Digital Health Canada announces award winners

TORONTO – The winners of the annual Digital Health Canada Awards were announced during the e-Health 2023 Conference and Tradeshow held in Toronto, May 28 – 30. The e-Health event is co-hosted each year by Canada Health Infoway, Canadian Institute for Health Information, and Digital Health Canada.

The awards are offered annually in six categories – Digital Health Executive of the Year; Digital Health Leader of the Year; Clinical Innovator of the Year; Community Care Leader of the Year; Emerging Leader of the Year; and StartUp Innovator of the Year – and the Steven Huesing Scholarship.

And this year’s winners are …

Digital Health Executive of the Year recognizes up to three individual executives (representing director level and up) whose outstanding contributions as a leader have helped advance digital health or virtual health in Canada. Digital Health Executive of the Year:

• Adrian Schauer, CEO, AlayaCare
• Timothy R. Murphy, vice president, Health, Alberta Innovates
• Kevin Jones, senior vice president – Canada, Strata Health Solutions

Digital Health Leader of the Year recognizes up to three individual leaders (non-executive leader within their department or organization) whose outstanding ongoing contributions have helped advance digital health or virtual health in Canada. Digital Health Leader of the Year:

• Michael Tatto, executive director Digital Health Strategy and Enterprise Architecture, Provincial Health Services Authority
• Dr. Manal Kleib, associate professor, University of Alberta
• Dr. Fred Melindy, director, eDOCSNL

Clinical Innovator of the Year recognizes up to three individual clinical innovators who have shown outstanding leadership in Canada in advancing the use of digital health or virtual health in clinical practice, resulting in improved provider and patient experiences and outcomes. Clinical Innovator of the Year:

• Dr. Mark Nazemi, senior manager, Clinical Solutions & Innovation, Thrive Health
• Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia, managing director, eHealth Centre of Excellence
• Dr. Abigail Ortiz, staff psychiatrist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

Community Care Leader of the Year recognizes up to three individual community care leaders who have shown outstanding leadership in Canada in advancing the use of digital health or virtual health, resulting in improved provider and patient experiences and outcomes. Community Care Leader of the Year:

• Wendy Wilson, project manager – Digital Health, TransForm Shared Health Organization
• David Helliwell, co-founder & executive chair, Thrive Health

Emerging Leader of the Year recognizes up to three individual emerging leaders who are in the first seven years of their digital health or virtual health career and have clearly demonstrated leadership and achieved early success. Emerging Leader of the Year:

• Nancy Nguyen, project manager, Outpatient Digital Experience Project, Providence Health Care
• Dr. Tarun Katapally, Canada research chair in Digital Health for Equity, Western University
• Mobeen Lalani, account executive, Locke Bio

Start-up Innovator of the Year recognizes up to three start-up innovators who have clearly demonstrated leadership and innovation and whose outstanding contribution has advanced digital health or virtual health in Canada. Start-up Innovator of the Year:

• Ahad Bandealy, chief digital officer, Founder of Get A-Head Powered by Keel Mind
• Jason Daly, CTO, GoAutomate Inc
• Oren Sebag, chief executive officer, Avvy Health

The Steven Huesing Scholarship honours the contributions our founding president made to the industry. The scholarship was established in 1999 to reflect the spirit, dedication and innovation that our founding president brought to the field of health informatics.

• Nadia Green, University of Alberta
• Ahmad Haroon Syed, University of Regina

Adjudicators
Digital Health Canada Award nominations are reviewed by a volunteer team of adjudicators. Nominations are first assessed for eligibility and then ranked using an objective scoring system based on established nomination criteria. Thank you to the 2022 volunteer adjudicators: Chris Carvalho, Carveira Group Consulting Inc.; Mary Deren, Saskatchewan Health Authority; Maria French, Terra Nova Transcription Inc.; Darren Hay, Medioh (Hypertec); Emily Hogan, KPMG MSLP; Amanda McKinley, Alberta Health Services; Mary-Eileen MacPhail, Nova Scotia Health; and Abbas Zavar, OntarioMD.

Please contact communications@digitalhealthcanada.com for more information.