Registration

Registration for Techna 2017 Symposium is now closed.

Location

MaRS Auditorium
101 College Street . Toronto . Ontario
M5G 1L7

Schedule & Speaker Bios

Below is the event schedule for Techna 2017: Policies and Mechanisms for Healthcare Innovation. Here you can view the agenda and speaker bios by clicking the event times below. Video recordings of individual speeches will be available on this page after the event within each segment. The Techna 2017 Symposium will feature a live tweeting system for participants to add comments in parallel to the discussions and presentations.

Videos of the Day

To view the video playlist of the full day at Techna Symposium please click the button below.

Agenda

8:00-8:40 – Breakfast and Registration

8:40-8:45 – Morning Greeting

David Jaffray

Executive Vice President, Technology & Innovation, UHN; Director, Techna Institute, UHN

Dr. David Jaffray graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.Sc. in Physics (Hons.) in 1988 and completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario in 1994. Following graduation, he took a position as Staff Physicist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan where he instigated a direction of research that garnered funding from the NIH and from congressionally-directed funding programs. Dr. Jaffray became a Board Certified Medical Physicist (ABMP – Radiation Oncology) in 1999. In 2002, Dr. Jaffray joined the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto as Head of Radiation Physics and a Senior Scientist within the Ontario Cancer Institute. David holds the Fidani Chair in Radiation Physics, is the Director of the Techna Institute for Health Technology Development at the University Health Network and recently became the Executive Vice President of Technology and Innovation at the University Health Network. He is a Professor in the Departments of Radiation Oncology, Medical Biophysics, and Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. His primary area of research has been in the development and application of image-guided therapy. He has over 5 patents issued and several licensed, including, kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography for image-guided radiation therapy. Dr. Jaffray has >200 peer-reviewed publications in the field, >100 invited lectures, and holds numerous peer-review and industry sponsored research grants. He sits on numerous scientific and research boards and has contributed to the NIH and CIHR grant review process for several years. He is an active member of the AAPM and teaching role in workshops and annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). He has an active interest in commercialization and led the development of a variety of commercial products including software and hardware for QA and the development of small animal irradiator systems for basic research. He has successfully supervised over 20 graduate students and fellows.

Dr. Jaffray has won each of the major prizes in the field of the medical physics, including, the Sylvia Sorkin-Greenfield Award, The Farrington Daniels Award, and the Sylvia Fedoruk Award. In 2004, Dr. Jaffray was identified as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and was recognized by The University of Western Ontario with their Young Alumni Award in 2004. His current research interests focus on the development of imaging technologies and methods with a focus on image-guided interventions, including radiation therapy, drug delivery, and surgery.

8:45-9:05 – Opening Remarks: Approach to Innovation in the PMCC

Barry Rubin

Chair and Program Medical Director, Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, UHN

Dr. Rubin completed an undergraduate degree in physics and physiology and medical school at McGill University. After a PhD in Experimental Medicine, he finished his General and Vascular Surgery training in Toronto. He is certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in both specialties, and received the Bernard Langer Award as the outstanding graduate of the Surgical Scientist Program at the University of Toronto in 1993. Dr. Rubin joined the surgical faculty at University Health Network (UHN) in 1995, and holds the rank of Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Rubin runs a tertiary/quaternary care practice in vascular surgery. Previously Head of the Division of Vascular Surgery at UHN from 2003 to 2010, he has been the Medical Director of the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at UHN, Canada’s largest cardiovascular unit, since 2010. Core operating principles for the Centre established by Dr. Rubin include providing patient care in multidisciplinary teams, using the best equipment in the world and creating a culture and clearly defined processes that enable innovation.

Dr. Rubin’s basic science research laboratory has been continuously funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for 16 years. His basic science work, widely published in high impact journals, focuses on the way the heart responds to injury and the regulation of the immune response to infection. He received the Wylie Scholar Award in 1998 from Vascular Cures, San Francisco. This career development award is given to one vascular surgeon in North America per year; Dr. Rubin is the only Canadian recipient of this award.

Dr. Rubin has been Chair and CEO of the Mount Sinai Hospital University Health Network Academic Medical Organization since 2003, and has been unanimously re-elected to this position 3 times by his peers. This organization supports teaching, research, innovation, recruitment and retention of 1,000 physicians at University Health Network and Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Rubin is also the elected representative of 6,000 academic in Ontario in discussions that relate to the ongoing management of the $250,000,000 per annum Academic Physicians Alternative Funding Plan.

