Dr. Alan Low is the Executive Director of Medicines Access Coalition – BC, Primary Care Pharmacist and Pharmacy Lead at BioPro Biologics Pharmacy, a collaborative practice approach, focusing on patient centred care. He is also a Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and an Instructor and Care Director at MedInfuse Health.

Convinced that pharmacists have much more to offer to the public and the healthcare system, Alan has led the development and implementation of provincial medication management projects in BC and Alberta as well as creating a novel model of community pharmacy practice where interprofessional collaboration is leveraged to improve patient health outcomes.

Within the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC, Dr. Low is one of the founders of the Faculty based Pharmacists Clinic and helped develop and lead the business case for the Pharmacists Clinic. He is a Board Advisor with the GI Society and sits on the Medical Board of HealthChoicesFirst.com, a patient video education resource. Dr. Low has experience in a wide variety of health and administrative settings including direct patient care in the hospital and clinics, clinical and practice-based research, consultant in healthcare projects and clinical pharmaceutical consulting. He has held positions such as Clinical Pharmacist, Clinical Specialist, Pharmacotherapeutic Specialist within teaching hospitals, as well as Manager of Government Affairs and Medical Affairs, Medical Science Liaison, and Senior Health Sciences Advisor in research-based pharmaceutical companies and was the Chief Operating Officer at Network Healthcare. Alan is a Certified Clinical Densitometrist (CCD), coauthored “The Osteoporosis Book, 4th Edition: Bone Health”, Co-Editor of the Health Matters Bulletin, has numerous publications in scientific and health journals, newsletters, and is a founding co-editor of the Pharmacy Management in Canada textbook.

Alan has been an active member and past participant on various committees (with the College of Pharmacists of BC, BC Pharmacy Association, Canadian Pharmacists Association, Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, GI Society, etc). He has interests in the areas of, rheumatology, osteoporosis, gastroenterology, diabetes, and cardiology. Alan enjoys being involved in projects that improve health knowledge translation, healthcare delivery, medical health education and health outcomes research. Alan’s training includes a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, a Hospital Pharmacy Residency at St. Paul’s Hospital, and postgraduate Doctorate of Pharmacy degree at UBC. He is frequently invited to speak at regional, national and international conferences. He strives to develop solutions to close gaps in health care working together with a variety of people.

First and foremost, John is a thinker. A thinker entrenched in the world of technology, science, medicine and innovation. John is the founder of NOSTALAB—a innovation think tank recognized globally for an inspired vision of transformation. He’s currently ranked as one of the leading global influencers in innovation and technology and well established as one of the top global strategic and creative thinkers. He is also one the most popular speakers around the globe presenting his vibrant and insightful perspective on the future on innovation. His focus is on guiding companies, NGOs, and governments through the dynamics of exponential change and the diffusion of innovation into complex systems, particularly in technology, AI and GPT,

Unwilling to accept the status quo, he’s a contrarian with a sharp focus on the future. A leading voice in the convergence of technology and humanity, Nosta helps define, dissect and deliberate global trends in technology. Beyond simply an influencer, John is also defined as “most admired” to “top disruptor” in technology, innovation, life sciences and the pharmaceutical industry. He is also a past member of the Google Health Advisory Board and a consultant for ARK Invest. John is also a frequent and popular contributor to Fortune, Forbes, Psychology Today and Bloomberg. He has also been published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals including The American Journal of Physiology, Circulation, and The American Journal of Hematology. In 2018, he received a PhD, honoris causa from Udabol Internacional: Oficial Universidad de Aquino Bolivia and from the Latin America Foundation, University of Science and Informatics Peru and Centre for Neuroscience. He was also awarded the diploma of honour from the Bolivian government for his work in health technology in promoting innovation and engagement around the world. In 2019, he was named a founding member of the World Health Organization’s Digital Health Roster of Experts. Nosta is also a member of the Roche Advisory Council, established to introduce credible expertise and distinct perspectives on the future of diagnostics.

John has an established reputation as a vocal advocate for strategic thinking and creativity. He has built his career on the “science of innovation,” a process where strategy and creativity work together to create inflection points in the market. He has also been recognized for his ability to translate difficult medical and scientific concepts into material that can be more easily communicated to consumers, clinicians and scientists. Additionally, John has distinguished himself as a scientific thinker. Earlier in his career, John co-authored several papers with global thought-leaders in the field of cardiovascular physiology with a focus on cell volume regulation, acute myocardial infarction, ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

John cut his teeth at the “big” agencies including Ogilvy CommonHealth, where he has held a series of positions including Chief Creative Officer, Chief Strategic Officer and unit President.

Dr. Alan Low is the Executive Director of Medicines Access Coalition – BC, Primary Care Pharmacist and Pharmacy Lead at BioPro Biologics Pharmacy, a collaborative practice approach, focusing on patient centred care. He is also a Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and an Instructor and Care Director at MedInfuse Health.

Convinced that pharmacists have much more to offer to the public and the healthcare system, Alan has led the development and implementation of provincial medication management projects in BC and Alberta as well as creating a novel model of community pharmacy practice where interprofessional collaboration is leveraged to improve patient health outcomes.

Within the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC, Dr. Low is one of the founders of the Faculty based Pharmacists Clinic and helped develop and lead the business case for the Pharmacists Clinic. He is a Board Advisor with the GI Society and sits on the Medical Board of HealthChoicesFirst.com, a patient video education resource. Dr. Low has experience in a wide variety of health and administrative settings including direct patient care in the hospital and clinics, clinical and practice-based research, consultant in healthcare projects and clinical pharmaceutical consulting. He has held positions such as Clinical Pharmacist, Clinical Specialist, Pharmacotherapeutic Specialist within teaching hospitals, as well as Manager of Government Affairs and Medical Affairs, Medical Science Liaison, and Senior Health Sciences Advisor in research-based pharmaceutical companies and was the Chief Operating Officer at Network Healthcare. Alan is a Certified Clinical Densitometrist (CCD), coauthored “The Osteoporosis Book, 4th Edition: Bone Health”, Co-Editor of the Health Matters Bulletin, has numerous publications in scientific and health journals, newsletters, and is a founding co-editor of the Pharmacy Management in Canada textbook.

Alan has been an active member and past participant on various committees (with the College of Pharmacists of BC, BC Pharmacy Association, Canadian Pharmacists Association, Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, GI Society, etc). He has interests in the areas of, rheumatology, osteoporosis, gastroenterology, diabetes, and cardiology. Alan enjoys being involved in projects that improve health knowledge translation, healthcare delivery, medical health education and health outcomes research. Alan’s training includes a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, a Hospital Pharmacy Residency at St. Paul’s Hospital, and postgraduate Doctorate of Pharmacy degree at UBC. He is frequently invited to speak at regional, national and international conferences. He strives to develop solutions to close gaps in health care working together with a variety of people.

Barry is a senior leader in digital health with a history of success in corporate development, market creation, strategic partnerships, and digital innovation. A published thought leader, he is highly sought for his views on digital innovation and transformation in health care.

Currently, Barry is providing strategic advisory services to Canadian and global organizations who are focused on improving the Canadian health care system by leveraging digital health solutions with a focus on connected care and patient empowerment.

Barry was Executive Vice President at Canada Health Infoway joining the organization in 2019. He led the Virtual Care and Digital Health Interoperability Division including jurisdictional and private sector stakeholder relations. While at Infoway, he created and launched an innovative Private/Public Partnership, led a strategy refresh initiative that resulted in a shift in focus to virtual care and digital health interoperability, established the foundation for a national organ donation and transplantation system, led Infoway’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, established a Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability strategy to provide a blueprint for private and public efforts, and helped secure significant additional funding and a new multi-year mandate.

Barry served as Vice President of Public Sector Business Development at TELUS Health with responsibility for business development and client success across the public sector in Canada. During his tenure he reshaped his organization to increase the value that TELUS brings to the health care sector including new client coverage models, enhanced channel initiatives, and driving key M&A activity.

Barry had a 30-year career at IBM Canada, with more than 20 years as Vice President of Health Care driving ten-fold growth in industry revenue by focusing on the needs of the market. He championed corporate investment in Canadian digital health and developed a vision and strategy for dramatically increasing IBM’s role in partnering with clients to transform health care in Canada.

Tim Murphy has more than 30 years of senior executive experience in the health care sector. Currently, he is the Vice President, Health at Alberta Innovates and prior to this role, he was the Vice President, Provincial Platforms and SPOR.

Before joining Alberta Innovates, Tim established an independent consulting practice and worked with clients such as the Institute for Health System Transformation and Sustainability, and the Movember Foundation.  His other roles have included being the inaugural Senior Vice President at the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR), and 10 years in senior management positions with two comprehensive Academic Oncology Centres: Princess Margaret Hospital (1992‐1997) and the British Columbia Cancer Agency (1997‐2002).

Tim holds a Master of Health Administration from the University of Toronto (1992), a Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University (2006), and a Certified Professional Accountant (CPA) designation.

As CEO of Digital, Sue leads a portfolio of digital innovation and capacity-building initiatives destined to deliver over $3.7 billion in revenue for Canadian companies. By accelerating digital transformation in the health, natural resources and skilling sectors, Digital is supporting the development and delivery of world-leading technologies that advance human health, improve environmental health, and create a skilled workforce for the digital world. Prior to leading Digital, Sue held leadership roles in major Canadian organizations including CEO of LifeLabs, Canada’s largest diagnostic lab where she led major growth and technological advancements across Canada’s diagnostic sector. As CEO of Pharmasave, Sue led the delivery of some of the first online access tools for medication information for patients and as Managing Partner of Fasken Vancouver, Sue drove the merger of three leading Canadian law firms into a Canadian national legal leading firm.

