AMS Healthcare Conference - April 21, 2026 - Detailed Agenda

8:00 — 8:45 Breakfast

8:45 — 9:00

Welcome: Co-Chairs

Helen Angus

Helen Angus is Chief Executive Officer of AMS Healthcare, where she leads the organization’s efforts to catalyze innovation and system-wide change in Canadian healthcare. A highly respected public sector leader, she previously served as Deputy Minister at the Ontario Ministry of Health, where she led Ontario’s early health system response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Payal Agarwal

Payal Agarwal is an AMS Healthcare Compassion & AI Fellow and a leader in digital health innovation in Ontario. She serves as the Digital Health Provincial Clinical Lead at Ontario Health, Innovation Fellow at the Women's College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care, and Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer at Waterloo Regional Health Network.

Stewart Gray

Stewart Gray is a Canadian senior and Halifax-based digital health leader and advocate for the responsible use of artificial intelligence to improve healthcare. Drawing on his own healthcare journey, he explores how large language models can complement clinical care and support patients navigating complex health systems.

9:00 — 9:15

Intention Setting

Zayna Khayat

Zayna Khayat is Chief Program Officer at AMS Healthcare, where she leads the strategic design and delivery of the organization’s flagship programs in Artificial Intelligence & Compassion and the History of Healthcare. A recognized expert in health system transformation and innovation, she also serves as adjunct faculty in Health Sector Strategy at the Rotman School of Management.

9:15 — 10:15

Opening Keynote: International Perspectives - AI Now, AI Next

Moderator: Andrew Bond

Andrew Bond is an AMS Healthcare board member and the Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs and Health Systems Innovation and Chief Medical Officer at GreenShield, Canada’s only national non-profit health and benefits provider. In this role, he leads clinical governance, health policy, and innovation across GreenShield’s insurance, pharmacy, administration, and health divisions.

Tjaša Zajc

Tjaša Zajc is a chronic patient, keynote speaker, moderator, and podcast host known for her influential voice in digital health and healthcare innovation. A former healthcare journalist with a master’s degree in healthcare economics and management, she combines deep industry knowledge with compelling storytelling to engage global audiences on the future of health technology.

Shafi Ahmed

Shafi Ahmed is an internationally recognized cancer surgeon, educator, and healthcare futurist known for pioneering the use of emerging technologies to expand global medical education. A consultant surgeon at The Royal London Hospital for over two decades, he has dedicated his career to improving access to cancer care and training clinicians worldwide through digital and immersive technologies. Often described as the world’s most watched surgeon, he has taught millions of learners globally and holds academic roles with leading institutions including Imperial College London and University College London Global Business School for Health.

10:15 — 10:45

International Insights on the Path to Responsible AI

10:45 — 11:15 Break

11:15 — 12:15

The Great Debate: Six Big Questions of Our Time

Commentator: Lisa Richardson

Lisa Richardson is an AMS Healthcare board member and Vice Dean, Inclusion & Diversity at the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine. A clinician educator in General Internal Medicine and practicing physician at University Health Network, she is widely recognized for her leadership in Indigenous health equity, cultural safety in medical education, and person-centred care. A former AMS Phoenix Fellow, Dr. Richardson has contributed significantly to advancing compassion, equity, and Indigenous perspectives within healthcare education and systems.

Jennifer Gibson

Jennifer Gibson is the Sun Life Financial Chair in Bioethics and Director of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, and an Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Jennifer helped create the AMS-Fitzgerald Fellowship in AI and Human-Centred Leadership with AMS Healthcare, advancing leadership capacity at the intersection of ethics, compassion, and artificial intelligence in healthcare, and also founded the JCB's Ethics and AI for Good Health Program.

Stewart Gray

Stewart Gray is a Canadian senior and Halifax-based digital health leader and advocate for the responsible use of artificial intelligence to improve healthcare. Drawing on his own healthcare journey, he explores how large language models can complement clinical care and support patients navigating complex health systems.

Venkat Bhat

Venkat Bhat is an AMS Healthcare Compassion & Artificial Intelligence Fellow and a clinician-scientist advancing the use of AI in mental health care. He is a staff psychiatrist at St. Michael's Hospital (Unity Health Toronto) and Toronto Western Hospital (University Health Network), and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. As Director of the AI for Mental Health (AI-M) Program and national lead for the Mental Health Community of Practice at the Temerty Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine, he leads interdisciplinary efforts to develop and evaluate AI—including emerging agentic AI systems—to improve mental health care.

