Dr. Mamdani is Vice President of Data Science and Advanced Analytics at Unity Health Toronto and Director of the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine (T-CAIREM). Dr. Mamdani’s team bridges advanced analytics including machine learning with clinical and management decision making to improve patient outcomes and hospital efficiency. Dr. Mamdani is also Professor in the Department of Medicine of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation of the Dalla Lana Faculty of Public Health. He is also adjunct Senior Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and a Faculty Affiliate of the Vector Institute. In 2010, Dr. Mamdani was named among Canada’s Top 40 under 40. He has published over 500 studies in peer-reviewed medical journals. Dr. Mamdani obtained a Doctor of Pharmacy degree (PharmD) from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and completed a fellowship in pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research at the Detroit Medical Center. During his fellowship, Dr. Mamdani obtained a Master of Arts degree in economics from Wayne State University in Detroit, with a concentration in econometric theory. He then completed a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University in 1998 with a concentration in quantitative methods.

Bernard Lord became Chief Executive Officer of Medavie in September 2016 to provide strategic leadership and further the company’s mission to improve the wellbeing of Canadians. Prior to this role, he served eight years on the Board of Medavie. He is currently the Chair of the International Federation of Health Plans, the Chair of the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association of Canada and the President of the Canadian Association of Blue Cross Plans. Mr. Lord is also a member of the New Brunswick Law Society and Canadian Bar Association.

Mr. Lord was elected four times to the New Brunswick Legislature and was Premier of New Brunswick from 1999 to 2006. He also worked as the CEO of the Canadian Wireless and Telecommunications Association from 2008 until 2016. Throughout his career he has served on boards of several companies and organizations and has been involved in various philanthropic endeavors.

Mr. Lord is a Queen’s Counsel and has been inducted in the Order of Moncton and the Order of New Brunswick.

Carlo Perez is the co-founder and CEO of Swift Medical, the global leader in digital wound care. Since founding the company in 2015, Swift Medical has become the undisputed leader, defining the category with their empathic, AI-powered technology adopted by over 4,100 healthcare facilities across the continuum of care. Swift Medical has raised over $50M in venture funding from Tier-1 AI and healthcare VCs, like DCVC, Virgo, Claritas, Chrysalis, BDC Capital, Pender Ventures and Export Development Canada to accelerate their growth trajectory and transform the future of wound care.

A serial entrepreneur with 20 years of engineering and company building experience, Carlo has worked at the forefront of artificial intelligence, machine visioning and robotics. He has worked in research and development at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Inc., taught computer and electrical engineering as a college professor and is a three time, venture-backed tech founder. He’s proud to have built one of the few, 100% diverse boards in the healthcare tech industry. Carlo is a recognized thought leader and speaker in digital health transformation, value-based care, big data and artificial intelligence, product design and the innovation economy.

Under Carlo's direction, Swift Medical's mission is to make empathy driven wound care ubiquitous through AI-powered diagnostic technology.

Dr. Ivar Mendez is the Fred H. Wigmore Professor of Surgery and Provincial Head of Surgery for
the University of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Health Authority. As a clinician/scientist, Dr. Mendez’s research focus is on functional neurosurgery, brain repair,
stem cells, and remote presence robotic technology. His laboratory research has been supported by peer-reviewed funding from several sources including the Canada National
Centers of Excellence, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Dr. Mendez has focused on, and significantly advanced, the use of remote-presence robots for medical care in neurosurgery and primary health care. In 2002, Dr. Mendez and his team
performed the first long distance telementoring neurosurgery in the world. In 2010, his team established the first remote presence robotic program in the Canadian North to provide access
to primary and specialized medical care to underserviced First Nations communities. Since 2013, he has been working with First Nation communities in Saskatchewan using advanced robotic
technology for healthcare delivery. In 2019, Dr. Mendez’s team deployed the first telerobotic ultrasonography system in North America to three northern Saskatchewan communities. This
technology was crucial in providing prenatal sonography to indigenous communities during the COVID pandemic.

For his pioneering work in the use of remote presence devices to deliver health care to underserviced populations, Dr. Mendez received the 2011 Health Canada Award for Contribution to the Improvement of the Health of Canadians. In 2012, he received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and was inducted as a fellow into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2014.

Kelly Grant's career in journalism began in high school, when she worked as a night and weekend tape editor at her local television station in London, Ont. She's been hooked on reporting ever since. After earning a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Kelly worked as a cop reporter and editorial writer at the Windsor Star and as a general assignment writer and Toronto city hall reporter at The National Post. She joined The Globe and Mail in 2008. Kelly has held a variety of posts at The Globe, including Toronto editor and Toronto City Hall bureau chief. She is now a national health reporter with a special interest in COVID-19, the intersection of politics and health, drug pricing and medical aid in dying. When not reporting, she can usually be found at the arena, cheering on her three sons.

When I was a child, I dreamed of working at The Globe and Mail. So it's pretty special to have recently celebrated 10 years with the paper. I arrived here from Ottawa, where I was a Parliamentary reporter specializing in consumer issues for the now-defunct CanWest News Service. In that role, I naturally gravitated toward the health side of consumer issues: product safety, food recalls, new Health Canada rulings on medications. When I started working at the Globe, I sharpened my focus on health and love that I get to spend my time writing about issues that touch the lives of all Canadians. I'm originally from Sault Ste. Marie, or "The Soo." I even got my first byline at age 15 in the Sault Star as a teen writer! These days, when I'm not writing stories, I'm busy having fun with my husband and one-year-old. son.