Sue serves on the Boards of TELUS International, CORIX and Own the Podium. She has received numerous recognitions for her community contributions including a King’s Counsel, an honorary Doctorate of Technology, Influential Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award and the Peter Lougheed Award for Public Policy. Sue’s greatest joy is spending time in Canada’s wilderness with her husband, daughters and granddaughters.

Dr. Ian Rongve joined the Ministry of Health in June 2016 as the Assistant Deputy Minister Provincial, Hospital and Laboratory Health Services Division. In May 2020, Ian was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of the COVID Response and Health Emergency Management Division, ensuring an ongoing, focused response to supporting the health system within the context of COVID-19. In June of 2021, Dr. Rongve was appointed the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Strategic Innovation Division.

The Strategic Innovation Division supports British Columbia’s population and patients in accessing new innovations in care, British Columbia’s health services and health infrastructure in developing and scaling novel and sustainable models of delivery and will drive large scale innovation tackling the systems most significant challenges.

Prior to joining the Ministry of Health, Dr. Rongve was the Assistant Deputy Minister, Knowledge Management and Accountability, at the Ministry of Education. From March 2012 to November 2013, he was the Assistant Deputy Minister, Sector Strategy and Quality Assurance Division, at the Ministry of Advanced Education.

Dr. Rongve holds a Ph.D. in economics. He spent eight years as an Assistant Professor at the University of Regina, before moving back to British Columbia and joining the public service. He has worked in senior roles in the Ministries of Finance, Health, Advanced Education and Education.

Dr. Banerji completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology at the University of Manitoba and CancerCare Manitoba. He then pursued a 4-year research fellowship in cancer genomics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute under the mentorship of Dr. Matthew Meyerson. Dr. Banerji’s training involved the use of next-generation sequencing technology to identify structural abnormalities, or mutations in the DNA of cancer cells, and understanding the consequences of these mutations to cancer cell growth using high-throughput functional screens. He has applied these novel technologies to a variety of malignancies including breast cancer, lung cancer, and sarcoma.

Howard Waldner is the past President and Chief Executive Officer of Vancouver Island Health Authority, serving in this role from 2004 until 2013. He is curently CEO of Caledonia Solutions, a strategic consulting company he founded in 2013.

He is a visionary and innovative leader with over 30 years of experience of managing health sysytems in both Canada and the U.K. He has a keen interest in system innovation, transformation and performance improvement. He is also passionate in the area of health facility planning, design and procurement and has led the development of number of large and successful hospital projects using both traditional and alternate funding approaches. He received the Canadian College of Health Leaders National Award for Innovation in Health in 2013.

He is a certified member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, and currently serves as an Independent Board Director of Strata-Health Solutions, a successful Calgary based Health IT company, and is a partner with Prioritize Software, a Vancouver based strategic solutions company. He also serves as a volunteer member of the Telus (Victoria) Community Board and has served on a number of “non-profit” Boards, including the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the BC Academic Health Council, (which he chaired for 5 years), the United Way Campaign Cabinet, Carewest, VRRI, and the Greater Victoria Coalition to end Homelessness.

Prior to joining VIHA in 2004, he was the Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the former Calgary Health Region from 1999 until 2004. Before moving to Calgary in 1999, he held a number of senior leadership roles within the Scottish National Health Service, most recently as the Chief Executive of Dundee University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

He received his Executive MBA from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and is a Certified member of the Canadian College of Health Leaders and a Fellow of the United Kingdom Institute of Health Care Managers.

He is Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of British Columbia, and teaches on a number of executive leadership and masters programs in the School of Public and Population Health.

Dr. Tahmeena Ali is an award-winning longitudinal family physician, educator, and medical leader who is the current President of BC Family Doctors. She is passionate about connecting disparate parts of the health care system to create a cohesive whole. As a clinician with over two decades experience including rural Alberta; remote British Columbia; and suburban Vancouver, her practical knowledge and innovative way of thinking has culminated in exciting professional projects including the first rural youth clinic in Alberta and the first interprofessional referral team in BC to aid teachers and school counsellors about students with behavioral and neuro diversity challenges. Her most rewarding work away from medicine is time spent with her three teenage children and partner of 27 years.

Stephen Samis has close to 30 years’ experience in health and health care, advancing evidence-informed health policy and population health to improve health systems and the health of Canadians.

Stephen is currently President, Samis Health Policy Consulting Inc. and works with a variety of clients on health and social policy issues, leadership development and evidence-informed decision making in the health and social sectors. He was Deputy Minister, Health and Social Services, Government of Yukon from 2017 to 2022. Before this, Stephen spent seventeen years in Ottawa where he worked in progressively senior roles for national health-related organizations including the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (now Healthcare Excellence Canada), the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Stephen is currently Co-Chair of the Appropriate Use Advisory Committee for the Canada Drug Agency and Senior Policy Advisor for the Canadian Health Leadership Network. He is active on a number of Committees and Boards, including the Alberta Primary Care Advisory Committee; the Alberta Primary Care Alliance; Alberta Innovates’ AI Advisory Committee; is Board Chair of Imagine Citizens’ Network (Alberta), and is member of the Board of Directors, Alberta Blue Cross. Stephen holds an Adjunct Faculty appointment in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary.

Stephen began his career in British Columbia, where he worked on strategic research, evaluation and policy initiatives at the community level and with the BC Ministry of Health, with a focus on HIV/AIDS and population health.

He has a Master’s degree in Sociology from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. He is based in Edmonton, Alberta.

Dr. Katharine Smart is an experienced medical leader and advocate who constantly challenges the status quo in medicine. A pediatrician in Canada’s north, her work focuses on innovative and collaborative partnerships between community and government to serve marginalized children in rural and remote areas. An outspoken advocate against misinformation, Dr. Smart regularly uses her voice to bring evidence and facts to the forefront of health communication.

Dr. Smart is a past president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), where in 2021 she became the 10th woman to serve in the organization’s 155-year history. A fierce and authentic leader, she has become a recognized and respected medical voice in Canada. Dr. Smart has been recognized as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women, with the Medical Post’s Changemaker Media Award and the Waterfalls Global Award. In recognition of her advocacy for primary care and family medicine she received an honourary membership from the Canadian Family Physicians of Canada. She has held many leadership positions including president of the Yukon Medical Association and sits on the board of Ronald McDonald House charities and Actua a STEM education outreach organization for youth.

Dr. Smart is a passionate communicator and sought-after media expert, keynote speaker, panelist and podcast guest. She is the host of SPARK: Conversations, Children’s Healthcare Canada’s monthly podcast series.

Dr. Smart’s clinical work has spanned the breadth of Pediatrics. She started her career as a pediatric emergency medicine physician at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. She has worked in Australia, Vancouver and across Canada’s north. Her current clinical focus is providing care to children who have experienced adverse childhood events using a model of social pediatrics in the Yukon.

Dr. Robert Fraser is the President and CSO of Molecular You, a digital health company delivering molecular-level personalized health insights and action plans. Dr. Fraser has been at the forefront of developing the framework and technologies to bring personalized medicine into healthcare practice. He is the co-founder of The Personalized Medicine Initiative (PMI), GenXys Health Care Systems, Personalized Biomarkers Incorporated, Mesentech Corporation and Novobind. Dr. Fraser has led drug discovery and development projects at Sanofi, Xenon, Neuromed and CDRD and has been involved in raising of more than $37M in funding. He completed his Ph.D. in the molecular mechanisms of endocrinology at the University of Alberta and Harvard Medical School and Post-Doctoral Fellowships at Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto and IGBMC, Strasbourg France.

Bringing more than 35 years of experience in healthcare-related industries, Dianne currently serves as the Senior Vice President of the Government Division at Alberta Blue Cross. With a strong track record of establishing strategic and innovative partnerships, she is known for challenging the norm rather than moving with it, both at work and in her community. This coupled with her natural intuition and curiosity has led to groundbreaking initiatives in support of improved health and wellness outcomes for the communities she serves.

Dianne works closely with senior government officials—both provincial and across Canada—and a broad sector of the health industry including, pharmaceutical and medical, to foster effective working relationships. Focused on delivering quality results coupled with strong leadership, Dianne is highly engaged as both a director and board chair for various organizations and foundations. Dianne is currently actively serving as a board director for The Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation, the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute and Edmonton Health Cities.

Dianne strives to make a positive difference in peoples’ lives. With her certification as an Executive Coach through Royal Roads University, she works to inspire and empower individuals to tackle challenges with gusto and to never accept anything less than incredible as an outcome. She looks forward to an engaging dialogue with you.

Dr. Martin Dawes is a world expert in primary care who combines research and clinical practice with over 30 years of experience. Following the completion of his PhD, he helped develop a Masters program in Evidence Based Health Care. He has directed the UK Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine in Oxford and was the head of family practice at McGill University and the University of British Columbia. He is the co-founder and scientific director  of GenXys, a medication decision support software company.

Soyean currently works as the Product Lead at the Centre for Infectious Disease Genomics and One Health (“CIDGOH”) at Simon Fraser University. CIDGOH focuses on infectious disease management through a One Health Lens; a multi-sectoral approach involving human and animal health leveraging advanced computational approaches and innovative knowledge engineering. As a data analytics leader, Soyean has over 18 years of experience working in multiple domains, including consulting, private utility, public health, and government and non-profit organizations. Soyean is a certified Cloud professional and an accredited statistician (P.Stat.). Most recently, Soyean worked as the Director of Digital Products at Providence Health Care where her team focused on leveraging technology solutions to support hospital operations in addition to supporting Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster to develop novel and innovative digital health applications.