Will Falk

Will Falk is Board Chair of AMS Healthcare and an internationally recognized health system strategist with more than 25 years of experience advising academic institutions, governments, and innovative healthcare organizations. An Adjunct Professor at the Rotman School of Management and Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute, his work focuses on how technological change is transforming health systems, governance, and payment models.

12:15 — 13:15 Lunch

13:15 — 13:55

Putting Our Data to Use

Moderator: Kumanan Wilson

Kumanan Wilson is an AMS Healthcare board member and the CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of the Bruyère Health Research Institute, as well as Vice-President of Research and Academic Affairs at Bruyère Health. A physician–scientist specializing in General Internal Medicine, his work focuses on digital health innovation, health data, immunization, and pandemic preparedness.

Amol Verma

Amol Verma is an AMS Healthcare board member, an AMS Compassion and AI Fellow and a physician–scientist in General Internal Medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Temerty Professor of AI Research and Education in Medicine at the University of Toronto. He co-founded and co-leads GEMINI, Canada’s largest hospital clinical data research network, partnering with approximately 40 hospitals across Ontario to advance large-scale health system research and quality improvement.

Andrew Greenshaw

Andrew J. Greenshaw is a Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the University of Alberta whose work has significantly advanced mental health research, policy, and innovation in Canada and internationally. A leader in neuroscience, computational psychiatry, and digital mental health, he has contributed to major national initiatives through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and serves in global leadership roles focused on technology-enabled mental health care.

Andrea Bielecki

Andrea Bielecki is an entrepreneur and digital health innovator focused on advancing healthcare and scientific communication through technology and artificial intelligence. As Senior Advisor in Healthcare & Life Sciences at Cohere, Andrea works with global life sciences organizations to harness AI and digital transformation to reshape medical affairs, improve patient and customer experiences, and accelerate innovation in healthcare.

13:55 — 14:35

Getting the Payment Lever Right

Moderator: Helen Angus

Helen Angus is Chief Executive Officer of AMS Healthcare, where she leads the organization’s efforts to catalyze innovation and system-wide change in Canadian healthcare. A highly respected public sector leader, she previously served as Deputy Minister at the Ontario Ministry of Health, where she led Ontario’s early health system response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dov Klein

Dov Klein is a partner in the Canadian Life Sciences and Health Care practice at Deloitte, where he advises health systems across Canada on strategy, value-based care, and system performance. With experience as both a health system executive and consultant, he has worked closely with governments, agencies, and healthcare organizations to advance value-based funding, operational improvement, and supply chain transformation.

Michael Hillmer

Michael Hillmer is Assistant Deputy Minister of Data and Analytics Strategy at the Ontario Ministry of Health and the Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care, where he leads provincial efforts in health data, analytics, information policy, and privacy. His work focuses on ensuring trusted, high-quality health data and generating actionable insights to improve healthcare system performance and support responsible data use for the public good.

14:35 — 15:15

Implementation Paths That Stick

Moderator: Rina Lamba

Rina Lamba is an AMS Fitzgerald Fellow in AI & Human-Centred Leadership and Chief Nursing Officer and Director at York Region Public Health with more than 20 years of experience across the healthcare sector, including roles as a frontline nurse, long-term care administrator, and health system leader. Her leadership combines clinical expertise, health system management, and a commitment to mentoring future generations of healthcare professionals.

Payal Agarwal

Payal Agarwal is an AMS Healthcare Compassion & AI Fellow and a leader in digital health innovation in Ontario. She serves as the Digital Health Provincial Clinical Lead at Ontario Health, Innovation Fellow at the Women's College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care, and Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer at Waterloo Regional Health Network.

Mahshid Yassaei

Mahshid Yassaei is the Co-Founder and CEO of Tali, where she leads the development of clinical intelligence tools designed to improve how healthcare data is captured and used at the point of care. Her work focuses on transforming clinical conversations into structured, high-quality data that integrates seamlessly with electronic medical records to support better clinical and system-level outcomes.

Samuel Gareau-Lajoie

Samuel Gareau-Lajoie is a family physician practicing at Family Medicine Group (FMG) in Laval, Quebec, and an advocate for integrating digital tools and artificial intelligence into primary care. His work focuses on leveraging technology to improve clinical workflows and free up time for healthcare professionals to focus on patient care.