Dr. Rubin is a member of the Health Canada scientific advisory committee on medical devices used in the cardiovascular system. He is past Chair of the Ontario Expert Panel on appropriate utilization of diagnostic and imaging studies, and past co-Chair of the Ontario Multiple Sclerosis expert advisory group, which published guidelines for the follow-up care and treatment for Ontarians with Multiple Sclerosis who have undergone vein dilation therapy. He was also a member of the CIHR – Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada expert panel on Multiple Sclerosis research.

9:05-9:45 – Keynote Speaker

Ain Aaviksoo

Estonian Deputy Secretary General for E-Services & Innovation at the Ministry of Social Affairs

Ain Aaviksoo, MD MPH is Deputy Secretary General for E-services and Innovation at the Ministry of Social Affairs in Estonia overseeing the digital transformation and innovation of social security area in Estonia, including health, labour and social matters. Mr Aaviksoo is currently chairing mHealth working group of the European Commission’s eHealth Network. He is also the Vice-Chair of IC PerMed and Chair of mHealth sub-group of eHealth Network. Mr Aaviksoo is lecturing at Tallinn University of Technology and Medical Faculty of University of Tartu. Dr Aaviksoo obtained MD from University of Tartu and MPH from Harvard University. He has earlier work experience as a physician, senior level civil servant, international level consultant on large system transformation and technology adoption in healthcare, health policy researcher and CEO of public policy think-tank Praxis, and health-tech entrepreneur. Dr Aaviksoo has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and contributed into several book chapters on health policy and e-health, he is also regularly presenting as invited keynote speaker on e-services and e-society at international health care or public policy events.

9:45-10:35 – Session 1: Global Models of Healthcare Innovation and Outcomes Measurement

David Jaffray

Executive Vice President, Technology & Innovation, UHN; Director, Techna Institute, UHN

Dr. David Jaffray graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.Sc. in Physics (Hons.) in 1988 and completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario in 1994. Following graduation, he took a position as Staff Physicist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan where he instigated a direction of research that garnered funding from the NIH and from congressionally-directed funding programs. Dr. Jaffray became a Board Certified Medical Physicist (ABMP – Radiation Oncology) in 1999. In 2002, Dr. Jaffray joined the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto as Head of Radiation Physics and a Senior Scientist within the Ontario Cancer Institute. David holds the Fidani Chair in Radiation Physics, is the Director of the Techna Institute for Health Technology Development at the University Health Network and recently became the Executive Vice President of Technology and Innovation at the University Health Network. He is a Professor in the Departments of Radiation Oncology, Medical Biophysics, and Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. His primary area of research has been in the development and application of image-guided therapy. He has over 5 patents issued and several licensed, including, kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography for image-guided radiation therapy. Dr. Jaffray has >200 peer-reviewed publications in the field, >100 invited lectures, and holds numerous peer-review and industry sponsored research grants. He sits on numerous scientific and research boards and has contributed to the NIH and CIHR grant review process for several years. He is an active member of the AAPM and teaching role in workshops and annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). He has an active interest in commercialization and led the development of a variety of commercial products including software and hardware for QA and the development of small animal irradiator systems for basic research. He has successfully supervised over 20 graduate students and fellows.

Dr. Jaffray has won each of the major prizes in the field of the medical physics, including, the Sylvia Sorkin-Greenfield Award, The Farrington Daniels Award, and the Sylvia Fedoruk Award. In 2004, Dr. Jaffray was identified as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and was recognized by The University of Western Ontario with their Young Alumni Award in 2004. His current research interests focus on the development of imaging technologies and methods with a focus on image-guided interventions, including radiation therapy, drug delivery, and surgery.

Stephen Flaherty

Director of Standardization and Benchmarking, International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM)

Steve Flaherty is the Director of ICHOM’s standard set development and benchmarking work with strategic partners and health information technology firms globally. Prior to joining ICHOM, he worked in healthcare at the Ohio Hospital Association and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, managing quality projects, regulatory reporting, data capture and visualization. Over the past fifteen years, he has served as an analyst, researcher, teacher, and thought leader on both state and national level boards including the elected chair of the 21 member Collaborative of Comprehensive Cancer Centers for Quality Improvement (C4QI).