Soyean works as a member of the United Nations Privacy Enhancing Technology Lab (“the U.N PET Lab”) advocating for sound data stewardship, secure data sharing and the use of emerging privacy-enhancing technologies. Soyean also served as Chair of the Accreditation Committee at the Statistical Society of Canada (“SSC”) as well as the United Nations Global Platform – the UN’s initiative to increase big data capacity for member state’s national statistical systems.

Zayna is adjunct faculty in the Health Sector Strategy stream at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto where she instructs a course in healthcare innovation in the health MBA program. Zayna is a Growth Advisor at Teladoc Health in Canada, and is the in-house health futurist with Deloitte Canada’s Healthcare practice. Zayna previously led the Futures team with national home healthcare and aging social enterprise, SE Health, as their Future Strategist. Dr. Khayat was previously the lead of health system innovation at MaRS Discovery District, a health innovation hub in Toronto, Canada. In 2017 she was seconded to the REshape Innovation Centre at Radboud university medical centre in the Netherlands. Zayna completed her Ph.D. in diabetes research from the University of Toronto (2001), followed by a career in strategy consulting, including as a Principal in the healthcare practice of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). She currently resides in Toronto with her husband and three children and is proficient in French and Arabic languages (and a bit of Dutch!).

A respected psychiatrist, author, and educator, Dr. Diane McIntosh is a passionate advocate for better mental health care and a tireless champion for Canadians suffering from mental health challenges.

Throughout her career, Dr. McIntosh has worked to raise the profile of mental health issues in Canada and around the world. She’s established medical education and advocacy programs, published numerous blogs and op-eds, and lectures widely on mental health issues.  Her latest venture, RAPIDS Health, has a mission to improve diagnosis and treatment for mental illness through innovative technology.

Dr. McIntosh recently launched a new podcast, Wicked Mind, featuring conversations with mental health thought leaders and change makers who share unique perspectives on how we can transform mental health care to inspire hope and action.

Her most recent book, This is Depression: A comprehensive and compassionate guide for those who want to understand depression, is an Amazon Canada bestseller.

From 2013 to 2017, John served in the BC Public Service as Deputy Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services. With 1,300 employees and an annual budget of more than $1 billion, the ministry delivered a broad spectrum of government services and economic development programs.

The ministry was responsible for the government’s cyber security strategy and operations, as well as the privacy and freedom of information files. John continues to have a strong interest in the development of privacy and security practice and policy.

Prior to joining the public service, John held a series of senior executive roles in public and private technology companies. Two of his President and CEO roles were with publicly traded companies regulated by both Canadian and United States securities regulators.

Beyond his public service and corporate work, John has long been active in the not-for-profit sector. He was on the Board of the Digital Identity & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) from 2013 to 2017 and as a senior board volunteer with a national health charity from 1994 to 2008.

Dr Ramneek Dosanjh is an impassioned visionary leader, as the immediate Past President of Doctors of BC, she played an instrumental role in BC’s recent healthcare reform and transformation with the creation of a new longitudinal family physician payment model and negotiation of an unprecedented amount of new funding for primary care.

She created the first of its kind Health and Justice Alliance, an intersectoral allyship between doctors and lawyers to transform the family justice system.

She currently serves on the Physician Services Committee, BC Coroners Service Illicit Drug Toxicity Death Review Panel and the Inaugural Provincial Digital Health Leadership Committee, as well as the Governance and Nominating Committees for Doctors of BC.

She has served on the Doctors of BC Representative assembly since its inception and was the President of BC Family Doctors in 2018-2019. She initiated the formation of the Provincial Child Youth Mental Health Substance Use Community of Practice and also participated on the Child Health BC board and White Rock South Surrey Division of family practice for four years.
She is a mother to 3 daughters, an author, family doctor & hospitalist. She is fiercely dedicated to social Justice, healthcare equity and disrupting systems by challenging the status quo.

Handol is Co-Founder & CEO of Variational AI, an AI for drug discovery start-up based in Vancouver. Variational AI is applying its state-of-the-art generative AI to generate novel drug-like small molecules that are efficacious, safe, and synthesizable in months versus years. Handol brings over 20 years of executive management experience and leadership from venture-backed start-ups and publicly-listed technology companies in cloud, mobile/embedded, and telecommunications software in Silicon Valley, Canada, and Asia Pacific.

Handol serves on the boards of AI Network of British Columbia (AInBC), the Frontier Collective, and the United Way British Columbia.

Darren Leisen is a Systems Architect specializing in secure multi-domain architectures with over twenty years of experience in senior consulting roles focused on strategy and design with healthcare environments and government, financial, education, and utility organizations. At Cisco, Darren works closely with the health authorities in British Columbia and northern governments to architect end-to-end secure solutions for the healthcare providers, patients, devices, and IoT used in modern facilities connecting into applications to minimize risk while empowering the evolution of patient care.

Darren is passionate about closely working with organizations to understand their unique vision, current reality and collaboratively developing their strategies to deliver impactful outcomes.

Dr. David Wishart (PhD Yale, 1991) is a Distinguished University Professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences and Computing Science at the University of Alberta. He also holds adjunct appointments with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and with the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He has been with the University of Alberta since 1995. Dr. Wishart’s research interests are very wide ranging, covering metabolomics, analytical chemistry, drug chemistry, natural product chemistry, molecular biology, protein chemistry and neuroscience. He has developed a number of widely techniques based on NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography and gas chromatography to characterize the structures of both small and large molecules. As part of this effort, Dr. Wishart has led the “Human Metabolome Project” (HMP), a multi-university, multi-investigator project that is cataloguing all the known chemicals in human tissues and biofluids. Using a variety of analytical chemistry techniques along with text mining and machine learning, Dr. Wishart and his colleagues have identified or found evidence for more than 250,000 metabolites in the human body. This information has been archived on a freely accessible web-resource called the Human Metabolome Database (HMDB). Dr. Wishart has also been using machine learning and artificial intelligence to help create other useful chemistry databases, such as DrugBank, FooDB and ContaminantDB and software tools (such as MetaboAnalyst, CFM-ID and BioTransformer) to help with the characterization and identification of metabolites, drugs, pesticides and natural products. Over the course of his career Dr. Wishart has published more than 500 research papers in high profile journals on a wide variety of subject areas. These papers have been cited >100,000 times.

Dr. David Huntsman, a pathologist and clinical molecular geneticist at the University of British Columbia is the Canada Research Chair in Molecular and Genomic Pathology. Dr. Huntsman directs OVCARE, BC’s multidisciplinary ovarian cancer research team and conducts his research at the BC Cancer Agency and the Vancouver General Hospital. Dr. Huntsman’s research has led to development of diagnostic, predictive and prognostic tissue based cancer biomarkers for ovarian cancer and a wide variety of other tumour types. His team created a blueprint for subtype specific ovarian cancer control and have been leaders in the application of novel genomic technologies to better prevent, diagnose and treat ovarian cancer. Dr. Huntsman is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

Dr. Penny Ballem was appointed Chair of the Board of VCH in January 2019.

Dr. Ballem is a clinical professor of medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. She has had a 35-year career as a health leader and academic clinician in British Columbia. She served as the B.C. deputy minister of health from 2001-06. She also served as the city manager for the City of Vancouver from 2008-15. She advises governments across Canada on health policy, health systems and health human resources.

In January 2021 Dr Ballem was asked to lead the COVID vaccination program for the Province of BC which she oversaw up until June 2023. In January 2023, Dr. Ballem was appointed as a senior advisor to the Premier of BC on Health Systems.

Dr Ballem has received significant public recognition for her work in medicine and public service, including the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for Public Service, the 2012 Wallace Wilson Award for leadership, the Marion Powell Award from Women’s College Hospital for leadership in Women’s Health, the Cannell Award from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada for her contributions to leadership in reproductive health and others. In June 2022 she received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Simon Fraser University. In August 2023 she was named as a recipient of the Order of BC.

Soyean currently works as the Product Lead at the Centre for Infectious Disease Genomics and One Health (“CIDGOH”) at Simon Fraser University. CIDGOH focuses on infectious disease management through a One Health Lens; a multi-sectoral approach involving human and animal health leveraging advanced computational approaches and innovative knowledge engineering. As a data analytics leader, Soyean has over 18 years of experience working in multiple domains, including consulting, private utility, public health, and government and non-profit organizations. Soyean is a certified Cloud professional and an accredited statistician (P.Stat.). Most recently, Soyean worked as the Director of Digital Products at Providence Health Care where her team focused on leveraging technology solutions to support hospital operations in addition to supporting Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster to develop novel and innovative digital health applications.

Soyean works as a member of the United Nations Privacy Enhancing Technology Lab (“the U.N PET Lab”) advocating for sound data stewardship, secure data sharing and the use of emerging privacy-enhancing technologies. Soyean also served as Chair of the Accreditation Committee at the Statistical Society of Canada (“SSC”) as well as the United Nations Global Platform – the UN’s initiative to increase big data capacity for member state’s national statistical systems.