SPEAKER BIO COMING SOON...

As a 23-year-old, Toni wants to bring the youth perspective to conversations on health care through the lens of a patient and Bachelor of Nursing student. She is the Chair of the Canadian Medical Association’s (CMA) Patient Voice group, as well as a member of the NL SUPPORT Patient Advisory Council, where she ensures the needs and opinions of the younger generation are reflected. Coming from a small town of 4,000 in Newfoundland & Labrador, she shares the challenges of accessing care in a rural community and is an advocate for accessible, affordable, and equitable care for everyone.

Heather Ross CM, MD, DSc, MHSc, FRCP (C), FACC is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and Head of the Division of Cardiology at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. She received the Order of Canada in 2020 (CM), and an Honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) from Queen’s University 2021. She is the site lead for the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research, and holds the Loretta A. Rogers Chair in Heart Function and the Pfizer Chair in Cardiovascular Research. She received her medical degree from the University of British Columbia, Canada, cardiology training at Dalhousie University, and postdoctoral fellowship in Cardiac Transplantation at Stanford University, California. She earned her Master’s Degree in Bioethics from the University of Toronto. She has published over 370 peer reviewed articles, with an H index of 67 and > 18,500 citations, trained > 45 highly qualified personnel and received > 17 million dollars in peer reviewed research funding. She has won numerous awards including the inaugural CCS Women in Cardiovascular Medicine/Science Mentorship Award (2020) and the Canadian Heart Failure Society Annual Achievement Award (2019).

Dr. Alexandra T. Greenhill is one of Canada's leading physicians in digital health innovation, and the CEO / Chief Medical Officer of Careteam Technologies that created the next generation integrated care platform for patients with complex chronic health issues. Careteam is part of NY Startup Health's Health Transformers, invited to the World Economic Forum's Annual New Champions Meeting, selected for seven of the first Canadian Supercluster projects and awarded the UCSF Digital Health Awards - Top 100 Companies.

After a career in director and C-level leadership roles in healthcare, Dr. Greenhill has spent the last few years leading and advising Canada's most innovative digital health companies. TEDx speaker, BIV Top 40 under 40, Canadian Medical Association's Joule Innovation Award, Most Influential Women in STEM, Startup Canada Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, WXN Most Powerful Woman, Digital Health Canada's Health Leaders and the only Canadian to have received the Cartier’s Women Initiative Award. In addition, her contributions to health innovation and her involvement in the community were recognised with the Queen Elizabeth II Medal of Service and BIV BC Power 500 Most Influential Leaders.

Dr. Greenhill is currently the Chair of the Board for the Vancouver Foundation and serves on the Boards of the Digital Technology Supercluster, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Ayogo Health and Physician Innovator (PI).

Bob Goldsmith founded the predecessor to Northern Edge in 2006, developing its unique advisory model, building a talented team of experienced professionals and establishing offices across North America.

Bob brings thirty years of business ownership and management experience to his role and focuses on the development of new client relationships, advising private business owners in their evaluation of alternatives, engagement with the broader business community.

After a successful career in business development and operations management with some of Canada’s largest brands, Hector founded Vancouver based TOUCH Marketing in 2007, whose innovative marketing, communications and project management strategies earned him a strong reputation for delivering results.

He was invited to join the BC Government in 2013 where he served as a key advisor in the offices of BC’s Minister of International Trade, the Minister of Tourism and Small Business, as well as the Ministry of Natural Gas Development and Deputy Premier.

After leaving the BC Government, he joined Vancouver based communications firm Pace Group as Vice President of Public Affairs.  There, he put his unique experience and special capabilities toward navigating the process of public policy making and ensuring his clients’ messages are heard.   While there, he worked with a broad range of clients on high profile matters in the energy sector, non-profit, industry associations, local government and First Nations.

In 2017, Hector Bremner was elected to Vancouver City Council in a by-election, having a dramatic impact on the city’s political culture and policy approaches related to the ongoing housing crisis.  The following year he challenged for Mayor of Vancouver on a pro-affordable housing platform.  While unsuccessful in achieving electoral success, he candidacy has been noted for its powerful message and positive impact on the policy environment.   

Today, Hector is CEO and Board Member of Avricore Health Inc. (TSXV: AVCR) which is a pharmacy service innovator focused on acquiring and developing early-stage technologies aimed at moving pharmacy forward. Through its flagship offering HealthTab (a wholly owned subsidiary), its mission is to make actionable health information more accessible to everyone by creating the world’s largest network of rapid testing devices in community pharmacies.

Samira Rahimi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, Associate Academic Professor of Mila-Quebec AI Institute, Associate member of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and an affiliated scientist at Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research of Jewish General Hospital.

She is an Associate Member of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, Vice President of the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS), and Director of Artificial Intelligence in Family Medicine (AIFM).

Dr. Rahimi is Fonds de Recherche du Québec-Santé (FRQS) Junior 1 Research Scholar in human-centered AI in primary health care, and with an interdisciplinary background, she is interested in the development, evaluation, and implementation of decision support tools and patient decision aids in primary health care as well as integrating human-centered AI tools in primary health care.

Her work as Principal Investigator has been funded by the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Roche Canada, Brocher Foundation (Switzerland), and the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR)-Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).