Details

Date: February 3
Time:
8:00 am - 7:00 pm CST

Venue

Delta Hotels Calgary Downtown
209 4th Avenue SE
Calgary, Alberta T2G 0C6 Canada

Organizers

MEMBER PRICE / NON-MEMBER PRICE: $297 / $376

Registration fees shown include 5% GST.

Sponsorship
To inquire about sponsoring this event, contact Dino Falvo.

Cancellation
Registration cancellations received before 5:00 PM PT on January 5, 2026, will be eligible for a full refund. Registration cancellations received after 5:00 PM PT on January 5, 2026, are non-refundable. An alternate attendee’s name may be substituted until February 2, 2026. Please request substitutions in writing to info@digitalhealthcanada.com. Any registration transferred from a member to a non-member will be adjusted to the non-member rate.

Professional Development
Earn 4.5 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for attending this event.

Digital Health Canada/ANHIX AB26

Name: Digital Health Canada/ANHIX AB26
Start: 2026-02-03T08:00:00-06:00
End: 2026-02-03T19:00:00-06:00
Location: Delta Hotels Calgary Downtown

Details

Date: February 3
Time:
8:00 am - 7:00 pm CST

Venue

Delta Hotels Calgary Downtown
209 4th Avenue SE
Calgary, Alberta T2G 0C6 Canada

Organizers

MEMBER PRICE / NON-MEMBER PRICE: $297 / $376

Digital Health Canada’s Alberta Region Conference, presented in partnership with ANHIX (Alberta Network for Health Information eXchangeSociety), attracts leaders, thinkers, senior executives, and individuals within the health space from Calgary and the surrounding area. Join us February 3, 2026 in the Glacier Room of the Delta Hotels Calgary Downtown for a day of informative sessions delivered by Alberta-based public and private sector representatives and multiple opportunities to network with your Alberta digital health peers.

Registration for Digital Health Canada and ANHIX Members is $297. Registration includes your ticket to the MeetUp in the Rocky Mountain Room immediately following the conference.

Tell others about the conference—download and post any of the promotional images below.