Mel Krajden, O.B.C., MD, FRCPC is the Former Medical Director of the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) Public Health Laboratory and a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is now a Medical Microbiologist – Special Projects at the BCCDC. He is recognized for innovative solutions to improve public health having made contributions in the fields of hepatitis, HIV, human papillomavirus (HPV), and COVID-19. During COVID-19, he oversaw British Columbia’s test development and deploy a scalable PCR-based test within 10 days after the SARS-CoV-2 genome being released. He has made seminal contributions in the field of viral hepatitis – including using integrated de-identified health information from millions British Columbians to measure health outcomes and drive policy. He was a member of the Federal COVID Immunity Task Force leadership group (chairing the testing subgroup) and the Health Canada COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel. He has extensive clinical trials expertise and has received CIHR/CFI and/or other peer reviewed funding in the fields of human papillomavirus, HIV, hepatitis C virus and COVID-19. He has >370 publications.

Brad King is a cybersecurity services professional with twenty years of experience spanning a variety of disciplines including risk management, cyber digital transformation, edge security, security operations, and the modern workplace. As a Practice Manager, he is responsible for helping clients achieve their business objectives by recommending the appropriate security solutions and framework to achieve sustained success. ​ Today he serves as technical champion for Optiv’s Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) practice, which includes Security Service Edge (SSE) and SD-WAN.

He prides himself on being a trusted advisor and one who serves with a customer consciousness. He remains steadfast in his commitment to helping guide each of his clients through their security journey, by understanding each set of unique requirements and helping to align a solution that reduces risk and improves cyber resilience.

Prior to joining Optiv, Brad was a consultant and instructor for a large DoD contractor and served in the United States Navy.

With 30+ years of experience in the dynamic realm of health information technology and cybersecurity, Chad Peterson is a seasoned leader and visionary in the field. He currently serves as a leader in Healthcare Sales Engineering at Zscaler, a globally recognized leader in cloud security.

Chad’s extensive career has been marked by key roles at industry leading organizations including Okta, Citrix, and Stanford Health. His diverse experience across these leading enterprises has not only honed his technical expertise but also solidified his reputation as a trusted expert in healthcare IT and cybersecurity.

Chad holds certifications from multiple organizations, including Okta, Citrix, Cisco, Microsoft, and Zscaler. These certifications underscore his commitment to staying at the forefront of technology and security, and his ability to provide cutting-edge solutions to clients.

As the CEO of Tectonic, Glenn brings 30 years of experience as a strategic advisor to more than 200 clients including providing leadership focused on business cases and governance strategy in several domains including digital health, AI, Personized Medicine, Blockchain and Hospital Information Systems. Glenn leads all division of Tectonic including Private Sector Advisory, staffing of consultants, and Management Consulting. Glenn is regarding has having one of the best networks in Canada within the healthcare industry.

Glenn has received several awards in the healthcare sector, recognized as one of the top healthcare IT leaders in North America including KLAS and CHIA Awards. Prior to joining Tectonic, Glenn provided leadership to organizations including the Government of Ontario as CIO of the Local Health Integration Networks in Ontario Canada, the Government of Canada, LifeLabs, TELUS, Allscripts, CLINICARE and GE.

Glenn has served 10 years in the Canadian Forces, holds a BA (Hons) in Economics & Politics from Royal Military College of Canada and an MBA from the University of Ottawa and is a GE Six Sigma Black Belt.

He serves on the Board of Directors of various organizations including HIMSS Ontario, Technation Health, as well as serving two consecutive terms with Digital Health Canada (formally COACH), Canada’s Health Informatics Association and is an instructor at the National Institute for Health Informatics and an expert review for the Ontario Centers of Excellence, as well as leading various working groups for HIMSS and the OHA.

Alex is a campaigner for inclusive use of technology to improve health outcomes and better transparency of data to improve the quality of services and ensure citizens have the same information as clinicians and managers. He advises organisations internationally on this, helping them align to changing healthcare needs. Whilst working for Dr Foster, he led the first publication of patient safety indicators across the NHS.He has several non-executive and lay positions including an independent member of the National Information Board since 2014 and with the NHS in East London. In 2018 Alex was appointed as an adviser to the Independent Inquiry into the issues raised by breast surgeon Ian Paterson.

Zahava Uddin is a Managing Director with GE HealthCare ’s management consultancy, Healthcare Partners. She helps healthcare organizations re-engineer clinical operations and implement capabilities for Real Time orchestration of patient care delivery.

Glenn will ask Zahava about her innovations across Canada with a focus on BC, leading planning, design, build and activation of Real Time insights that prompt timely action by expediters and front-line care teams across regions of BC to eliminate delays, solve care progression barriers, level-load demand and de-risk issues. In many instances, this innovation is accompanied by the development of a hospital command centre that is transformational and provides a centre of gravity for learning and culture change.

Jimmy Yang is a Managing Director and National Health Industry Leader at Accenture. He has a 20+ year career as a health leader, strategist and entrepreneur across health care, life sciences and clinical research. He works with leaders across Canada on national and provincial transformation programs and modernization efforts in areas of models of care, digital and technology and health human resources. Additionally, he has advised governments and industry on new models of partnership to improve access to care closer to home and to reduce burden on acute care institutions.

He is an Adjunct Faculty member at the Schulich School of Business (York University) in their Health Industry Management Program and he serves as a Board member at the Krembil Centre for Health Management and Leadership. Jimmy serves as Co-Chair of the Accenture’s Global Strategy Advisory Council, which represents health care geographies spanning Latin America, Europe, North America, and Asia. In 2020, he was appointed to Ontario’s Joint Ministers Roundtable to advise on the COVID-19 Ontario Health Data Platform, aimed to use anonymized health data to help researchers and health system partners to better detect, plan, and respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Jimmy will be speaking about ‘Design Principles for Modernizing Primary Care’ and will be sharing recent Canadian survey insights from frontline clinicians and Canadians about their preferences and needs.

Dr. Alan Low is the Executive Director of Medicines Access Coalition – BC, Primary Care Pharmacist and Pharmacy Lead at BioPro Biologics Pharmacy, a collaborative practice approach, focusing on patient centred care. He is also a Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and an Instructor and Care Director at MedInfuse Health.

Convinced that pharmacists have much more to offer to the public and the healthcare system, Alan has led the development and implementation of provincial medication management projects in BC and Alberta as well as creating a novel model of community pharmacy practice where interprofessional collaboration is leveraged to improve patient health outcomes.

Within the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC, Dr. Low is one of the founders of the Faculty based Pharmacists Clinic and helped develop and lead the business case for the Pharmacists Clinic. He is a Board Advisor with the GI Society and sits on the Medical Board of HealthChoicesFirst.com, a patient video education resource. Dr. Low has experience in a wide variety of health and administrative settings including direct patient care in the hospital and clinics, clinical and practice-based research, consultant in healthcare projects and clinical pharmaceutical consulting. He has held positions such as Clinical Pharmacist, Clinical Specialist, Pharmacotherapeutic Specialist within teaching hospitals, as well as Manager of Government Affairs and Medical Affairs, Medical Science Liaison, and Senior Health Sciences Advisor in research-based pharmaceutical companies and was the Chief Operating Officer at Network Healthcare. Alan is a Certified Clinical Densitometrist (CCD), coauthored “The Osteoporosis Book, 4th Edition: Bone Health”, Co-Editor of the Health Matters Bulletin, has numerous publications in scientific and health journals, newsletters, and is a founding co-editor of the Pharmacy Management in Canada textbook.

Alan has been an active member and past participant on various committees (with the College of Pharmacists of BC, BC Pharmacy Association, Canadian Pharmacists Association, Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, GI Society, etc). He has interests in the areas of, rheumatology, osteoporosis, gastroenterology, diabetes, and cardiology. Alan enjoys being involved in projects that improve health knowledge translation, healthcare delivery, medical health education and health outcomes research. Alan’s training includes a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, a Hospital Pharmacy Residency at St. Paul’s Hospital, and postgraduate Doctorate of Pharmacy degree at UBC. He is frequently invited to speak at regional, national and international conferences. He strives to develop solutions to close gaps in health care working together with a variety of people.

Dr. Alan Low is the Executive Director of Medicines Access Coalition – BC, Primary Care Pharmacist and Pharmacy Lead at BioPro Biologics Pharmacy, a collaborative practice approach, focusing on patient centred care. He is also a Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and an Instructor and Care Director at MedInfuse Health.

Convinced that pharmacists have much more to offer to the public and the healthcare system, Alan has led the development and implementation of provincial medication management projects in BC and Alberta as well as creating a novel model of community pharmacy practice where interprofessional collaboration is leveraged to improve patient health outcomes.

Within the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC, Dr. Low is one of the founders of the Faculty based Pharmacists Clinic and helped develop and lead the business case for the Pharmacists Clinic. He is a Board Advisor with the GI Society and sits on the Medical Board of HealthChoicesFirst.com, a patient video education resource. Dr. Low has experience in a wide variety of health and administrative settings including direct patient care in the hospital and clinics, clinical and practice-based research, consultant in healthcare projects and clinical pharmaceutical consulting. He has held positions such as Clinical Pharmacist, Clinical Specialist, Pharmacotherapeutic Specialist within teaching hospitals, as well as Manager of Government Affairs and Medical Affairs, Medical Science Liaison, and Senior Health Sciences Advisor in research-based pharmaceutical companies and was the Chief Operating Officer at Network Healthcare. Alan is a Certified Clinical Densitometrist (CCD), coauthored “The Osteoporosis Book, 4th Edition: Bone Health”, Co-Editor of the Health Matters Bulletin, has numerous publications in scientific and health journals, newsletters, and is a founding co-editor of the Pharmacy Management in Canada textbook.

