Director, Hospital Data Transformation, Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)
Vice President of Strategy, Digital Health and Chief Digital Officer, North York General Hospital
Director, eHealth Strategy and Governance, Alberta's Primary and Preventative Health Services
Principal, Grafton Healthcare IT Consulting Inc./Technical Project Director, Symbio Project (New Brunswick)
Anne is a digital health and data strategy leader who serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Digital Health Canada, as
well as the co-chair of Ontario’s chapter of Networked Health. She is an adjunct professor in the MHI program at the University of
Toronto. Anne holds an MHSc degree, as well as CPHIMS-CA and CIPP/CA designations.
Duska Kennedy is the Vice President of Strategy, Digital Health and Chief Digital Officer at North York General Hospital. Duska is a national health system leader and is focused on spearheading innovative digital technology solutions that transform the way we work and provide a connected care experience to the communities she serves. She is deeply passionate about exploring innovative ways to transform the patient and provider experience. She has a strong background in healthcare strategy and operations management with over 20 years of health care information management and information technology (IM/IT) experience. Before joining NYGH, Duska held several senior leadership roles at the University Health Network. She has developed significant expertise in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement and team building. She also brings detailed experience analyzing strategic options, recommending strategies for implementing change and acting as a catalyst to help put these strategies into action. She has a rich experience of designing and implementing digital health solutions such patient portals, health information systems, digital patient identity, remote patient monitoring and most recently artificial intelligence capabilities across a variety of health sectors. Duska has managed numerous large-scale health care systems implementations, led strategic planning efforts in the acute, community and oncology sectors and held operational leadership roles at several healthcare organizations. Duska holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts, Honors Business Administration from The Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.
Chris Carvalho is an experienced entrepreneur and senior leader that combines strategic thinking with an action-oriented approach to drive large change and transformation initiatives. Chris is a certified project management professional (PMP) with a proven track record of successfully delivering projects and has led numerous IT system implementations (50+) in various clinical settings across Western Canada. Chris has spent the majority of his career in the healthcare sector working with both public and private organizations and has built significant expertise on the implementation of Electronic Medical Records, Hospital Information Systems, and other digital health technologies. Chris is an active member in his local health innovation community and has a strong interest in identifying and validating how emerging digital health solutions can be successfully integrated into our current healthcare system. Chris has also worked as a mentor, advisor, and investor within many health start-up, scale-up and established businesses and organizations and is known as a community builder dedicated to advancing the health innovation ecosystem through commercialization efforts.
Shannon O’Connor has over a decade of experience in digital health, health data analytics and data standards development. An enthusiastic, forward-thinking leader, Shannon is passionate about using data standards to advance interoperability and improve health equity. As the Manager of Data Standards at the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), she works collaboratively with federal, provincial and territorial partners to develop and advance digital health standards across Canada. Shannon thrives on making connections and establishing partnerships and has worked closely with Canadian and international health system leaders. Her ability to connect and work with a wide range of stakeholders has allowed her to effectively lead several significant projects and initiatives, including the Canadian Core Data for Interoperability (CACDI) and the development of the first pan-Canadian gender, sex and sexual orientation standards. Shannon is a voting member of the HL7 Canada Council and co-chair of Canada Health Infoway’s Sex and Gender Working Group. She is a seasoned public speaker and has presented at numerous conferences and industry events, including HIMSS, eHealth and Canada Health Infoway’s Partnership conference. Shannon has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Queen’s University and a Master of Arts (Honours) degree from the University of Ottawa and is a certified Prosci Change Practitioner. She is the proud mother of two young children and in her spare time, loves to spend as much time as possible outside, enjoying all that Canada has to offer.
