General Information
Held in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, the 19th Annual International Healthcare Summit is a forum that allows Canadian healthcare officials, senior policy makers, and the private sector to meet and discuss the ways in which government transforms the quality healthcare delivery arena to produce effective and efficient solutions.
This year we are expanding the program to feature a full two-day agenda with an exciting new track of presentations on Genomics and Personalized Medicine, a field poised to vastly improve the practice of medicine in the near future.
The Annual International Healthcare Summit brings together many of the best subject matter experts in the field to share case studies, cutting edge policy, programs, research and technologies aimed at successful collaboration within shared services and the healthcare industry. It also provides sponsoring companies the opportunity to showcase their newest products and latest innovations.
Target Audience
- Federal, provincial and regional healthcare officials
- Senior policy makers
- Intelligence and technology officials
- Academics
- Healthcare professionals
Summit Rates*
Early Bird Rate (before April 26, 2019) | Regular Rate (after April 26, 2019) | |
Public Sector | $475.00 CAD (plus GST) | $550.00 CAD (plus GST) |
Private Sector | $675.00 CAD (plus GST) | $750.00 CAD (plus GST) |
*If you have attended before please inquire about our alumni rates (valid until March 29, 2019). If you are a post-secondary student please inquire about our student rate.
Social Media
Stay connected and engaged in the conversation leading up to and during the summit by following along on Twitter. Use the event hashtag to follow others who are already posting, and include it in your tweets to add to the existing discussions. The hashtag for this year’s summit is #HCS19 and our twitter handle is @Reboot_Comm. We would appreciate you sharing your voice with our other followers.
The Delta Grand Okanagan Resort & Conference Centre
Ideally located on the shores of majestic Okanagan Lake, this destination resort and conference centre was recently ranked among the Top Waterfront Hotels in Canada by Canoe.ca. Nestled in the heart of Canada’s wine country, our Kelowna hotel boasts 390 guest rooms, villas and suites, offering city, lake or mountain views. Visit the nearby vineyards and wineries for exclusive tastings or, depending on the season, enjoy a day of skiing, golfing, boating or cycling with spectacular views of Okanagan Lake and the surrounding mountains.
Contact Information for the Delta Grand Okanagan:
Reservations: 250-763-4500 or 1-800-465-4651
1310 Water Street
Kelowna, BC V1Y 9P3
Canada
http://www.deltagrandokanagan.com

*Invited Speaker
Click on the date of the agenda you would like to view. Please note the timezone listed on the agenda.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
3:00pm - 5:00pm • Lower Foyer
Registration
Monday, June 24, 2019
7:30am • Lower Foyer
Registration
7:30am - 8:30am • Grand Foyer
Morning Coffee
8:40am - 9:15am • Okanagan/Shuswap Room Presentation Files Lori Orlando
Keynote Presentation: The Path to Genomic Medicine: An Implementation Challenge
This talk will describe some of the challenges and opportunities facing the genomic medicine community as it strives to transition genomic medicine from a research paradigm to a clinical one.
Presentation Files Lori Orlando
9:15am - 10:30am • Okanagan/Shuswap Room
Panel Session: The Modern Patient in Personalized Healthcare
Imagine a world where....
• Biopsies are no longer needed because rejection is a thing of the past.
• If you need a transplant, we can take stem cells from you and grow a new heart that is perfectly matched for you.
• We can take a sample of blood and determine how likely you are to get cancer and then tailor your treatments accordingly.
• We can tell if you are likely to get diabetes and start therapy years before you get it.
• We can tell when you are a child that you are likely to get blocked arteries and do things to prevent that from developing early.
• Anti-rejection drugs are a thing of the past.
Technology makes this possible, however there are many hurdles that must be overcome before it can be utilized on a day-to-day basis. Personalized medicine, genomics and innovation can solve these issues and make this a reality for many patients around the world. Join our all-patient panel as they discuss their experiences and possible solutions for better patient care in the future.
10:30am - 10:50am • Grand Foyer
Morning Break
10:50am - 11:25am • Okanagan Room Presentation Files Dave Bennett
Concurrent Keynote Presentation: A Patient Journey on the Impacts of Precision Medicine – From Outcomes to System Challenges
This will be a personal journey on the outcomes of precision medicine and the challenges patients and caregivers face with this changing model of medicine. Real life story on an orphan drug designed for a micro stratified population and the impacts that has on standards of care, funding, and shared outcomes. This session will include some patterns required to support this new model of medicine and it will challenge us to evolve our health systems in ways we have not anticipated.