Mr. Flaherty holds a master’s degree in public health leadership from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelors in Biochemistry from Union College. He is originally from Weymouth, Massachusetts and spends much of his free time running a Youth Group for teenagers.

Alexis Wise

Senior Manager/Capital Advisory, MaRS Centre for Impacting Investing

Alexis Wise holds a dual role at the MaRS Discovery District.  She leads the health practice in the Centre for Impact Investing and is the point person for ecosystem partnerships in the Health Systems Innovation team. Alexis’s work focuses on key levers for influencing health system change including health care contracting and pricing mechanisms and measuring outcomes and impact.

Alexis brings to MaRS a diverse professional experience.  She is an experienced management consultant having started her career at Monitor Group (now Monitor Deloitte).  She lived and worked in the UK for several years where she worked at a public sector consulting firm and then as a civil servant in the role of Pricing Strategy Lead for Monitor, the regulators for the National Health Service in England.  Alexis also had first hand experience as an entrepreneur, as co-founder of a Canadian employee wellness company.

Alexis is a graduate of the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and completed her MBA at London Business School (both with distinction).  She is also a former fellow of the prestigious Action Canada program.

Zahava Uddin

Director of Innovation and Outcomes, GE Healthcare Partners

Zahava Uddin is a Director of Innovation and Outcomes within GE’s healthcare management consultancy, Healthcare Partners. She is focused primarily in the global analytics and software practice and leads the Canadian region. Healthcare Partners works to imagine and achieve strategic objectives related to quality, access, culture and cost. Zahava’s team has experience with healthcare systems reengineering, command centres, facility design optimization, length of stay, clinical operations, patient safety, labour productivity, patient pathways and related domains.

Since joining GE in 2000, Zahava has served in various strategic and leadership roles. She has a diverse background in consulting, sales, product management, Lean Six Sigma and services. Zahava’s 17 years with GE include several years residing in the US and client work in Canada, the US and Brazil. Prior to GE, Zahava worked at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Zahava has a BSc in biochemistry and an MBA, both from McMaster University. She is a GE certified Six Sigma Black Belt, a CHE with the Canadian College of Health Leaders and an active member of CCHL. She has presented on topics related to seamless patient care and digital transformation at various forums.

Zahava lives in Oakville, Ontario with her husband and daughter.

10:50-11:40 – Session 2: Current & Future State of Ontario Healthcare Innovation

William Charnetski

Chief Health Innovation Strategist, MOHLTC

William Charnetski is Ontario’s Chief Health Innovation Strategist with a background as an accomplished national and global executive who has worked in the highest levels of business, law and government. He has a track record of leading transformational change, developing organizations, fostering partnerships and collaboration, and delivering results. He has spent more than 10 years working on integrated health solutions in Canada and around the world in the rapidly changing global pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Charnetski most recently worked in the UK with AstraZeneca, one of the world’s largest innovative pharmaceutical companies. He led global government affairs and public policy and had responsibilities for corporate social responsibility and regional communications.

Gail Garland

CEO, OBIO

Gail Garland is the founder and CEO of OBIO®, a not-for-profit, membership-based organization championing the development of an integrated health innovation economy for Ontario.

Gail established OBIO in partnership with dozens of like-minded industry CEOs to advance the goal of making Ontario into a world-leading health innovation sector where health science companies will flourish, as well as a global leader in providing health technology products and services to the international marketplace.

Since 2009, OBIO has developed and implemented a province-wide strategic vision called OBEST (Ontario Bioscience Economic Strategy Team). Building from that strategy, OBIO published a series of white papers – in collaboration with industry executives, health system leaders, and academics – that identify the highest priority issues facing Ontario’s health science economy, like access to capital, access to industry-ready business talent, and innovation adoption. OBIO’s reports led directly to the establishment of OBIO solutions-focused programming, like CAAP® (Capital Access Advisory Program) in 2013 to increase deal flow for high potential early stage companies, Pre-CAAP in 2015 to help boost investability of seed stage companies, and H2BB™, the Health to Business Bridge™ internship program in 2016, which combines OBIO’s deep-rooted relationships across academia and industry to improve access to industry-ready business talent.