Schedule

8:00 a.m.–9:00 a.m.	Networking Breakfast + Registration Opens
9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.	Opening Remarks Chris Carvalho, Board President, Digital Health Canada Kevin Jones, Vice President Business Development and Customer Success, CANImmunize Shelagh Maloney, CEO, Digital Health Canada
9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.	Opening Keynote: Beyond the Fax: Digital Referrals in Alberta Alberta is modernizing the referral landscape by replacing manual faxes with a digital referral service that integrates directly with provider systems. The presentation reviews the challenge and the promise of implementing electronic referral and consult workflows that close the communication loop between primary care, specialists, and patients. Quinn Mah, Assistant Deputy Minister, Primary and Preventative Health Services Jill Robert, Executive Director, Referral Management, Primary Care Alberta Ron Shute, Medical Director, Informatics, Alberta Medical Association
10:25 a.m. – 11:10 a.m.	Bridging the Gap in Women’s Health Despite growing awareness, significant gaps remain in women’s health. This panel will explore how digital health innovations are helping close these gaps by improving access, driving equity, and enabling more personalized care. They will share insights, real-world examples, and what’s needed next to advance women’s health through digital solutions. Kate Ellis, Co-Founder, femtech W Dr. Colleen Norris, Professor and Associate Dean of Research, University of Alberta Carmen Wyton, Chair & Founder, Women’s Health Coalition of Canada
11:10 a.m. – 11:40 a.m.	Networking Break
11:40 a.m. – 12:25 p.m.	Leading Real-World Solutions For Patient-Centred Care (Sponsored by Health Cities) Explore how person-centred care is strengthened when solutions are co-developed with those who use and deliver care, and when digital health innovations are designed for real-world clinical and community settings. Through practical examples and lived experience, speakers will highlight what it takes to move from promising ideas to solutions that work in practice. Featuring perspectives from patients, innovators, healthcare providers, and clinicians, the symposium will examine how collaboration across roles can support more responsive, accessible, and effective care. Attendees will gain insight into how patient-centred approaches can be embedded into innovation, implementation, and care delivery. Steve Kovacic, Vice President & Chief Innovation Officer, The Good Samaritan Jeff MacKay, Vice President, Health Coalition Alberta Board of Directors Shauna Thome, Executive Director, Crowfoot Village Family Practice
12:25 p.m. -1:25 p.m.	Networking Lunch
1:25 p.m. - 2:10 p.m.	Practical Solutions to Real World Problems Digital health has the greatest impact when it tackles the everyday challenges clinicians, patients, and health systems face. This session highlights three digital health projects built to solve concrete, real-world problems. The speakers will walk through the issues they set out to address, the solution they implemented, the results they achieved, and the key insights gained throughout the process. Project One: Mind the Gap: Enhancing Continuity for Unattached Patients Through Digital Bridges Our transitions in care journey originally began when a Primary Care Network (PCN) identified a gap in informational continuity for family physicians following patient discharges from hospital. Over the years, processes have evolved in attempts to bridge this gap to better support continuity of care once a patient was discharged from the hospital back to their medical home, as well as for those who did not have a primary care provider. However, many of these processes were manual due to the inability for the various electronic systems to talk to each other. With the recent launch of Epic within Alberta Health Services, an opportunity was provided to explore electronic processes to better support informational continuity across the patient’s journey of care. This presentation will highlight the successes of collaborative innovation across healthcare organizations, to optimize technology enablers for the improvement of informational continuity from acute care to primary care for Albertans within the Calgary Corridor who do not have a primary care provider. Project Two: First Nations Community Paramedicine Service Many First Nations communities in Manitoba have limited access to ambulance services. A Manitoba First Nations community, with a population of approximately 10,300 people, has only one ambulance, which was removed from service each time a patient needed to be transported to the hospital. This reserve area from north to south is a 1.5-hour drive, which means the ambulance is unavailable for 4 hours each time it is on the road, leaving them without an ambulance for any critical event requiring transport. The project aimed to support and assist local paramedics who are physically with non-critical patients to connect virtually with the Medical Oﬃcer of the community. This way, the need to transport the patient back to the hospital to see the physician will be removed. Therefore, optimizing the resources and the healthcare professionals time and always doing what is best for the patients. The purpose of the study was to connect paramedics remotely in the community with the Community Medical Oﬃcer and measure the time required for a connection from the paramedics to Community Medical Oﬃcer. Data collection was done retrospectively based on telemedicine platform visits. Total visits between July 4, 2022 to June 26, 2023 = 119. Visits answered by Community Medical Oﬃcer = 115/119 (97%). Visits answered by other physicians on telemedicine service = 4/119 (3%). Average wait time to connect to the Community Medical Oﬃcer = 6.4min. Paramedics were able to quickly connect with the Community Medical Oﬃcer over many visits to either guide appropriate transfer or defer transfer. The implications would be more appropriate use of the ambulance service ensuring availability for critically ill patients potentially improving mortality and deferral of inappropriate transfers potentially leading to healthcare cost savings. Project Three: Linking Diabetes Care: An Integrated Digital Health Approach to Diabetes with First Nations in Alberta (LINK) LINK is an integrated virtual solution for improving access to high quality diabetes care in First Nations and Indigenous communities in rural Alberta. LINK consists of multiple overlapping components: A. Community-Specific Care – An Indigenous Liaison tailors engagement with communities, clinical flows, care coordination, and diabetes care specific to each community. B. Care Coordination – Care coordinators reach out to individuals before and after clinic encounters to help them reach their diabetes goals, and to help ensure that virtual visits are proactive and productive. C. Diabetes Care – High quality specialist diabetologist, dietician, and diabetes educator services will be provided. D. Virtual Delivery – The mode of delivery is virtual, allowing individuals to remain within their communities. The final evaluation study will determine the effectiveness of LINK on traditional diabetes targets like hemoglobin A1c, blood pressure, and cholesterol. It will also estimate the effectiveness of LINK on projected outcomes, like future risk of heart attack or stroke, as well as the use of acute health care resources, i.e.: emergency visits and hospitalizations. The overall aim is to produce evidence that will help sustain and roll out virtual diabetes care for underserved or vulnerable populations in hard-to-access regions of Alberta, which is an important part of health equity and accessibility. Annie Fong, Clinical Nurse Educator, Alberta Health Services Leanne Kiss, Program Manager – Service Delivery, Calgary and Area Primary Care Networks Darren Lau, Assistant Professor, University of Alberta Dr. Taft Micks, Chief Medical Officer, QDoc Inc. Dr. Norm Silver, CEO, QDoc Inc.
2:20 p.m. - 3:05 p.m.	Pan-Canadian approaches to addressing health workforce issues: Health Workforce Canada, Sean Chilton, Chief Executive Officer Canada’s health systems face growing workforce pressures. In this session, Sean Chilton will highlight what pan‑Canadian data reveals about the health workforce, and how Health Workforce Canada is supporting jurisdictions with shared evidence and insights to address these challenges. Sean Chilton, Chief Executive Officer, Health Workforce Canada Shelagh Maloney, CEO, Digital Health Canada (Moderator)
3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.	Networking Break
3:35 p.m. – 4:20 p.m.	Building Trusted Health Data Ecosystems: From Europe to the World How can health data truly work for patients, professionals, and innovation? From the European Health Data Space (EHDS) to the Netherlands’ Wegiz legislation, this keynote explores how interoperability, quality of care, and responsible data use come together—and why aligning data standards across borders is essential to unlock research, AI, and global digital health innovation. Monica Schagen, Counselor for Health, Welfare and Sport to Canada and the United States, Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport
4:20 p.m. – 4:35 p.m.	Digital Health Canada Strategy Focus Group Shelagh Maloney, CEO, Digital Health Canada
4:35 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.	Closing Remarks Shelagh Maloney, CEO, Digital Health Canada
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.	MeetUp Segue into snacks and socializing after the conference. Keep the important conversations flowing or join us after work and wind up the day over a snack and a beverage at the official conference MeetUp in the Rocky Mountain Room of the Delta Hotels Calgary Downtown. Conference attendees, your MeetUp registration fee is included in your conference ticket. Couldn’t make the conference? Join us at the MeetUp for $37 (includes snacks plus one drinks ticket). Register here