Presentation Files Dave Bennett
10:50am - 11:25am • Shuswap Room Presentation Files Mark Faiz
Concurrent Keynote Presentation: Pharmacogenomics in Disability Management
A discussion on how pharmacogenomics is being used to reduce incidents and duration of disability due to mental illness.
Presentation Files Mark Faiz
11:30am - 12:45pm • Okanagan Room
Concurrent Panel Session - Panel A: Personalized Medicine and Oncology
Each person in this world is unique and different, which means every cancer has a different genetic makeup, depending on the individual with the illness. With the introduction of personalized medicine and technology, it is now possible to learn the genetic makeup of each person’s cancer and then match it with a specific drug to the genetic changes found within it.
As a result of personalized medicine, doctors have discovered that many cancers are not single diseases, but contain subtypes each with their own unique genetic makeup and clinical outcome. With this valuable information, doctors are changing the way cancer is diagnosed and providing their patients with more specialized treatments.
Panelists will discuss this emerging field of medicine and the benefits it can have in preventing and curing cancer around the world.
11:30am - 12:45pm • Shuswap Room
Concurrent Panel Session - Panel B: Big Data Analytics (Digital Supercluster)
“Big data” describes the rapid increase in volume, variety and velocity of information available, not just in medical research but in almost every aspect of our lives. Exploiting new tools to extract meaning from large volume information has the potential to drive real change in clinical practice, from personalized therapy and intelligent drug design to population screening and electronic health record mining.
Where new technology promises “Big Advances,” significant challenges remain. We discuss the opportunities and challenges to biomedical research with the ability to tackle large datasets. Challenges include the need for standardization of data content, format, and clinical definitions, a need for collaborative networks with sharing of both data and expertise and a need to reconsider how and when analytic methodology is taught to medical researchers.
The challenge of reducing biology to its component parts, then identifying which can and should be measured to choose an optimal intervention, the patient population that will benefit and when they will benefit most cannot be overstated. Yet the increasing use of hypothesis-free, Big data approaches promises to help us reach this aspirational goal.
12:45pm - 1:50pm • Grand Foyer/Okanagan/Shuswap Room
Networking Luncheon
1:50pm - 2:25pm • Okanagan Room Presentation Files Jennifer Cudlipp
Concurrent Keynote Presentation: Personalized Healthcare One Patient at A Time – Lessons Learned
Over 20 million Canadians count on LifeLabs annual for the information they need to make decisions about their health. As a trusted partner supporting patients, healthcare providers and provincial healthcare systems, we are continually harnessing innovation to provide more personalized care and better experience for patients. This presentation will focus on sharing the lessons we have learned as we adopt innovation to provide more personalized healthcare for patients.
Presentation Files Jennifer Cudlipp
1:50pm - 2:25pm • Shuswap Room Presentation Files Denise Heaney
Concurrent Keynote Presentation: The Emerging Role of Digital Diagnostics in Precision Medicine: Harnessing Data to Transform Patient Care
While there is much more clinical knowledge, information and data out there, the rate at which it is increasing makes it impossible for any individual to collect, understand and interpret all the information. The emerging role of digital diagnostics is to guide and aid this ongoing challenge of keeping up with the expanding information. Digital healthcare is about collecting vast amounts of data from a variety of sources, from medical records to clinical trials to population health and analyzing it to impact patient care and outcomes. This presentation will focus on the ways digital diagnostics is harnessing data to transform patient care through clinical decision support.
Presentation Files Denise Heaney
2:30pm- 3:45pm • Okanagan Room
Concurrent Panel Session - Panel A: Genetic Testing in the 21st Century: How Does the Government Health System Introduce Genetics?
British Columbia has a diverse and and innovative genomics sector, with multiple public, non-profit and private companies engaged in the development and delivery of precision medicine, genomics, emerging gene therapy, and genetic testing services.
Currently, the majority of publicly-funded genetic services are provided to patients for cancer care, rare diseases and prenatal services through health authorities and provincial programs, with some testing provided through out-of-province or out-of-country arrangements when specific expertise or testing is required. The private sector also provides genetic testing direct to consumer.
