Dr. Quynh Pham, Director and Principal Investigator, Centre for Digital Therapeutics
The sincerity with which Dr. Pham leads her staff is an innate reflection of the human-centred values that she holds as a woman, mentor, colleague, and leader. We, at the Centre for Digital Therapeutics are hopeful and optimistic in our nomination of Dr. Pham, in support of and inspired by her relentless efforts in driving forward human-centred design that create measurable and meaningful impact in the lives of patients and the people and systems that care for them. As Dr. Pham continues to catapult our team and the world of digital therapeutics towards a future that is reflective of the health and social needs of all Canadians, we are proud to be a part of her journey in creating transformative change in the world of digital health and beyond.
Dr. Quynh Pham is the Director of Evaluation and Research at Stepped Care Solutions (SCS), where she conducts the federal evaluation of mental health and addictions programs across Canada. Concurrently, Dr. Pham heads the Centre for Digital Therapeutics (CDTx) as the Director and Principal Investigator, leading a team of 45 transdisciplinary staff driving digital therapeutics (DTx) forward for chronic disease management including cancer survivorship, heart failure, asthma and COPD, diabetes, and juvenile arthritis. As a health services researcher with a focus on advancing culturally compassionate digital health to support equitable outcomes for diverse communities, Dr. Pham seeks to build and advance evidence-based models of care that bridge the digital divide and reflect the diverse health needs of all Canadians. For this, she was recognized through an AMS Fellowship in Compassion and Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Pham is also an Assistant Professor and Faculty Lead at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto and Adjunct Professor at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. In these roles, she mentors the next generation of student leaders into the future of digital health through teaching and sharing her expertise in health services research, digital health outcomes, and evaluation.
Dr. Pham’s leadership of the CDTx pushes boundaries in care to build novel digital therapeutics for chronic disease management through cross-cutting research and development. Dr. Pham’s 7+ year rise through multiple roles and increasing responsibility fostered collaborations to adapt the work of her team to the evolving landscapes of eHealth, mHealth, and virtual care.
She really is a rock-star. And she is human. True to her exceptional form, Dr. Pham spun her own personal challenges with stepping into a Director position with the Centre to rapidly evolve and grow as a human and leader. Three lessons we have witnessed she learned are: 1. True collaborative leadership means we must lean on each other, and become comfortable relinquishing a degree of control. 2. In the constant battle to overcome perfectionism, striving for excellence maintains high quality standards while allowing for nimble flexibility. 3. Exposure to new ways of thinking/doing (e.g., SCS) are essential for long-term sustainable growth. Through her evolution, it exemplified the importance of building holistically strong environments within our ecosystem and through the people our products touch. Dr. Pham has thus guided strategic priorities of equitable outcomes for patients, families, and stakeholders.