Speakers

Chris Carvalho

Board President, Digital Health Canada

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Kevin Jones

Vice President Business Development and Customer Success, CANImmunize

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Shelagh Maloney

CEO, Digital Health Canada

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Shelagh Maloney’s career has been defined by a passion for digital health and its transformative ability to improve the patient and provider experience. Prior to assuming the role of CEO, Digital Health Canada, Shelagh held national executive leadership roles in both the public and private sectors where she earned widespread recognition for her business development, relationship management, consensus-building, and communication skills.

A dedicated advocate for innovation and equity through digital health, Shelagh has shaped policy and practice through influential volunteer roles. She is currently Vice -Chair, Vision Loss Rehab Canada and has served as Vice Chair of SNOMED International, Board Chair of Digital Health Canada, and Board Director, Mississauga Halton Local Health Integration Network (LHIN). Shelagh holds a B.Sc . in Applied Health Sciences from the University of Waterloo and is a Certified Professional in Health Information & Management Systems (CPHIMS-CA).

In recognition of her contributions to the industry, Shelagh was an inaugural recipient of the Women Leaders in Digital Health in 2017 and was named a Digital Health Canada Fellow in 2023.

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Quinn Mah

Assistant Deputy Minister, Primary and Preventative Health Services

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Quinn serves in dual capacity within Primary and Preventative Health Services, as the Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Information Systems and the Chief Information Officer of Health for the province. He has over 25 years of experience in the health sector, including two decades at Alberta Health. In his current roles, he oversees a diverse portfolio spanning strategic direction and oversight of the provincial eHealth ecosystem. This includes the delivery and management of vital platforms including Alberta's Netcare – the province’s electronic health record system, and the innovative MyHealth Records tool, which facilitates secure access to personal health information for Albertans aged 14 and older.