With the development of new therapies, technologies and platforms, opportunities exist to incorporate these into the BC health system to further advance diagnostic accuracy and improve benefits to patients. This panel will discuss the challenges and opportunities that organizations, health professionals and researches face to effectively evaluate, plan, coordinate and implement new tests and therapy advancements.
2:30pm- 3:45pm • Shuswap Room Presentation Files Shirley Golen
Concurrent Panel Session - Panel B: Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly sophisticated at doing what humans do, the potential for AI in healthcare grows exponentially. From personal wellness, to early detection, diagnosis, research and treatment, AI is a powerful force that is rapidly transforming the healthcare industry. While the benefits of AI in this vital field may seem obvious, we must also consider the potential drawbacks and ethical issues that come together in this transformation. Join panelists as they discuss the advantages and potential pitfalls that present themselves in the new world of AI in healthcare.
3:45pm - 4:05pm • Grand Foyer
Afternoon Break
4:05pm - 4:40pm • Okanagan/Shuswap Room Presentation Files Greg Bell
Keynote Presentation: Challenging the Business Model for Genomics-Based Personalized Therapeutics
Genomics brings with it the possibility of personalized therapeutics. Launching a personalized therapeutic redefines the role of the therapeutics company, and necessitates a change in existing pharma business models. As opposed to following a “blockbuster” model of investment and return, pharma companies will need to focus on targeted investment in R&D with the ultimate goal of providing value-based care. Pharma companies invested in genomics and personalized medicine will also need to partner with multiple stakeholders including governments, policy-makers, and diagnostics companies, among others, to drive successfully from drug development through to commercialization.
Presentation Files Greg Bell
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
7:45am - 8:30am • Grand Foyer
Morning Coffee
8:30am - 9:05am • Okanagan/Shuswap Room Presentation Files Shelagh Maloney
Keynote Presentation: A New Day in Health Care is Coming
This is the theme of ACCESS 2022, a campaign powered by Canada Health Infoway and designed to create a social movement for change to the health system that Canadians cherish but know we can improve. In this presentation, Shelagh Maloney, EVP, Digital Health Engagement and Marketing, will outline the ambitious plan to engage Canadians, their clinicians, governments, and industry to work together to achieve some ambitious goals around providing Canadians with improved access to their personal health information and digital tools and services that will enable them to better manage their health. Shelagh will also speak to Infoway’s focus on the future – one of the most extensive public consultations around health care married with expert opinion about the innovations that will have the greatest impact on the health system – to drive the digital health agenda in Canada.
Presentation Files Shelagh Maloney
9:10am - 10:25am • Okanagan/Shuswap Room Presentation Files Tracy Bawtinheimer Mike Craig Michael Fergusson Greg Leake Tom Warshawski
Panel Session: Virtual Health: Using Technologies to Support the Delivery of Health Services
How do we exploit today’s various forms of technologies to deliver health services? What are important issues related to clinical delivery of services that are important? What are ways that Ministry of Health and Health Authorities are supporting virtual health delivery (e.g. MOH Digital Health Strategy, PHSA approach to virtual health)? What are ways forward to support virtual health – public model versus private models (e.g. Medeo before, Babylon now)? I think this would be an important session that would immediately impact our health system, engage a wide audience and stakeholders, and complement the future delivery of personalized medicine.
10:25am - 10:45am • Grand Foyer
Morning Break
10:45am - 12:00pm • Okanagan/Shuswap Room
Panel Session - Panel A: Post-Secondary Healthcare Training Educational Requirements for Genomic Medicine in 2020
What are the core curriculum requirements?
What is the knowledge, skills & attitudes we expect our students to gain?
We are not talking about the interesting conversations we have about ANKK1 genotype (rs1800497) and whether the "A/A" corresponds to A2 (cytosine) or A1 (thymine) but general teaching principles. Instead we are asking about what you expect your GP or pharmacists to know when you take in your BRCA result, or your 23andme?
12:00pm - 1:05pm • On the Patio
Networking Luncheon
1:05pm - 1:40pm • Okanagan/Shuswap Room Presentation Files Pieter Cullis
Keynote Presentation: Personalized Medicines: Nanomedicines Enabling Gene Therapies
Personalized medicine or precision health uses biomarkers to diagnose disease and match therapy more accurately to disease. However, personalized medicine also includes the development of new medicines that are precisely designed for the particular individual they are administered to. Examples include medicines that are designed to treat hereditary diseases or are precisely targeted to diseased tissues in the body. In this talk I will outline how nanomedicines enabling gene therapies to treat most diseases are on the horizon and how BC is leading the way in the development of these highly personalized therapies.