Dr. Samina Raza Abidi is Professor of Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University, Halifax. She holds a PhD in Health Informatics, Masters in Information Technology, and is a physician holding a MD. S he has been involved with digital health academics, innovation, advocacy and mentorship for over 15 years. She is the co-director of the NICHE (kNowledge Intensive Computing for Healthcare Enterprises) research group, and her research program is titled “Digital Lifetime Healthcare” that involves investigations in health knowledge management using AI methods for clinical decision support, patient empowerment and health information systems. She is the recipient of the Women Leadership award by Digital Health Canada, Best paper awards, Steven Huesing Award by COACH, Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral Award and is the Member of the College of Reviewers (CIHR). She has successfully blended her medical training with digital health to lead the design and development of multiple innovative point-of-care and point-of-need digital health solutions for clinical decision support targeting chronic disease management, virtual care by remote patient monitoring, patient empowerment through digital therapeutics and behaviour modification plans, public health by addressing psychosocial determinants of health and risk factors for chronic diseases. As an researcher and innovator, her digital health works have been presented both within Canada and globally. She is experienced in digital transformation activities in the healthcare space, and is globally involved in digital health adoption activities at the academic, technical, advocacy and policy making levels. She is an experienced digital health academic, innovator and practitioner.
Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia is the founder of and visionary force behind Amplify Care, where his extensive experience in primary care as a practicing family doctor and deep expertise in informatics have shaped the organization’s bold approach to digital health. As a leading force in the field, Dr. Alarakhia is dedicated to transforming the healthcare system by driving ground-breaking, patient-centered solutions that reduce administrative burden for clinicians and improve patient outcomes. His passion for using evidence and championing co-design with clinicians and patients have made him a transformative player, continually pushing boundaries to ensure Amplify remains at the forefront of the digital health innovation.
A purpose-driven healthcare leader with over 30 years of experience, Lyn Baluyot has held clinical, operational, consulting and executive roles across Canada, the U.S., and Australia. As President & CEO of TransForm Shared Services Organization, she leads with vision and compassion—driving performance through excellence, building trust through integrity, and fostering strong, respectful relationships grounded in empathy and care.
Her leadership has shaped some of Ontario’s most complex digital health transformations, including the successful implementation of Oracle Health across four hospitals during a global pandemic, as well as the recovery of following a major cyberattack, alongside the rapid implementation of Oracle Health at a fifth hospital. She co-leads the Ontario Oracle Health Collaborative, representing 63 hospitals, and champions provincial initiatives advancing interoperability, sustainability, and innovation.
With deep expertise in strategic planning, clinical operations, complex governance, and enterprise-wide transformation, she empowers teams, elevates standards, and creates meaningful impact for organizations and the communities they serve.
Sophia Hoosein is the Director of eHealth Strategy and Governance with Alberta’s Primary and Preventative Health Services ministry. Prior to this, Sophia worked on Alberta Health’s Consumer eHealth team as the MyHealth Records (MHR) Program Manager where she managed complex projects and engagements related to MHR program implementations, communications, change management, stakeholder engagement, UX, and user support. Sophia is also proud to have worked on the initial launch and operationalization of MHR, which, in its early days, served as Alberta’s provincial personal health record program and was the first jurisdictional program of its kind in Canada.
Ronan is a caring, high-energy, agile, and problem-solving healthcare and public sector leader having undertaken a wide range of senior executive level strategic, policy and operational roles combined with Big 4 consulting experience in Canada and the UK. He uniquely combines extensive experience of transforming health systems, digital transformation and redesigning care models – both strategic planning and driving implementation – with detailed operational leadership experience of large and complex healthcare organizations. Ronan has an MSc (Distinction – 1st), in Health Care Management from the University of Birmingham (UK).
Andrew is a registered nurse and healthcare IT executive whose career spans clinical practice, provincial CIO leadership at Nova Scotia Health, national roles with Oracle Health and Interlace Health, and active CIS implementation — currently the Technical Project Director for a provincial CIS rollout in New Brunswick with Symbio. A holder of Digital Health Canada’s CPHIMS-CA certification and a CFHI EXTRA Fellow, Andrew brings deep implementation experience, executive governance credentials, and a clinical lens that is rare at the board level. He serves on the HIMSS Eastern Canada Chapter Board and is Principal of Grafton Healthcare IT Consulting Inc. Recognized with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award for pandemic-era di
