Recipients of AMS Healthcare grants announced

TORONTO – AMS Healthcare is delighted to introduce the 2025 recipients of its Compassion and AI Grants. Now in its sixth year, this program has funded nearly 40 groundbreaking projects, supporting teams of scientists and innovators who are reimagining how technology can serve healthcare’s compassionate purpose.

By investing in research, knowledge exchange, and spread and scale activities, the program is helping to build a national network of scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of compassion and AI.

“These new recipients embody the creativity and commitment needed to shape the future of Canadian healthcare,” said Helen Angus (pictured), CEO of AMS Healthcare. “As they join our continually growing community of over 150 fellows, chairs, and grant holders, their work will deepen our collective ability to deliver care that is both technologically advanced and profoundly human.”

Grant recipients:

Wenonah Campbell, MSc, PhD
Scientist, Associate Professor, Scientist, McMaster University
Fostering compassion in AI-assisted clinical documentation: A mixed methods investigation of the role of critical reflection.

Lovisa Cheung, PT, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, McMaster University ; Registered Physical Therapist, Hamilton Health Sciences
Exploring compassionate telerehabilitation delivery for adults with spinal cord injury.

Azza Eissa, MD, PhD
Clinician Scientist, Primary Care, Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners
Engaging in deliberative dialogue to co-design a digital technology to facilitate serious illness conversations and advanced care planning with racialized populations in primary care.

Ahmed Hassan, MD, MPH
Psychiatrist and Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
Leveraging technology to foster self-compassion and community support for Canadian Muslim youth mental health.

Celia Laur, PhD, MSc
Scientist, Women’s College Hospital
Scaling with compassion: Exploring patient partner’s perspectives on sustaining compassionate care while scaling AI and digital health innovations.

Marta Maslej, PhD
Staff Scientist, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Prompting compassion: Mitigating stigmatizing language related to mental illness with generative AI.

Karen Okrainec, MD, MSc
General Internist, Principal Investigator, Clinician Scientist, University Health Network
Harnessing AI for compassionate care: Identifying and supporting patients with social determinants and medical complexity.

Quynh Pham,PhD
Scientific Director and Scientist, Centre for Digital Therapeutics, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network
Supporting the breast cancer journey through co-creation of a compassionate nurse-led digital program.

Kieran Quinn, MD, PhD
General Internal Medicine and Palliative Care Clinician-Scientist, Sinai Health ; Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto
Facilitating code status companion – using AI to support compassionate decision – making in end-of-life care.

AMS Healthcare is a Canadian charitable organization that was created 85 years ago to catalyze change in healthcare. It has impacted healthcare through the introduction of new ideas into the system, particularly focused on the responsibility of providers and healthcare organizations to meet emerging societal needs. Since 2012, AMS Healthcare has focused its vision on the concept of compassionate care: supporting healthcare providers, educators, policy makers and system leaders in anticipating, teaching, and instilling a foundation of compassion at the heart of our health system. This is based on the premise that health professionals provide the best care when they can balance human compassion and technical expertise.