Alan has been an active member and past participant on various committees (with the College of Pharmacists of BC, BC Pharmacy Association, Canadian Pharmacists Association, Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, GI Society, etc). He has interests in the areas of, rheumatology, osteoporosis, gastroenterology, diabetes, and cardiology. Alan enjoys being involved in projects that improve health knowledge translation, healthcare delivery, medical health education and health outcomes research. Alan’s training includes a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, a Hospital Pharmacy Residency at St. Paul’s Hospital, and postgraduate Doctorate of Pharmacy degree at UBC. He is frequently invited to speak at regional, national and international conferences. He strives to develop solutions to close gaps in health care working together with a variety of people.

Michael Green has dedicated his professional life to innovation in advancing the digital health agenda, creating jobs, and stimulating economic growth — all while ensuring higher-performing health systems and improving patient outcomes.

Serving as President and CEO of Canada Health Infoway since 2014, he has overseen the organization’s leadership in driving better access to health data and services to enable faster, more effective, and more efficient delivery of care. With a strong background in health leadership, Green has a proven track record of using innovative technologies to transform the health sector.

Green led the organization through the successful development and rollout of PrescribeIT®, Canada’s e-prescribing service. First introduced in 2017, PrescribeIT® now enables millions of Canadians to have their prescriptions sent electronically — and securely — to their pharmacy of choice.

Currently, Green is leading Infoway’s development of the Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap, which articulates strategies toward a modernized connected care system by improving access to data at the point of care, ensuring patient access to their own health information, and improving coordination and collaboration across care settings.

Green’s expertise and leadership have earned him recognition both nationally and internationally. He is a sought-after speaker on the topics of digital health and interoperability, and he has received honours for his contributions to health care.

Follow @MGreenonHealth

Dr. Stephen Lucas was appointed Deputy Minister of Health on September 3, 2019. Under Dr. Lucas’ leadership, Health Canada launched a comprehensive response to COVID-19 in early 2020 in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada, federal, provincial and territorial partners and leading scientific experts, and contributed to the greatest immunization program in Canada’s history.

Before joining Health Canada, Dr. Lucas served as Deputy Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) since January 2017. As Senior Associate Deputy Minister (Climate Change) from June 2016 to January 2017, Dr. Lucas led ECCC work on the development and adoption of the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change, including carbon pricing.

Before joining ECCC, Dr. Lucas was Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet for Plans and Consultations and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Privy Council Office. From 2013 to 2014, he was Assistant Secretary, Economic and Regional Development Policy, at the Privy Council Office.

As Assistant Deputy Minister, Science and Policy Integration at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) from 2009 to 2013, he was responsible for strategic policy development related to energy, mineral and forest resources, climate change and clean energy. Prior to that, from 2007 to 2009, he was Assistant Deputy Minister, Minerals and Metals Sector, at NRCan, where he provided leadership on innovation, green mining and corporate social responsibility.

Dr. Lucas was a Director General in the Health Products and Food Branch at Health Canada from 2003 to 2007, and prior to that held various science and policy roles at Natural Resources Canada.

Dr. Lucas started his career as a research scientist at the Geological Survey of Canada in 1988. He has a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geological Engineering from Queen’s University and a Ph.D. in structural geology and tectonics from Brown University.

Dr. Kendall Ho’s academic and research interests fall into the domain of technology-enabled knowledge translation (TEKT) – the use of information technologies to accelerate the incorporation of the latest health evidence into routine practice. Specific directions within TEKT include telehealth, information and communication technologies (ICT) and patient safety, ICT and public engagement, and evidence-based policy translation in eHealth.

Michael Green has dedicated his professional life to innovation in advancing the digital health agenda, creating jobs, and stimulating economic growth — all while ensuring higher-performing health systems and improving patient outcomes.

Serving as President and CEO of Canada Health Infoway since 2014, he has overseen the organization’s leadership in driving better access to health data and services to enable faster, more effective, and more efficient delivery of care. With a strong background in health leadership, Green has a proven track record of using innovative technologies to transform the health sector.

Green led the organization through the successful development and rollout of PrescribeIT®, Canada’s e-prescribing service. First introduced in 2017, PrescribeIT® now enables millions of Canadians to have their prescriptions sent electronically — and securely — to their pharmacy of choice.

Currently, Green is leading Infoway’s development of the Shared Pan-Canadian Interoperability Roadmap, which articulates strategies toward a modernized connected care system by improving access to data at the point of care, ensuring patient access to their own health information, and improving coordination and collaboration across care settings.

Green’s expertise and leadership have earned him recognition both nationally and internationally. He is a sought-after speaker on the topics of digital health and interoperability, and he has received honours for his contributions to health care.

Follow @MGreenonHealth

Dr. Sean Spina graduated from the University of British Columbia Faculty Of Pharmaceutical Sciences with his BSc in Pharmacy in 2000 and his Doctor of Pharmacy in 2007. He is currently the Regional Clinical Pharmacy Manager for Island Health in Victoria, BC, Canada. Additionally, he is also the National President for the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP), an organization that represents hospital pharmacy professionals across Canada. He is also a Clinical Associate Professor with the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the University of Victoria Health Information Sciences Faculty. Sean is the Principal Investigator of Alternatives to Traditional Hospital Care Offered in Monitored Environments (AT-HOME). Since the beginning of his career, Dr. Spina has been interested in incorporating technology into clinical practice, and is committed to engaging patients, families, clinicians, and decision makers in the research process. He has authored several published articles on these topics and has received numerous local, provincial, and national awards for his work in formally evaluating the impact innovation has on clinical practice and patient care. Website: http://profiles.islandhealth.ca/sean-spina

Megan Stowe is the Chief Regional Digital Solutions for Provincial Health Services Authority. Holding previous roles such as Executive Director, Clinical Informatics and Virtual Health as well as Chief Clinical Information Officer, Megan has is passionate about transformation in healthcare. In 2021, Megan was awarded as a Woman Leader by Digital Health Canada.

Her interests lie at the intersection of leadership, quality improvement and digital health.

Megan is a registered nurse and has her bachelor’s degree from the University of Calgary. Her Masters of Science in Nursing Leadership in Healthcare is from King’s College, University of London (UK).

Megan is also an adjunct professor at University of British Columbia and is an instructor in UBC’s Master’s of Health Administration Program.

As Senior Vice President, Government Markets, Erica is responsible for LifeLabs’ core business, renewing and building relationships with government partners and expanding community lab access. In this role, Erica also leads key enabling corporate affairs functions, including corporate communications and community engagement.

Most recently, Erica held the role of Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Secretary, where she was responsible for the management of all legal, privacy, risk and corporate governance matters on behalf of the organization.

Prior to her time at LifeLabs, Erica led a team responsible for all legal, privacy, risk, breach management and regulatory requirements at Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) and played a critical role in the transition of CCO into Ontario Health.

Erica also worked on many of the legal and privacy requirements surrounding Ontario Health’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and has a strong track record of developing meaningful and transparent enterprise-wide risk, privacy, and compliance programs.

Erica is a Loran Scholar and holds an HBSc. in human biology/bioethics from the University of Toronto (Trinity College), an LLB from Queen’s University, and an LLM in Health Law from Osgoode Hall Law School. She is passionate about volunteering and sits on multiple not-for-profit boards and initiatives.

Dr. Alan Low is the Executive Director of Medicines Access Coalition – BC, Primary Care Pharmacist and Pharmacy Lead at BioPro Biologics Pharmacy, a collaborative practice approach, focusing on patient centred care. He is also a Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and an Instructor and Care Director at MedInfuse Health.

Convinced that pharmacists have much more to offer to the public and the healthcare system, Alan has led the development and implementation of provincial medication management projects in BC and Alberta as well as creating a novel model of community pharmacy practice where interprofessional collaboration is leveraged to improve patient health outcomes.

Within the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC, Dr. Low is one of the founders of the Faculty based Pharmacists Clinic and helped develop and lead the business case for the Pharmacists Clinic. He is a Board Advisor with the GI Society and sits on the Medical Board of HealthChoicesFirst.com, a patient video education resource. Dr. Low has experience in a wide variety of health and administrative settings including direct patient care in the hospital and clinics, clinical and practice-based research, consultant in healthcare projects and clinical pharmaceutical consulting. He has held positions such as Clinical Pharmacist, Clinical Specialist, Pharmacotherapeutic Specialist within teaching hospitals, as well as Manager of Government Affairs and Medical Affairs, Medical Science Liaison, and Senior Health Sciences Advisor in research-based pharmaceutical companies and was the Chief Operating Officer at Network Healthcare. Alan is a Certified Clinical Densitometrist (CCD), coauthored “The Osteoporosis Book, 4th Edition: Bone Health”, Co-Editor of the Health Matters Bulletin, has numerous publications in scientific and health journals, newsletters, and is a founding co-editor of the Pharmacy Management in Canada textbook.

Alan has been an active member and past participant on various committees (with the College of Pharmacists of BC, BC Pharmacy Association, Canadian Pharmacists Association, Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, GI Society, etc). He has interests in the areas of, rheumatology, osteoporosis, gastroenterology, diabetes, and cardiology. Alan enjoys being involved in projects that improve health knowledge translation, healthcare delivery, medical health education and health outcomes research. Alan’s training includes a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, a Hospital Pharmacy Residency at St. Paul’s Hospital, and postgraduate Doctorate of Pharmacy degree at UBC. He is frequently invited to speak at regional, national and international conferences. He strives to develop solutions to close gaps in health care working together with a variety of people.

