organization where he is proud of how their research became a trusted resource for industry. He has held a series of senior roles with the Government of Canada, has worked as a management consultant, a programmer, and satisfied his coffee cravings as a barista.
Naz Panahi is a CFA charterholder and has an MBA (Finance) from McGill University. She’s Vice-President at Pan City Enterprises Inc. Her focus is investment and portfolio risk management.
She’s passionate about leaving a positive, sustainable impact, therefore, has volunteered in leadership roles with various charitable organizations. She’s Director at the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation and has co-chaired the Foundation’s gala numerous times.
She observed for over 20 years early-adapters’ incorporation of technology in patient care at top US health organizations while taking care of her family’s health affairs. ED operations is an interest given her patient experience.
John is a Clinical Professor and the Chair in Rural Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and acts as the Director of the Rural Education Action Plan, Medical Director for Carrier Sekani Family Services, and the Virtual Health Lead for the Rural Coordination Centre of BC. John draws on his rural healthcare experience in these roles to innovate services and supports in remote, rural and Indigenous communities to better address inequities in the healthcare system.
Dr. Kendall Ho is an emergency medicine specialist, Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Medicine, and Lead the Digital Emergency Medicine Unit. He is the medical director of the BC Ministry of Health HealthLink BC virtual physician program, and collaborates with provincial partners on implementing and evaluating the BC Real Time Virtual Support provincial virtual care services.
His digital health research in BC and internationally focuses on virtual care, wearables and sensors, data science, and multicultural engagement in digital health literacy to support patient transition between emergency departments and the community. His research and education in digital health has received awards and recognition of the BC Medal of Good Citizenship.
"The Edge of Care"
Stephen specializes in film and podcast production, distribution, and social media management. Drawing from a 20+ year career in film & marketing, including writing & directing two feature films for primetime television, he provides a deep knowledge of the script to screen process and assists clients with a collaborative storytelling approach.
Since 2010, Zac has written, produced, and directed film, audio, interactive and immersive projects in order to help people teach things to other people. He enjoys the unique creative collaboration between subject matter experts and storytellers and thrives on the constant discovery of form following function.