Gail serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council, Faculty of Science, at Ryerson University; the Biotechnology Advisory Committee at Humber College; the Canadian Life Sciences Advisory Counsel for Springboard Enterprises; and the Advisory Board for the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, University of Waterloo. Gail is the Industry Chair of the OBIO MPP Health Sciences Caucus and serves on the Conference Board of Canada’s Council for Innovation Procurement in Healthcare. She has advocated for the future of the health science industry on national television (Business News Network) and has also written extensively on the topic, with numerous publications in both the national press (The Globe and Mail) and international industry publications (Biotechnology Focus).

Before starting OBIO, Gail had more than twenty years of industry experience, including senior roles in banking, pharmaceuticals, biotech and in the medical devices sector. Gail holds a Chartered Director (CDir) designation in governance (McMaster), an MBA from the Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto), and a BSc. (Carleton University).

Peter Pisters

President and CEO, UHN

Dr. Peter Pisters is the President and CEO of University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, Ontario: Canada’s premier academic medical centre. UHN is an integrated health, research and education system that includes Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, and the Michener Institute of Education at UHN. UHN’s ten clinical programs, five research institutes, and nine educational centres of excellence are global resources for innovation, discovery, and learning across the spectrum of health care and life sciences.

Dr. Pisters is an internationally known health system leader and academic surgeon, and is currently a Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. Prior to joining UHN, he spent 20 years at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as a tenured faculty member in a number of clinical, administrative and leadership positions. Dr. Pisters served as a Vice-President with leadership over MD Anderson’s regional expansion strategy and multi-site metropolitan Houston operations.

A graduate of Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Dr. Pisters completed his internship and residency at New York University Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital. He spent four years as a research and clinical fellow at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Dr. Pisters holds a Master’s degree in Health Care Management from Harvard University and is a 2015 Executive Fellow in the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Fredrika Scarth

Director, HQO Liaison and Program Development Branch, Health System Quality and Funding Division, MOHLTC

Fredrika Scarth is the Director, HQO Liaison and Program Development Branch, Health System Quality and Funding Division, MOHLTC. In this role she works with Health Quality Ontario, the provincial advisor on health quality, to support their programs, and provides leadership and direction on a range of innovative funding programs and health service delivery models that aim to improve patient outcomes and experience while ensuring health system sustainability. Fredrika’s previous experience in the MOHLTC includes leadership roles in health services research, performance and accountability, and primary health care. Fredrika holds a BA in Political Science from McGill University and an MA and PhD in Political Theory from the University of Toronto.

11:40-12:30 – Session 3: How Would Outcomes-Based Funding Spur Innovation in Ontario?

David Jaffray

Executive Vice President, Technology & Innovation, UHN; Director, Techna Institute, UHN

Dr. David Jaffray graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.Sc. in Physics (Hons.) in 1988 and completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario in 1994. Following graduation, he took a position as Staff Physicist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan where he instigated a direction of research that garnered funding from the NIH and from congressionally-directed funding programs. Dr. Jaffray became a Board Certified Medical Physicist (ABMP – Radiation Oncology) in 1999. In 2002, Dr. Jaffray joined the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto as Head of Radiation Physics and a Senior Scientist within the Ontario Cancer Institute. David holds the Fidani Chair in Radiation Physics, is the Director of the Techna Institute for Health Technology Development at the University Health Network and recently became the Executive Vice President of Technology and Innovation at the University Health Network. He is a Professor in the Departments of Radiation Oncology, Medical Biophysics, and Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. His primary area of research has been in the development and application of image-guided therapy. He has over 5 patents issued and several licensed, including, kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography for image-guided radiation therapy. Dr. Jaffray has >200 peer-reviewed publications in the field, >100 invited lectures, and holds numerous peer-review and industry sponsored research grants. He sits on numerous scientific and research boards and has contributed to the NIH and CIHR grant review process for several years. He is an active member of the AAPM and teaching role in workshops and annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). He has an active interest in commercialization and led the development of a variety of commercial products including software and hardware for QA and the development of small animal irradiator systems for basic research. He has successfully supervised over 20 graduate students and fellows.

Dr. Jaffray has won each of the major prizes in the field of the medical physics, including, the Sylvia Sorkin-Greenfield Award, The Farrington Daniels Award, and the Sylvia Fedoruk Award. In 2004, Dr. Jaffray was identified as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and was recognized by The University of Western Ontario with their Young Alumni Award in 2004. His current research interests focus on the development of imaging technologies and methods with a focus on image-guided interventions, including radiation therapy, drug delivery, and surgery.