15:15 — 15:45 Break

15:45 — 16:15

Two Lightning Talks: Patient Innovators

Moderator: David Wiljer

David Wiljer is a Senior Fellow of AMS Healthcare and a leading voice in digital health innovation and “digital compassion.” His work explores how emerging technologies—including artificial intelligence and data-driven tools—can support more compassionate, patient-centred healthcare. Through leadership in patient education, digital health ecosystems, and health professions learning, he has helped advance approaches that empower patients and strengthen connections between patients and providers.

Ken Porter

Ken D. Porter is the National Projects Director at Mood Disorders Society of Canada, where he leads national research and innovation initiatives focused on improving mental health system navigation and access to care. He directs projects such as the MIRA Mental Health Virtual Assistant, an AI-enabled chatbot designed to connect Canadians with trusted mental health information and services.

Stewart Gray

Stewart Gray is a Canadian senior and Halifax-based digital health leader and advocate for the responsible use of artificial intelligence to improve healthcare. Drawing on his own healthcare journey, he explores how large language models can complement clinical care and support patients navigating complex health systems.

16:15 — 16:55

Preparing the Health Workforce

Moderator: Laura Desveaux

Laura Desveaux is a Senior Fellow of AMS Healthcare and a scientist leading work on learning health systems and healthcare leadership. She is Lead of the Learning Health System Leadership Center at the Institute for Better Health at Trillium Health Partners and an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on how healthcare organizations learn, adapt, and innovate, with a particular interest in leadership development and the conditions that enable successful system transformation.

Paula Rowland

Paula Rowland is a Senior Fellow of AMS Healthcare and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto, with a cross-appointment to the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. A former occupational therapist, her research examines how moral, organizational, and technological forces shape healthcare work and patient care. She leads the AMS-supported interdisciplinary initiative Ethics, Technology, and Change in Healthcare Work (ETCHwork), exploring how emerging technologies influence healthcare practice, collaboration, and professional roles.

Samir Grover

Samir C. Grover is a gastroenterologist, clinician-educator, and Executive Vice-President, Academics at Scarborough Health Network, where he is leading the expansion of health-professions education across one of Canada’s most diverse communities. An Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, his work focuses on advancing medical education through technology-enabled learning, simulation, and innovative assessment strategies.

Pedro Velmovitsky

Pedro Velmovitsky is an AMS Healthcare Compassion & Artificial Intelligence Fellow and a researcher advancing digital therapeutics and AI-enabled health innovation. He is a Scientific Associate at the Centre for Digital Therapeutics at University Health Network and an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. His interdisciplinary work bridges public health and computer science to develop and evaluate technology-enabled approaches that improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.

16:55 — 17:00

What Leaders Need to Do Now

Tim Rutledge

Tim Rutledge is the inaugural Executive in Residence at AMS Healthcare and a respected physician, educator, and health system leader. He previously served as President and CEO of Unity Health Toronto and North York General Hospital, leading major organizational transformation, research growth, and digital innovation across large academic health systems. In his role with AMS Healthcare, he helps strengthen the organization’s leadership community and contributes to advancing compassionate, technology-enabled healthcare across Canada.

17:00 — 17:15

Closing Reflections & Commitments

Helen Angus

Helen Angus is Chief Executive Officer of AMS Healthcare, where she leads the organization’s efforts to catalyze innovation and system-wide change in Canadian healthcare. A highly respected public sector leader, she previously served as Deputy Minister at the Ontario Ministry of Health, where she led Ontario’s early health system response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stewart Gray

Stewart Gray is a Canadian senior and Halifax-based digital health leader and advocate for the responsible use of artificial intelligence to improve healthcare. Drawing on his own healthcare journey, he explores how large language models can complement clinical care and support patients navigating complex health systems.

Payal Agarwal

Payal Agarwal is an AMS Healthcare Compassion & AI Fellow and a leader in digital health innovation in Ontario. She serves as the Digital Health Provincial Clinical Lead at Ontario Health, Innovation Fellow at the Women's College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care, and Chief Medical Information and Innovation Officer at Waterloo Regional Health Network.

17:15 — 18:30

Networking Reception

Setting the Stage for AI Ready Health Systems

Compassionate Policy

Getting Foundations in Place

Building Capacity for the Long Term

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