He also exercises comprehensive oversight over critical areas of health information privacy and security, includingthe administration of the Health Information Act, alongside ensuring the support, efficient delivery, and seamless operations of Alberta Health’s extensive information systems infrastructure.

In the most recent past, Quinn served as the Executive Director of Information Management at Alberta Health, where he showcased exemplary leadership amidst the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. His notable contributions include spearheading pivotal pandemic-related IT initiatives, including the implementation ofABTraceTogether, the Alberta COVID Records QR code, and the highly effective Alberta Vaccine Booking System.

Quinn holds a BSc. in Computing Science and a Master of Public Health, both from the prestigious University ofAlberta. His academic qualifi cations distinctly showcase his expertise in the intersection of technology and publich ealth.

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Jill Robert

Executive Director, Referral Management, Primary Care Alberta

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Jill Robert, RN, MN, CHE, is a seasoned health system leader with deep expertise in clinical informatics, nursing, and system transformation. She assumed the role of Executive Director of Referral Management with PrimaryCare Alberta in May 2025. In her previous role as Senior Provincial Director of Alberta’s Surgery and Bone & Joint Health Strategic Clinical Networks, Jill led complex provincial portfolios in referral management, surgical quality, and musculoskeletal health. She is committed to people-centered care, advancing health system integration, and building learning-health-system capabilities. Jill and her family live in Calgary where they enjoy climbing, skiing and hanging out with their Bernese mountain dog.

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Ron Shute

Medical Director, Informatics, Alberta Medical Association

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Ron practices Family Medicine in Edmonton, AB. His clinical work is divided between an academic community practice, and a post-operative rehabilitation unit. In late 2025, Ron assumed the role of Medical Director, Informatics with the Alberta Medical Association (AMA)—after serving on the AMA’s Informatics Advisory Committee for five years. Ron is particularly interested in interoperability of systems from a pragmatic clinical perspective.

Ron volunteers medical services at backcountry camps and leads an annual Wilderness Medicine retreat for University of Alberta Family Medicine residents.

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Kate Ellis

Co-Founder, femtech W

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Kate Ellis is co-founder with femtech W, and the CEO and Founder of Bombus R&I. Kate brings to femtech W a passion for ecosystem building, grounded in her experience in applied health research, knowledge transfer, and strategic partnerships. Kate is passionate about supporting innovators in translating ideas into meaningful impact. As an ardent advocate for women’s and femme health, Kate approaches her work through a feminist lens and is driven by the potential of Canadian FemTech to transform lives globally. She is a seasoned strategist with experience collaborating across academia, industry, non-profits, government, and start-ups.

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Dr. Colleen Norris

Professor and Associate Dean of Research, University of Alberta

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Dr. Colleen Norris is a Professor and Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, registered nurse, holds the Cavarzan Chair in Women's Health Research for the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation, a member of the Women and Children's Health Research Institute, and is a well-respected expert in cardiovascular health. Additionally, Dr. Norris is a leading part of the Women’s Heart Health Research Collaborative, which partners with the CK Hui Heart Centre, Lois Hole Hospital for Women, and the Alberta Women’s Health Foundation to improve women’s cardiovascular care.

Dr. Norris focuses on how sex, gender impact women’s health throughout their entire life cycle, from perimenopause to post-reproductive. Her research explores how these factors influence conditions like cardiovascular disease and other health concerns.

Dr. Norris’s ground-breaking work continues to shine a spotlight on the complexities of women’s health and aims to create a more holistic and inclusive approach to clinical practice and policy.

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Carmen Wyton

Chair & Founder, Women’s Health Coalition of Canada

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CARMEN WYTON, is the principle of Ripple Enterprises, founder and current Chair of the Women’s Health Coalition of Canada. In this capacity,Carmen is currently leading a movement for establishment of Bill S-243, a National Framework for Women's Health. Carmen has more than 25 years experience working with non-profit organizations, government advisory councils, charities, and industry associations in multiple areas of the private and public sector. In addition to the Women’s Health Coalition, Carmen is an appointed member of the Alberta College of Pharmacy and a mentor for the Higher Landing Women Rising program. As the primary consultant with Ripple Enterprises she is currently serving private sector and non-profit clients in multiple areas of health, education, child and youth sports, community foundations and industrial associations.

