Derek A. Garniss is a physician with over two decades of experience in Emergency Medicine, practicing since 2004. He holds certification from the College of Family Physicians of Canada with added competence in Emergency Medicine. Derek has served as Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) at Sault Area Hospital since 2016 and was appointed Regional CMIO…

Taylor Martin is Director of Workforce Management, Analytics and Optimization at Unity Health Toronto and a PhD candidate in Healthcare Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is an enterprise healthcare leader specializing in workforce transformation, analytics, and human-centred technology implementation. Taylor has led large-scale scheduling and workforce optimization initiatives across Ontario health systems, improving…

Jill Shakespeare is the Director of Strategy and Patient Experience at Oak Valley Health. Her career spans acute care, mental health, substance use health, and primary care, with expertise in clinical implementation, human-centred co-design, research, policy, and practice change. Jill champions learning health systems grounded in reflexivity about how worldview shapes care delivery and experiences.…

Kevin Wasko is the Chief of Emergency Medicine and Program Medical Director at North York General Hospital in Toronto. He is a surveyor with Accreditation Canada and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Since the Fall of 2025 he has been the Emergency Medicine Clinical…

Azra Dhalla is a recognized leader in operationalizing AI to transform modern health care. As Director of Health AI Implementation at the Vector Institute, one of Canada’s premier AI research hubs, she spearheads the deployment of advanced machine and deep learning solutions across the Ontario health care system, bridging the gap between cutting-edge research and…

Natalie Fitzgerald has over 20 years of public sector experience advancing the use of data and evidence to improve health system performance. As Director, System Performance & Analytics at the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, she leads national efforts to strengthen cancer system reporting, implement the pan-Canadian Cancer Data Strategy, and support First Nations, Inuit and…

Stefanie Tan is a physician and public health researcher who built the research function at MedicAlert Foundation Canada, a charity that has served more than a million Canadians through emergency medical identification and services. She established its university research partnerships and negotiated the data-use terms in its research agreements. Her current work is on the…

Venkat Bhat is a psychiatrist, clinician-scientist, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He leads the AI for Mental Health Program and is National Mental Health Community of Practice Lead at T-CAIREM. His federally funded interdisciplinary research advances AI, AI implementation, and neuroscience across depression, PTSD, wellness, and resilience, focusing on safe,…

Melissa Bock, is a doctorate-prepared Nurse Practitioner and healthcare leader serving as Director of Digital Health Quality & Risk Management at Shoppers Drug Mart (Loblaw), where she provides clinical governance leadership for digital health innovation across Canada. Her career spans primary care, mental health and addictions, professional practice leadership, and academic medicine, giving her a…

Sally Bean is the Director of Ethics & Policy at Sunnybrook Health Sciences. Sally earned a B.A. in Philosophy & English, an M.A. in Bioethics & Public Policy, and a Juris Doctorate. After law school, Sally completed a two-year fellowship in Clinical & Organizational Ethics through the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. Additionally,…