Rollie Cameron

General Manager, Johnson & Johnson Medical Canada

Rollie Cameron is the General Manager for Johnson & Johnson Medical Products (JJMP), a division of Johnson & Johnson Inc. Appointed to this role in 2013, he is responsible for the Johnson & Johnson portfolio of medical devices companies across Canada. He chairs the JJMP Leadership Team and is a member of the Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices North America Regional Leadership Team. Mr. Cameron is also a member of the Board of Directors with MEDEC, Canada’s Medical Technology Companies.

Previously, Mr. Cameron was based in New Jersey as Vice President, Marketing for ETHICON Surgical Care, Global Strategic Marketing, a role he assumed in 2012. Prior to joining ETHICON, Mr. Cameron enjoyed a successful 15-year career with the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson where he held several in-line and regional sales and marketing roles.

Mr. Cameron started his career with Johnson & Johnson in Canada in 1994 as a medical sales representative with Janssen-Ortho Inc., where he advanced through positions in marketing and sales based in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Mr. Cameron’s strong strategic insight, cross sector business experience, and leadership skills position him extremely well for his role in leading the medical devices business in Canada for Johnson & Johnson.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Saint Francis Xavier University and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Dalhousie University.

Robert Fox

Director Healthcare Transformation, Cisco Canada

Robert Fox is the Director of Healthcare at Cisco Canada and responsible for the transformation of how healthcare is delivered across Canada and improving patient outcomes and experiences through technology. Cisco in Canada is a leading operation for Cisco worldwide and also a proving ground for the company’s most advanced and innovative technologies.

Prior to joining Cisco in 2014, he was with St. Michael’s Hospital for 20 years holding leadership positions in the areas of Laboratory Medicine, Corporate Performance & Strategy and finally as the Vice President of Planning and Operations.

Robert played a crucial role during that time spearheading key projects such as the first fully automated hospital laboratory in Canada, the integration of Wellesley Hospital into St. Michael’s and leading the designated acute care centre during SARs. He also oversaw the planning, approval, design and construction of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute and the planning and approval of the new patient care tower currently under construction at St. Michael’s.

He has advised the Ontario Ministry of Health on topics of Capital Infrastructure Planning and funding formula for Hospitals. Robert has also published a number of book chapters, articles and is a featured speaker on topics of quality, operations and strategy in healthcare.

Robert believes that Cisco is one of very few companies capable of catalyzing the optimization of Canada’s healthcare system.

Ken Spears

VP/GM, Boston Scientific

12 years of Vice President/ General Manager experience with a demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry. Skilled in management, Customer Service, Medical Devices, Strategic Planning, and Business Development. Member of the MEDEC Board of Directors and the EXCITE Management Board of Directors. An active advocate and frequent guest speaker on the topics of value-based procurement, outcomes-based healthcare, and the medical device sector’s role in improving clinical outcomes and access to quality healthcare.

12:30-1:15 – Lunch

1:15-2:00 – Keynote Speaker

Rifat Atun

Professor of Global Health Systems, Harvard University

Dr. Rifat Atun is Professor of Global Health Systems at Harvard University. He is the Faculty Lead for the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program. In 2008-12 he was a member of the Executive Management Team of the Global Fund as the Director of Strategy, Performance and Evaluation. Professor Atun’s research focuses on health system reform and innovation in global health systems. He has published 300 papers in leading journals, including in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, Lancet Oncology, Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, Lancet Global Health, Science Translational Medicine, Health Affairs, and the Academy of Management Journal. Dr. Atun has worked at the UK DFID’s Health Systems Resource Centre and has acted as a consultant for the World Bank, WHO, and with many governments to design, implement and evaluate health system reforms. He has undertaken assignments for and acted in a consulting or advisory capacity to leading organizations, including Medtronic, Novartis, Merck & Co, MSD, Pfizer and Roche.

Professor Atun has served as a member of the US National Academy of Medicine Standing Committee on Health Systems, PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board, and the Advisory Boards of WHO Research Centre for Health Development in Japan, and Norwegian Research Council’s Programme for Global Health and Vaccination Research. He is a member of the UK Medical Research Council’s Global Health Group. He is a member of the Longitude Prize Committee, the largest science prize in the world.