Presentation Files Pieter Cullis
1:45pm - 3:00pm • Okanagan Room
Concurrent Panel Session - Panel A: How to Deliver Personalized Medicine Today
With the introduction of personalized medicine, it is possible to envision a future where treatments are tailored to individuals’ genetic structures, prescriptions are analyzed in advance for likely effectiveness, and researchers study clinical data in real-time to learn what works. Implementation of these regimens creates a situation where treatments are better targeted, health systems save money by identifying therapies not likely to be effective for particular people, and researchers have a better understanding of comparative effectiveness.
However, the benefits promised by personalized medicine can be hampered by out dated government systems and regulations. Scientific innovation continues to remain far ahead of public policy, calling for rapid, wide-sweeping changes to be made in order for the public to reap the true benefits of this emerging field.
1:45pm - 3:00pm • Shuswap Room Presentation Files Victoria Lemieux Dai Mukherjee
Concurrent Panel Session - Panel B: Blockchain in Genomics
Blockchain has promise to overcome many of our current healthcare data and records management challenges. This includes overcoming digital health data silos, to providing users with greater control and security assurance of their health data/records, to streamlining the consent process for sharing of health data in healthcare research. But is it really stable and secure enough for our health data and medical records? Blockchain technology creates an immutable and transparent record of a transaction. Is it possible to reconcile these features with protection of personal privacy? It’s also complicated for the average user to use. Are people ready to take on this level of complexity?
Personalized medicine relies upon the application of big data analytic techniques. Can these techniques be applied to data that is decentralized and distributed over a blockchain network? This panel discussion considers active research on the application of blockchain technology to the management health data and records. Each of the panelists is actively engaged in research to answer these questions whether our health data should be managed on a blockchain and, if so, how it should be managed.
3:00pm - 3:20pm • Grand Foyer
Afternoon Break
3:20pm - 4:35pm • Okanagan/Shuswap Room Presentation Files Final Panel - Summary Slides
Panel Session: Where Are We Going Now?
Personalized Medicine has progressed rapidly in the past few years. Not only are there genomic tests available to predict the potential onset of certain diseases and to identify the best medicines for treatment, but also genetic profiling is being incorporated to provide targeted cancer therapies individualized to a single patient. With the abundance of new technology, multitude of data, variety of genomic tests/profiling, and tailored therapeutic treatments which can profoundly support personalized medicine, we must work on how we will align, develop, manage and deliver. This wrap-up panel session will summarize the key points of the meeting and identify what we as a diverse group of developers, government policy makers, patients, practitioners, payers, private sector suppliers, researchers, and other stakeholders participating at this summit, should focus efforts. We must advance together in an aligned and productive manner. It is critical that the science caters to the needs, expectations and methods of delivery at the front line. Our panel will identify where we go from here…
The 19th Annual International Healthcare Summit is proudly sponsored by the following companies.
If you would like to sponsor this event, please download the Sponsorship Brochure for more information.
Title Sponsor
VIP Dinner Sponsor
Gold Sponsors
Summit Sponsors & Exhibitors
Summit Partners
The Delta Grand Okanagan Resort & Conference Centre
Ideally located on the shores of majestic Okanagan Lake, this destination resort and conference centre was recently ranked among the Top Waterfront Hotels in Canada by Canoe.ca. Nestled in the heart of Canada’s wine country, our Kelowna hotel boasts 390 guest rooms, villas and suites, offering city, lake or mountain views. Visit the nearby vineyards and wineries for exclusive tastings or, depending on the season, enjoy a day of skiing, golfing, boating or cycling with spectacular views of Okanagan Lake and the surrounding mountains.
The Delta Grand Okanagan Resort is offering a special conference rate of $244/night for conference delegates. To book a room online please go to:
Book your room at the special conference rate – 19th Annual Healthcare Summit
If booking a room by phone please quote “Reboot Healthcare”. Please note that this room block ends June 21, 2019.
Contact Information for the Delta Grand Okanagan:
Reservations: 250-763-4500
1310 Water Street
Kelowna, BC V1Y 9P3
Canada