Zack Dumont is the Saskatchewan Health Authority Manager of Pharmacy Practice for the Regina area where he supports a team of progressive clinical pharmacists. In addition, he has been involved with an academic detailing service known as the RxFiles since 2008, the National Resource Center for Academic Detailing (US) since 2015, and has with experience in detailing, content development of evidence-based drug therapy comparison tools, and as a training facilitator for academic detailing courses. Zack has a hospital pharmacy residency, is certified in website design and development, has participated in intensive evidence-based medicine training programs, and formally studied pharmacy leadership with multiple institutions. Zack holds a Bachelor Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Saskatchewan (2008) and Master Degree in Pharmacy Leadership from the University of Cincinnati (2018). Zack is also a past president and fellow of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists.

Dr. Tijana Fazlagic is the Executive Director of Therapeutic Assessment & Access, part of the Pharmaceutical, Laboratory & Blood Services Division at the British Columbia Ministry of Health. Tijana is a pharmacist with a Bachelor of Science degrees in Pharmacy from the University of Saskatchewan and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Florida. Tijana also completed a Master of Science degree at the University of Saskatchewan with focus on chemo-botanical profiling of medicinal marihuana and a Graduate Certificate in Health Systems Leadership at the Royal Roads University. Prior to joining the Ministry of Health, Tijana worked as a community pharmacist which included provision of care to long-term care facilities. Tijana joined the Ministry in 2006 and her current responsibilities include leadership of the formulary management, specialty medicines, precision medicine and genetic services and the business team. Tijana represents BC on various provincial and national committees.

Dr. Lynne Nakashima received her BSc(Pharm) from the University of British Columbia, Canada and her PharmD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. She has also completed a Certificate in Strategic Leadership and Management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a Fellow of the Canadian Association of Pharmacy in Oncology (CAPhO) and the International Society of Oncology Pharmacy Practitionser (ISOPP). Lynne is currently the Senior Director, Provincial Pharmacy at BC Cancer where she is responsible for pharmacy professional practice, provincial oncology medication management, including the cancer drug formulary, and coordinates a team of advanced practice pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. She is also a Clinical Professor at the University of BC Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Wendy is a career executive with more than 20 years of Global Finance, Operations and Compliance experience in the healthcare and technology sectors. She is a leader with strong business acumen and a history of enabling business growth through the development of global strategic partnerships, new business development initiatives, transformation projects, and the integration of new businesses and/or business models. Has a proven track record of developing, executing, and delivering solid business plans and growing shareholder value.

She has held leadership positions at Johnson & Johnson, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, LIFESCAN Canada and Lexmark International.

She is a certified Data and Privacy Professional and has managed Privacy and Healthcare Compliance programs both here in Canada and in the US for the better part of her career. Working both in the corporate environment and in private practice, she has taken the lead on compliance, regulatory and privacy issues for the last 20 years.

Wendy has a BA from the University of Western Ontario, an MBA from Queen’s University and a Certificate in Strategic Leadership from the Sauder School of Executive Education, UBC.

In addition, Wendy serves on the Board of Directors of The Centre for Drug Research and Development, Chair’s CDRD’s Finance & Audit Committee and also serves on the Vancouver Board of Trade Women in Leadership Advisory Committee. 

Certifications:

• Certificate in Intermediate French, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
• Registered Holistic Nutritionist – Candidate, Canadian School of Natural Nutrition – Ongoing
• Certified Canadian Privacy Professional, IAPP, CIPP/C (since 2012)
• Certificate in Strategic Leadership, UBC Sauder School of Business – Executive Education
• Leadership Development Program, Niagara Institute
• Executive Leadership Program, Harvard University, Boston, MA
• Canadian Securities Course

Dr. Matthew Chow is the Chief Mental Health Officer at TELUS Health, a global-leading total health and wellbeing provider – encompassing physical, mental and financial health.

Dr. Chow’s previous experience includes:
1. President of Doctors of British Columbia (2020-21) leading 14,000 physicians through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and a year of historic climate-related disasters
2. Member of the Medical Services Commission, British Columbia’s public health insurance board responsible for over $3 billion in annual public healthcare spending
3. Co-chair of the Specialist Services Committee to improve medical, surgical, diagnostic, and mental health services across British Columbia in partnership with government and physicians
4. Founding medical director of e-Mental Health Services and Strategy at British Columbia Children’s Hospital

Dr. Chow’s personal mission is to enable people to make their highest and best possible contribution to their communities. This aligns with TELUS Health’s focus on total wellbeing: physical, mental, and financial. Dr. Chow and his colleagues weave together ‘high touch’ and ‘high tech’—a global team of compassionate human beings empowered by digital technologies— to create remarkable wellbeing experiences for people worldwide.

A respected psychiatrist, author, and educator, Dr. Diane McIntosh is a passionate advocate for better mental health care and a tireless champion for Canadians suffering from mental health challenges.

Throughout her career, Dr. McIntosh has worked to raise the profile of mental health issues in Canada and around the world. She’s established medical education and advocacy programs, published numerous blogs and op-eds, and lectures widely on mental health issues.  Her latest venture, RAPIDS Health, has a mission to improve diagnosis and treatment for mental illness through innovative technology.

Dr. McIntosh recently launched a new podcast, Wicked Mind, featuring conversations with mental health thought leaders and change makers who share unique perspectives on how we can transform mental health care to inspire hope and action.

Her most recent book, This is Depression: A comprehensive and compassionate guide for those who want to understand depression, is an Amazon Canada bestseller.

Michel joined the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) in 2015, bringing a wealth of management experience and a unique mix of expertise in performance management, stakeholder relations, finance and accounting, and communications.

In his former role as MHCC’s Vice President of Organizational Performance and Public Affairs, Michel brought these elements together as the architect of the MHCC’s new 10-year strategic plan, Answering the Call, which he oversaw from its inception.

Michel is driven by his commitment to the principle of mental health for all — where people have equitable access to recovery-oriented, evidence-based, culturally adapted mental health care, when are where they need it.

Before joining the Commission, Michel enjoyed a wide-ranging career in management consulting and public affairs, serving as CIO of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, Press Secretary to the Premier of Ontario, and as president of several independent firms.

A lifelong learner, Michel earned an Executive MBA from the Université du Québec in Montréal; CPA, CMA designation (Chartered Professional Accountant/Certified Management Accountant); a graduate diploma in financial accounting and management accounting from the Université du Québec in Outaouais; and a Bachelor of Arts (History) from Laurentian University.

Chenny Xia is a serial entrepreneur and advocate for health and gender equity. As the CEO of Gotcare, she is transforming how healthcare in the home is delivered regardless of your postal code, including service to over 100 remote communities. Having scaled rapidly across the country, Gotcare has been recently named one of Canada’s fastest growing companies in 2023 by The Globe and Mail. Chenny also plays several advisory roles – she was previously a member of Ontario’s Task Force on Women and The Economy, and currently is standardizing care economy impact metrics through 2X Global, and advancing women and non-binary led entrepreneurship through Coralus (formerly SheEO).

DON HUSEREAU is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at The University of Ottawa. He does freelance health care research, and works with private and public sector life sciences organizations to help them understand the value of health technology and its implications for health and innovation policy.

Dr. Feilotter is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at Queen’s University, where she maintains an active program dedicated to the assessment of methods for biomarker validation and to the transfer of clinically actionable molecular assays to the clinical setting. Her roles as Service Chief of Kingston Health Sciences Center’s Laboratory Genetics and Senior Scientist for Molecular Diagnostics and Translational Research within the Canadian Clinical Trials Group allow her to focus on methods to bridge the gap between research and clinical application of biomarker findings. She holds appointments at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research where she acts as Director of the Ontario Molecular Pathology Research Network and Co-Lead for Implementation Science.

Craig Ivany is a health services executive and laboratory services strategist with over 35 years of experience influencing healthcare. His depth of practice includes a legacy of leadership across Canada, including Hospital Executive Director in rural Newfoundland, Executive Director of Canadian Blood Services’ operations portfolio, VP role with DynaLIFE in Alberta, VP role with Dynacare Laboratories in Ontario, CEO of the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association, President and CEO of Alberta Public Labs, and is a current and past board member of several not-for-profit organizations in Canadian healthcare. In his current role, as the Chief Provincial Diagnostics Officer with Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), Craig is leading the implementation of a new province-wide laboratory medicine service delivery model in collaboration with stakeholders across British Columbia. Craig is a certified health executive, a long-time member of the Canadian College of Health Leaders, holds an ICD.D with the Institute of Corporate Directors and is an Adjunct Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia.

Dr. Faisal M. Khan is an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. In his clinical role, Dr. Khan works as Director of Hematology Translational Lab at the University of Calgary; as an Associate Clinical Director of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetic Lab (HIL), and as Scientific Lead of Molecular Pathology Program in Alberta Precision Labs.

Dr. Khan obtained his Ph.D. in Human Molecular Genetics in India in 2006. He completed his postdoctoral training and clinical fellowship at the University of Calgary. Dr. Khan is a certified Diplomat of the American Board of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ABHI).

Dr. Khan has more than 21 years of experience in Transplant Immunology, Cancer Genomics, and Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. Based on his research, Dr. Khan has published over 100 research articles in scientific journals like Science, Blood, Transplantation, and Blood Advances. His research has been recognized by several awards including the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Achievement Awards in 2013, 2015, and 2018; and the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) Scholar/Most Clinically Relevant Study awards in 2014, 2019, and 2022.

Dr. Khan has led the development, validation, and implementation of several advanced clinical molecular diagnostic tests including next-generation sequencing-based comprehensive genomic profiling for myeloid malignancies (2017) and solid tumors (2019); Serum-based cytokine profiling, and (3) post-bone-marrow transplantation engraftment monitoring testing. Dr. Khan is co-founder and CEO of OncoHelix Inc. an organization that specializes in providing esoteric cancer genomic and immunology testing.