Professor Atun studied medicine at University of London as a Commonwealth Scholar and completed his postgraduate medical training in family medicine and public health, and Masters in Business Administration at University of London and Imperial College London. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK), a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health (UK), and a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners (UK).

2:00-2:45 – Debate: Medtech Companies Will Stay in Ontario if Outcomes Based Care is Adopted

John Irish

Provincial Head, Surgical Oncology, Cancer Care Ontario Director, Clinical Faculty, Techna Institute, Core Lead-Guided Therapeutics Program

Dr. Irish graduated with his M.D. degree in 1984 from the University of Toronto. He completed residency training at UCLA and at the University of Toronto. He completed his Master’s of Science degree in Molecular Biology at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto in 1991 where he studied the molecular biological characteristics of head and neck cancers. He completed the American Head and Neck Society Fellowship in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology in 1991 and joined the staff of the Toronto General Hospital and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in 1992. He is currently Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto. Dr. Irish was elected as President of the American Head and Neck Society for 2017-2018.

In 2000, Dr. Irish was appointed as the Chief of the Department of Surgical Oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and completed his term after 16 years in 2016. Since 2004, Dr. Irish has been a major health policy advisor and responsible for access to care, quality improvement and health care funding for the Surgical Oncology Program at Cancer Care Ontario which oversees the delivery of cancer services for 13.5 million people in the Province of Ontario, Canada. In 2004, Dr. Irish became the Clinical Lead for Access to Care (“Wait Times”) and Strategic Funding Initiatives for the Surgical Oncology Program at Cancer Care Ontario and is responsible for the Cancer Surgery Wait Times portfolio. He was the Provincial Clinical Lead for Access to Services and Wait Times for the Province of Ontario from 2008-2012. In 2008, Dr. Irish was appointed Provincial Head of the Surgical Oncology Program at Cancer Care Ontario. As the Provincial Head for Surgical Oncology, Dr Irish has provided provincial leadership and oversight linking volume funding to quality improvement. Many of the performance metrics associated with these initiatives are reported as part of the Cancer System Quality Index (http://www.csqi.on.ca/) and are on the CCO website (https://www.cancercare.on.ca/ocs/clinicalprogs/surgonc/).

As the Kevin and Sandra Sullivan Chair in Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto he has led a multidisciplinary program in Guided Therapeutics at UHN and is currently leading the Guided Therapeutics Core and is Director of Clinical Faculty for the Techna Institute at the University Health Network. In that capacity Dr Irish leads a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, engineers, physicists and nanoparticle biochemists in the development of novel nanomedicine-based contrast agents which in combination with near real-time navigation and tracking systems can create innovative solutions for minimal access surgical approaches in cancer therapy.

Dr. Irish has over 300 peer review publications and over 30 book chapters and has over $5M in peer-review funding for his research

Lahav Gil

MedTech Entrepreneur

Lahav is a MedTech entrepreneur, designer, and business leader critically focused on clinical and commercial advantage. He is the founder and former CEO of the Kangaroo Group, which he built into a national brand and recently sold to Starfish Medical of Vancouver Island. He is passionate about meaning, loves Innovation Culture, Values-Based Leadership, transparency & awareness.

Lahav has deep experience in Medtech product development and business. He has founded/co-founded 6 companies and has accompanied several Canadian startups on their journey from napkin to launch, critically contributing to their investability, clinical & market readiness. He has contributed to over 200 technology product launches and to game-changing innovations for companies like IMRIS, FIO, Cellaegis, XOR, Ultrasonix, Exact Imaging, Sciex, and others.

For almost 3 decades, he has been involved with tech-innovation, entrepreneurship, and startups, starting in Israel’s bustling innovation climate of the 80’s. During the late 90’s Lahav integrated into the Canadian innovation scene, leading Industrial Design projects for Creo/Kodak in Vancouver, where he first got a taste of the crucial role of culture in business. In 2003 he founded Kangaroo Design, which he evolved into the Kangaroo Group (ISO 13485), a full-spectrum outsourcing platform for Medical Devices innovation, engineering, productization and contract manufacturing.

Under his leadership, Kangaroo has supplied services, infrastructure, and incubation partnerships to Canadian Medtech startups and entrepreneurs for over 15 years. During this time, Kangaroo has been his main focus alongside spin-ins, spin-outs & incubation investments.

