2021 Emerging Leader of the Year: Shy Amlani

Shy Amlani, Provincial Director, Virtual Health – Alberta Health Services 

Shy has been a true inspiration to work alongside during this time of rapid innovation and growth.

Ms. Amlani joined the Virtual Health program within Alberta Health Services (AHS) in April 2018. In three short years, she conceptualized and developed a province-wide virtual health program. When the pandemic hit, AHS Virtual Health was ready for rapid and large scale adoption of virtual care delivery across the province. Over the last year, Ms. Amlani has developed a province-wide strategy for the largest health organization in Canada. Alberta Health Services provides care to 4.4 million people living in Alberta (as well as some patients residing in Saskatchewan and British Columbia) and utilizes the services of 10,900 physicians and over 100,000 direct employees.

Ms. Amlani’s strategy for rapid and wide-spread adoption of virtual care delivery involves the coordination of the many province-wide stakeholders and services to allow for scale and spread of successful and replicable programs. The Alberta strategy for virtual care delivery involves seamless integration of virtual health into care delivery, harmonizing the work of many to bring innovation to fruition (from IT to Communications) and rigorous evaluation of programs as they develop to ensure cost-effectiveness, value for patients and sustainability for providers.

Ms. Amlani brought leaders in the field together to develop this strategy and to gain wide-spread buy-in and is now in the stages of executing this plan at the level of zone-specific deliverables. Ms. Amlani was able to do this amidst the turmoil of COVID and a financial downturn. She has led an incredibly motivated team towards a shared vision of improving accessibility and patient-centred care for both during the pandemic and into the future. Ms. Amlani’s work has been so widely recognized across the province that her name has become synonymous with virtual care delivery. Her tireless efforts to improve care delivery have been recognized by those at the frontline and those in senior leadership.

It has truly been a pleasure to work alongside Ms. Amlani during this time of opportunity and excitement. Apart from being hard working and fastidious, Ms. Amlani is a compassionate, kind and a collaborative member of the team, always seeking opportunity to share and learn from others.

Learn more about the Digital Health Canada Awards here.