Stephen Yip completed his combined M.D-Ph.D. training followed by 4 years of neurosurgical training at UBC. He switched to neuropathology and obtained his Royal College certification in 2007. He completed fellowship training in molecular neuro-oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital under the mentorship of Dr David Louis as a RC Clinician Investigator Program fellow and molecular genetic pathology at MGH/Harvard Medical School under the supervision of Dr John Iafrate. He is on staff at Vancouver General Hospital on the neuropathology service. He is also the medical director of the Cancer Genetics & Genomics Lab at BC Cancer and director of Clinical Genomics at BC Genome Sciences Centre. Working closely with oncologists, pathologists, scientists, and operational colleagues, he is responsible for the delivery of cancer genetics/genomics testing in BC.

Extensive experience in data science, networks, and operations – building credibility with stakeholders in other organizations and internationally – garnered over 15 years of private and public service in 3 different countries. Highly effective leader with a proven track record.

Mr. Celio Oliveira is a Lead Data Scientist for the Government of Canada. His mandate is to build Data Governance Strategy Plans with wide leadership for the management of information and data. His expertise extends to artificial intelligence, data science, data governance, and automation of processes, ensuring data-driven decision-making across organizations.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Oliveira was working collaboratively within the Data Science Division at Statistics Canada to build a unified Data Science Strategy within the department. His contributions at the Privy Council Office include developing innovative applications for onboarding and departure processes, and at the National Research Council Canada, he pioneered predictive algorithms for climate-resilient building materials.

Mr. Oliveira excelled in leading machine learning and natural language processing projects, optimizing software testing automation and mentoring a team of software developers and engineers, which resulted in a nomination to the North America Software Testing and QE Awards in 2019, under the category of the Best use of technology in a Project.

With a proven track record of success in data science and a passion for leveraging technology to drive business excellence

Mr. Oliveira holds a Master of Information in Human-Centred Data Science from the University of Toronto, two Professional Data Science certifications from IBM and We Cloud Data. Furthermore, he holds an MBA and an undergraduate degree from foreign universities. You can join him on LinkedIn.

After earning his M.B.A. from Queen’s University, Stephen worked at Procter & Gamble and then at internet consulting firm, Cyberplex, where he worked with clients such as Sony, Chrysler, and Sprint to develop their internet strategies. He then founded and ran AllStarLineup for 12 years working with athletes and entertainers such as Magic Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Pamela Anderson, managing their promotional and business opportunities.

Stephen began work in the healthcare industry as Managing Director of the Mount Sinai Fertility Clinic in 2011, and in 2014 became the Director of Business Development at Mount Sinai Hospital. In 2016 he was named VP of Business Innovation & Development for the Sinai Health System, where he led all profit-generating businesses until 2021.

Stephen returned to the private sector in 2021 targeting two significant areas of interest and growth in global healthcare – he founded Paxana Med, a company focused on the use of psychedelics to treat Traumatic Brain Injuries, and joined Petal Health as VP, Business Development where he is responsible for the company’s growth in Canada and the US.

Dr. Katharine Smart is an experienced medical leader and advocate who constantly challenges the status quo in medicine. A pediatrician in Canada’s north, her work focuses on innovative and collaborative partnerships between community and government to serve marginalized children in rural and remote areas. An outspoken advocate against misinformation, Dr. Smart regularly uses her voice to bring evidence and facts to the forefront of health communication.

Dr. Smart is a past president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), where in 2021 she became the 10th woman to serve in the organization’s 155-year history. A fierce and authentic leader, she has become a recognized and respected medical voice in Canada. Dr. Smart has been recognized as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women, with the Medical Post’s Changemaker Media Award and the Waterfalls Global Award. In recognition of her advocacy for primary care and family medicine she received an honourary membership from the Canadian Family Physicians of Canada. She has held many leadership positions including president of the Yukon Medical Association and sits on the board of Ronald McDonald House charities and Actua a STEM education outreach organization for youth.

Dr. Smart is a passionate communicator and sought-after media expert, keynote speaker, panelist and podcast guest. She is the host of SPARK: Conversations, Children’s Healthcare Canada’s monthly podcast series.

Dr. Smart’s clinical work has spanned the breadth of Pediatrics. She started her career as a pediatric emergency medicine physician at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. She has worked in Australia, Vancouver and across Canada’s north. Her current clinical focus is providing care to children who have experienced adverse childhood events using a model of social pediatrics in the Yukon.

Tara is Principal of Brighton Group Health. She is an Industry strategist, operator and advisor committed to building a better health system through innovation and transformation. Tara has led multiple M&A, PMI, and value creation projects, as well as growth strategies and revenue diversification initiatives. As a Board Member at WELL Health Technologies (TSX: WELL), Tara is the Chair of the Risk and Governance committee and supports the company’s vision of empowering and supporting patients and doctors through technology.

Previously, Tara was Partner and the National Health Industries Leader for PwC Canada. She held executive roles with Trillium Health Partners and TELUS Health and is a former board member of OntarioMD, ALAViDA & Starling Minds. Tara is an active volunteer crew member with the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue in Vancouver.

Gaby has over 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry working across Canada, the US and globally. In his role as Vice President and General Manager of Alexion Canada, he is responsible for all aspects of the commercial organization in Canada with the goal of transforming the lives of people affected by rare diseases.

Gaby came to Alexion Canada after establishing and leading the Global Commercial Function for one of AstraZeneca’s emerging oncology medicines. In that role, he was accountable for building Phase 3 clinical trial investment decisions, establishing the global strategic direction and engaging with markets in preparation for launch and positive patient outcomes.

During his 20 plus years with Alexion and AstraZeneca, Gaby has served in various sales, strategic marketing and leadership roles across the oncology, respiratory, cardiovascular and rare disease therapeutic areas.

Gaby holds Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Kinesiology and Bachelor of Arts in Economics degrees from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Tara founded Medlior Health Outcomes Research Ltd. in 2008 with a vision for pioneering the future of healthcare with data driven solutions.

Tara has over 20 years of health outcomes research experience in both public sector and industry. Prior roles include five years with Alberta Health Services as the Lead of Clinical Data Services, and five years in Market Access roles for AstraZeneca and IQVIA in the UK. In addition, Tara gained experience as a Research Fellow at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in London, UK.

Tara obtained her MSc from McMaster University in the Faculty of Medicine and her BA/MA in Physiological Sciences from Balliol College at The University of Oxford.

Tara is proud member of the Women’s President’s Organization (WPO), Healthcare Businesswomen’s Organization (HBA), and the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes research (ISPOR).

Medlior is proud to be certified as a Women-Owned Business by WeConnect International, and Rainbow Registered as an LGBTQ+ inclusive business by the Canada’s LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce.

Annette Lam holds a Masters in Health Economics and is a Senior Director within the Global Oncology Market Access team at Janssen. She has over 20 years of health economics and market access experience within the pharmaceutical industry. She started her career supporting the Canadian business working in various therapeutic areas before transitioning to a global role supporting oncology. Her current area of focus is advancing Janssen’s multiple myeloma portfolio and partnering with health systems around the world on innovative access solutions to ensure that patients have access to transformational treatments.

Sang Mi is a passionate market access leader and pharmacist with Global Executive MBA in Healthcare and Life Sciences. She is currently the Director of Innovative Access Solutions at MORSE Consulting Inc. and has almost 20 years of unique healthcare experiences (public, pharmaceutical industry, consulting, and not-for-profit).  She was both Senior Manager and Senior Pharmacist at the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) Office and was responsible for strategic planning, finances, operations, recruitment, and stakeholder management as well as leading and supporting pan-Canadian negotiations and reimbursement policy developments. She was also an Access Lead in Personalized Healthcare and Precision Oncology/ Comprehensive Genomic Profiling (CGP) at Hoffmann-La Roche immediately prior to joining MORSE. In addition, Sang Mi has held various roles within the Ontario Public Drug Programs, including managing the Exceptional Access Program, and has worked as a pharmacist in both retail and drug information.

RGS Management Consultants specializes in advising and leading privacy programs within both private and public sector companies. RGS Management services focus on providing practical, cost-effective operational solutions that meet consumer, corporate, and regulatory expectations while demonstrating accountability and compliance with privacy laws.  Having served as Chief Privacy Officer at TD Bank, HSBC, and the University Health Network, she has the unique experience of having led privacy programs in both the private and public sectors and was a privacy regulator through an Executive interchange program with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s office.

Rosario is the Chief Privacy and Legal Officer/Corporate Secretary at ICES. In her role, Rosario provides strategic advice to the organization and her portfolios include: privacy, legal, risk, audit, compliance and cybersecurity. Rosario has worked both in private practice and in the public sector advising on health data law related matters. Rosario has an LLM from Osgoode Law School (Business Law) and a law degree (cum laude) from the University of Ottawa. Prior to attending law school, Rosario completed a Master in Science, Public Health Sciences from the University of Alberta and was a post-grad intern at the Harvard School of Public Health. Rosario is a director on the board of Hospice Palliative Care Ontario. She is also past Deputy Editor-in-Chief, of Health Law in Canada and adjunct lecturer, IHPME, University of Toronto.

Rosario is also Special Counsel in Osler’s Privacy and Data Management group, assisting on matters related to health privacy law, health research, privacy and data governance, information security, risk management and data ethics. She also advises clients on cybersecurity readiness, compliance program development and audits, AI frameworks and regulatory issues.

Rosario is an avid speaker and writer on matters intersecting, health law and privacy.