Currently, he is co-founding a boutique Medtech incubator-accelerator with private investors. He also works with startups on productization, building organizational capacity and accelerating commercial readiness.

Arun Menawat

CEO, Profound Medical Inc.

Dr. Arun Menawat is CEO of Profound Medical Inc., a medical technology company that is developing a real-time MRI-guided thermal ultrasound system for incision-free ablation of abnormal or cancerous tissue.

Before joining Profound, Arun served as the President and CEO of Novadaq Technologies Inc. for 13 years, guiding the company from a startup to one of the fastest growing, NASDAQ listed medical technology companies in North America, with a market cap of mostly over one billion USD during the final three years of his leadership. Earlier, Arun served as President of Cedara Software Corp., a company that developed the industry’s first medical imaging software platform. Today, Cedara’s imaging platform and its big data collection are part of IBM’s Watson Health.

Arun also serves as a member of the board of directors of Stereotaxis, Inc and ElMindA Ltd and as an advisor to Baylis Medical. Earlier in his career, Arun held executive positions at Tenneco Inc. and Hercules Inc. in the areas of business development, technology development, and mergers/acquisitions. He obtained a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, and an Executive MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. In 2014, he was named the EY Ontario Entrepreneur of the Year in the health sciences category.

2:45-3:10 – Post-Debate Commentary

John Irish

Provincial Head, Surgical Oncology, Cancer Care Ontario Director, Clinical Faculty, Techna Institute, Core Lead-Guided Therapeutics Program

Dr. Irish graduated with his M.D. degree in 1984 from the University of Toronto. He completed residency training at UCLA and at the University of Toronto. He completed his Master’s of Science degree in Molecular Biology at the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto in 1991 where he studied the molecular biological characteristics of head and neck cancers. He completed the American Head and Neck Society Fellowship in Head and Neck Surgical Oncology in 1991 and joined the staff of the Toronto General Hospital and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in 1992. He is currently Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto. Dr. Irish was elected as President of the American Head and Neck Society for 2017-2018.

In 2000, Dr. Irish was appointed as the Chief of the Department of Surgical Oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and completed his term after 16 years in 2016. Since 2004, Dr. Irish has been a major health policy advisor and responsible for access to care, quality improvement and health care funding for the Surgical Oncology Program at Cancer Care Ontario which oversees the delivery of cancer services for 13.5 million people in the Province of Ontario, Canada. In 2004, Dr. Irish became the Clinical Lead for Access to Care (“Wait Times”) and Strategic Funding Initiatives for the Surgical Oncology Program at Cancer Care Ontario and is responsible for the Cancer Surgery Wait Times portfolio. He was the Provincial Clinical Lead for Access to Services and Wait Times for the Province of Ontario from 2008-2012. In 2008, Dr. Irish was appointed Provincial Head of the Surgical Oncology Program at Cancer Care Ontario. As the Provincial Head for Surgical Oncology, Dr Irish has provided provincial leadership and oversight linking volume funding to quality improvement. Many of the performance metrics associated with these initiatives are reported as part of the Cancer System Quality Index (http://www.csqi.on.ca/) and are on the CCO website (https://www.cancercare.on.ca/ocs/clinicalprogs/surgonc/).

As the Kevin and Sandra Sullivan Chair in Surgical Oncology at the University of Toronto he has led a multidisciplinary program in Guided Therapeutics at UHN and is currently leading the Guided Therapeutics Core and is Director of Clinical Faculty for the Techna Institute at the University Health Network. In that capacity Dr Irish leads a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, engineers, physicists and nanoparticle biochemists in the development of novel nanomedicine-based contrast agents which in combination with near real-time navigation and tracking systems can create innovative solutions for minimal access surgical approaches in cancer therapy.

Dr. Irish has over 300 peer review publications and over 30 book chapters and has over $5M in peer-review funding for his research

Linda Maxwell

Executive Director of the Biomedical Zone, Ryerson University

As a healthcare executive, management professional, and noted innovator, Dr. Linda Maxwell has led successful institutional partnerships, public and private-sector business initiatives, and knowledge translation and commercialization activities within hospital and university settings.

Currently, Dr. Linda Maxwell is Executive Director of the Biomedical Zone, a healthcare technology and business development programme and infrastructure (business incubator) she founded. The Biomedical Zone is a first-in-class, hospital-embedded business incubator for emerging health technology companies and partnership between St. Michael’s Hospital and Ryerson University.

Dr. Maxwell’s breadth of experience and scope of expertise is founded on over a decade and a half as an accomplished head and neck/facial plastic surgeon and patient advocate. In addition to her professional endeavors, Dr. Maxwell sits on several boards including the MedicAlert Foundation Canada, a registered charity dedicated to ensuring Canadians’ life-saving information is delivered to front-line medical workers during a health emergency.

In 2016, Dr. Maxwell was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN). Dr. Maxwell has earned a Bachelor’s degree with honors from Harvard University (Biology, cum laude), an M.D. from Yale University, and an M.B.A. from University of Oxford.

Beau Standish

CEO, 7D Surgical

Dr. Beau Standish has 13+ years of extensive experience in the commercialization of medical imaging technologies and is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of 7D Surgical. He provides executive and financial leadership, has recruited key team members and oversees the day-to-day operations of the organization. He has led the private financing/leveraged funding opportunities for 7D Surgical in addition to the development of strategic collaborations and partnerships. Dr. Standish has defined 7D Surgical’s go-to-market corporate strategy including product development, pricing, positioning, messaging, branding and communication roll-out, while also being intimately involved in the commercialization of additional product applications, intellectual property filings and new business development opportunities. Dr. Standish was previously employed at a successful high-tech parallel transceiver company, Xanoptix Inc. (USA) and was previously an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ryerson University in Toronto Canada. He is a professional engineer and holds a PhD in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto, where he was a Terry Fox Scholar of the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

Aman Thind

CTO and Co-Founder, Conavi Medical

Aman Thind is the Chief Technology Officer and a Co-Founder of Conavi Medical Inc. He has over 10 years of experience in the development and commercialization of medical technologies, with a focus on image guidance for minimally invasive procedures. He provides technical leadership as well as managing day-to-day operations at the company, and has played a key role in developing a multidisciplinary team covering Product Development, Quality and Regulatory, Manufacturing and Sales and Marketing. He holds a PhD in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto, specializing in ultrasound systems for imaging and therapy. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

3:10-3:15 – Closing Remarks

David Jaffray

Executive Vice President, Technology & Innovation, UHN; Director, Techna Institute, UHN

Dr. David Jaffray graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.Sc. in Physics (Hons.) in 1988 and completed his Ph.D. in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Western Ontario in 1994. Following graduation, he took a position as Staff Physicist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at William Beaumont Hospital in Michigan where he instigated a direction of research that garnered funding from the NIH and from congressionally-directed funding programs. Dr. Jaffray became a Board Certified Medical Physicist (ABMP – Radiation Oncology) in 1999. In 2002, Dr. Jaffray joined the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto as Head of Radiation Physics and a Senior Scientist within the Ontario Cancer Institute. David holds the Fidani Chair in Radiation Physics, is the Director of the Techna Institute for Health Technology Development at the University Health Network and recently became the Executive Vice President of Technology and Innovation at the University Health Network. He is a Professor in the Departments of Radiation Oncology, Medical Biophysics, and Institute for Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. His primary area of research has been in the development and application of image-guided therapy. He has over 5 patents issued and several licensed, including, kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography for image-guided radiation therapy. Dr. Jaffray has >200 peer-reviewed publications in the field, >100 invited lectures, and holds numerous peer-review and industry sponsored research grants. He sits on numerous scientific and research boards and has contributed to the NIH and CIHR grant review process for several years. He is an active member of the AAPM and teaching role in workshops and annual meeting of the American Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). He has an active interest in commercialization and led the development of a variety of commercial products including software and hardware for QA and the development of small animal irradiator systems for basic research. He has successfully supervised over 20 graduate students and fellows.

Dr. Jaffray has won each of the major prizes in the field of the medical physics, including, the Sylvia Sorkin-Greenfield Award, The Farrington Daniels Award, and the Sylvia Fedoruk Award. In 2004, Dr. Jaffray was identified as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and was recognized by The University of Western Ontario with their Young Alumni Award in 2004. His current research interests focus on the development of imaging technologies and methods with a focus on image-guided interventions, including radiation therapy, drug delivery, and surgery.

3:15-6:30 -Networking Session: Reception Hosted and Sponsored by JLabs