With 20 years experience at Alberta Health and 25 years experience in the health sector, Quinn currently is the Executive Director of Information Management at Alberta Health. His areas responsibilities include stewardship of the Alberta Health Information Act, privacy and security, and eHealth strategy and governance. During the pandemic, Quinn was involved in a number of pandemic related IT initiatives such as ABTraceTogether, the Alberta Covid Records QR code, and the Alberta Vaccine Booking System. Quinn has a BSc. Computing Science and a Master of Public Health both from the University of Alberta.

Extensive experience in data science, networks, and operations – building credibility with stakeholders in other organizations and internationally – garnered over 15 years of private and public service in 3 different countries. Highly effective leader with a proven track record.

Mr. Celio Oliveira is a Lead Data Scientist for the Government of Canada. His mandate is to build Data Governance Strategy Plans with wide leadership for the management of information and data. His expertise extends to artificial intelligence, data science, data governance, and automation of processes, ensuring data-driven decision-making across organizations.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Oliveira was working collaboratively within the Data Science Division at Statistics Canada to build a unified Data Science Strategy within the department. His contributions at the Privy Council Office include developing innovative applications for onboarding and departure processes, and at the National Research Council Canada, he pioneered predictive algorithms for climate-resilient building materials.

Mr. Oliveira excelled in leading machine learning and natural language processing projects, optimizing software testing automation and mentoring a team of software developers and engineers, which resulted in a nomination to the North America Software Testing and QE Awards in 2019, under the category of the Best use of technology in a Project.

With a proven track record of success in data science and a passion for leveraging technology to drive business excellence

Mr. Oliveira holds a Master of Information in Human-Centred Data Science from the University of Toronto, two Professional Data Science certifications from IBM and We Cloud Data. Furthermore, he holds an MBA and an undergraduate degree from foreign universities. You can join him on LinkedIn.

Steven is a senior legal and privacy professional with a focus on data governance innovation and promoting data diplomacy.

He served as General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) for over 12 years. In this capacity, he led the development of the General Health Information Sharing Agreement (GHISA), an overarching agreement signed in 2013 between the BC Ministry of Health and all BC health authorities. Today, the GHISA continues to be the foundational legal, policy and data governance framework that governs almost all sharing of health information across the province for provision of care, research, quality improvement and healthcare planning. He also played a key role in influencing recent changes to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act that reformed its data residency provisions to better support health innovation and technology adoption.

Most recently, he served as VCH’s Chief Data Governance Officer where he worked to transform how data is strategically governed and managed so that higher quality data is made accessible more quickly to clinicians, researchers and administrators to deliver better care and improve our healthcare system, while enhancing data security, privacy and ethical use of health data.

In addition to a Bachelor of Laws degree from UBC, Steven holds a Masters in E-Business law from Osgoode Hall Law School and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from UBC.

Dr. Robert Fraser is the President and CSO of Molecular You, a digital health company delivering molecular-level personalized health insights and action plans. Dr. Fraser has been at the forefront of developing the framework and technologies to bring personalized medicine into healthcare practice. He is the co-founder of The Personalized Medicine Initiative (PMI), GenXys Health Care Systems, Personalized Biomarkers Incorporated, Mesentech Corporation and Novobind. Dr. Fraser has led drug discovery and development projects at Sanofi, Xenon, Neuromed and CDRD and has been involved in raising of more than $37M in funding. He completed his Ph.D. in the molecular mechanisms of endocrinology at the University of Alberta and Harvard Medical School and Post-Doctoral Fellowships at Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto and IGBMC, Strasbourg France.

Jeff Aitken is the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Health Sector Information Management/Information Technology (HSIMIT) Division within the Ministry of Health. In this role, he provides ministry and sector-wide leadership in the areas of digital and technology strategy; information technology procurement and vendor management; health information privacy, security, and legislation. He also directs and guides the implementation of digital initiatives transforming health service delivery and IM/IT operations in BC.

Fred Horne is a Canadian health policy consultant and former Alberta Minister of Health.

A frequent speaker and panelist on health system issues, he is Principal of Horne and Associates, Health Policy Consultants; Senior Advisor to Ottawa-based 3Sixty Public Affairs; and Chair of Mohawk Medbuy Corporation, a national, not-for profit shared services organization.

Horne serves as Adjunct Professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health and volunteers his time to support policy education and patient engagement initiatives across the country. His career in health policy spans over thirty years. Current areas of focus include value-based health care, seniors care, health system governance and pharmaceutical policy.

Horne was appointed a Senior Fellow of the C.D. Howe Institute in January 2023. He is a Director of the Canadian Frailty Network (National Centre of Excellence) and Providence Living (BC).

Zayna is adjunct faculty in the Health Sector Strategy stream at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto where she instructs a course in healthcare innovation in the health MBA program. Zayna is a Growth Advisor at Teladoc Health in Canada, and is the in-house health futurist with Deloitte Canada’s Healthcare practice. Zayna previously led the Futures team with national home healthcare and aging social enterprise, SE Health, as their Future Strategist. Dr. Khayat was previously the lead of health system innovation at MaRS Discovery District, a health innovation hub in Toronto, Canada. In 2017 she was seconded to the REshape Innovation Centre at Radboud university medical centre in the Netherlands. Zayna completed her Ph.D. in diabetes research from the University of Toronto (2001), followed by a career in strategy consulting, including as a Principal in the healthcare practice of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). She currently resides in Toronto with her husband and three children and is proficient in French and Arabic languages (and a bit of Dutch!).

As CEO of Digital, Sue leads a portfolio of digital innovation and capacity-building initiatives destined to deliver over $3.7 billion in revenue for Canadian companies. By accelerating digital transformation in the health, natural resources and skilling sectors, Digital is supporting the development and delivery of world-leading technologies that advance human health, improve environmental health, and create a skilled workforce for the digital world. Prior to leading Digital, Sue held leadership roles in major Canadian organizations including CEO of LifeLabs, Canada’s largest diagnostic lab where she led major growth and technological advancements across Canada’s diagnostic sector. As CEO of Pharmasave, Sue led the delivery of some of the first online access tools for medication information for patients and as Managing Partner of Fasken Vancouver, Sue drove the merger of three leading Canadian law firms into a Canadian national legal leading firm.

Sue serves on the Boards of TELUS International, CORIX and Own the Podium. She has received numerous recognitions for her community contributions including a King’s Counsel, an honorary Doctorate of Technology, Influential Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award and the Peter Lougheed Award for Public Policy. Sue’s greatest joy is spending time in Canada’s wilderness with her husband, daughters and granddaughters.

Visionary leader committed to transforming health care systems and implementing innovative solutions that create sustainable, high quality services for future generations.

Jim has experience in senior leadership roles in all 4 Western provinces and in leading several national health care initiatives particularly focused on innovative solutions that deliver a substantive clinical value. He has championed “Choosing Wisely” and “Personalized Medicine” developing provincial strategies for both MB and BC. Jim’s leadership positions include: BC’s first Chief Provincial Diagnostics Officer leading the development, implementation, and evaluation of the province-wide pathology and medical laboratory service delivery model; CEO of Diagnostic Services Manitoba leading the transformation of provincial diagnostics; as well as COO of Shared Health, Executive Director in SK, and Healthy System and Business Advisor in AB. Jim is currently the Chief of Research Administration and Operations, Paul Albrechtsen Research Institute, Cancer Care Manitoba pursuing his passion for research and innovation that have real positive impacts for patient care and outcomes.

Dr. Alan Low is the Executive Director of Medicines Access Coalition – BC, Primary Care Pharmacist and Pharmacy Lead at BioPro Biologics Pharmacy, a collaborative practice approach, focusing on patient centred care. He is also a Clinical Professor in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC and an Instructor and Care Director at MedInfuse Health.

Convinced that pharmacists have much more to offer to the public and the healthcare system, Alan has led the development and implementation of provincial medication management projects in BC and Alberta as well as creating a novel model of community pharmacy practice where interprofessional collaboration is leveraged to improve patient health outcomes.

Within the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC, Dr. Low is one of the founders of the Faculty based Pharmacists Clinic and helped develop and lead the business case for the Pharmacists Clinic. He is a Board Advisor with the GI Society and sits on the Medical Board of HealthChoicesFirst.com, a patient video education resource. Dr. Low has experience in a wide variety of health and administrative settings including direct patient care in the hospital and clinics, clinical and practice-based research, consultant in healthcare projects and clinical pharmaceutical consulting. He has held positions such as Clinical Pharmacist, Clinical Specialist, Pharmacotherapeutic Specialist within teaching hospitals, as well as Manager of Government Affairs and Medical Affairs, Medical Science Liaison, and Senior Health Sciences Advisor in research-based pharmaceutical companies and was the Chief Operating Officer at Network Healthcare. Alan is a Certified Clinical Densitometrist (CCD), coauthored “The Osteoporosis Book, 4th Edition: Bone Health”, Co-Editor of the Health Matters Bulletin, has numerous publications in scientific and health journals, newsletters, and is a founding co-editor of the Pharmacy Management in Canada textbook.

Alan has been an active member and past participant on various committees (with the College of Pharmacists of BC, BC Pharmacy Association, Canadian Pharmacists Association, Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, GI Society, etc). He has interests in the areas of, rheumatology, osteoporosis, gastroenterology, diabetes, and cardiology. Alan enjoys being involved in projects that improve health knowledge translation, healthcare delivery, medical health education and health outcomes research. Alan’s training includes a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, a Hospital Pharmacy Residency at St. Paul’s Hospital, and postgraduate Doctorate of Pharmacy degree at UBC. He is frequently invited to speak at regional, national and international conferences. He strives to develop solutions to close gaps in health care working together with a variety of people.