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Steve Kovacic

Vice President & Chief Innovation Officer, The Good Samaritan

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Steve Kovacic | Futurist | CHE | B.Sc. | BEH (AD) | CPHI(C) | MBA | FCPHR | SHRM-SCP | SMP (Cand)

Steve Kovacic is a dynamic and accomplished executive leader with over 20 years of expertise in strategic planning, innovation, business development, change management, and human resources. Currently serving as the Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) at the Good Samaritan Society & Good Samaritan Canada, Steve leads critical organizational functions including Innovation, Market Housing, Information Management and Technology, Privacy, Analytics, Capital Management and Maintenance, and Mission, Ethics, Research, and Reconciliation.

Previously, Steve held the role of Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), overseeing a broad portfolio that included Human Resources and Employee Wellness. His leadership continues to drive transformative initiatives aimed at enhancing operational efficiency, improving employee experiences, and fostering innovation in senior care.

Steve is a recognized leader in healthcare innovation, leveraging technology and data-driven insights to enhance the quality of life for seniors while optimizing operational processes. With 15+ years managing a competitive family business in Western Canada’s energy sector and over 20 years in healthcare leadership, he seamlessly blends private and public sector expertise.

An advocate for excellence in senior care, Steve actively contributes to government and industry taskforces focused on IT solutions, health human resources, and senior care advancements. A sought-after presenter, he has shared his expertise at provincial and national conferences on topics ranging from technology and innovation to workforce and leadership. Additionally, Steve is known for his engaging communication style, frequently serving as a master of ceremonies for industry events.

Steve’s extensive qualifications include an MBA, post-graduate degrees in Environmental Health, and a Bachelor’s degree in Physiology and Pharmacology. He also holds certifications in Futurism, Health Leadership, Environmental Health, and Human Resources. In recognition of his contributions to the HR profession, Steve was awarded the prestigious Fellowship of CPHR.

Steve’s commitment to innovation and governance extends beyond his organization through leadership roles with CPHR Alberta and the Alberta Continuing Care Association, where he champions best practices in senior care, technology, and human resource strategies across Alberta and British Columbia.

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Jeff MacKay

Vice President, Health Coalition Alberta Board of Directors

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Jeff has been a patient his whole life and has the scars to prove it. In the process, he learned the importance and necessity of patient advocacy and experienced just how effective patient focused health care can be.

A transplanted bagpiper from the east coast, Jeff takes his triplets to the hike and play in the mountains every chance he gets. Professionally, Jeff enables team-based and patient-inclusive care with technology and privacy compliance support as the Director of Marketing at Brightsquid Secure Communications Corp. Working with providers, administrators, and patients throughout Alberta and beyond has given Jeff a unique understanding of the challenges faced by everyone involved.

The way the Health Coalition of Alberta represents a unified voice for common patient interest across a wide spectrum of experience and need is a cause Jeff believes can inspire improved care for all Albertans in the near-term and for generations to come. Jeff has been a member of the Health Coalition of Alberta since 2018.

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Shauna Thome

Executive Director, Crowfoot Village Family Practice

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MBA, Executive Director, Crowfoot Village Family Practice, Strategic Partnership Director, Social Impact Partners

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Annie Fong

Clinical Nurse Educator, Alberta Health Services

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Annie Fong is a Clinical Nurse Educator with the Safe Clinical Practice Program at Alberta Health Services. She holds a Master of Science in Healthcare Quality from Queen’s University and is a certified Prosci Change Practitioner. Annie and her team at Safe Clinical Practice Program advance safe, high-quality patient care through evidence-informed practices, education, technology adoption, and collaboration with patients, families, and healthcare partners. They lead initiatives in quality assurance, practice audits, and knowledge translation to support sustainable improvements in clinical care.

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Leanne Kiss

Program Manager – Service Delivery, Calgary and Area Primary Care Networks

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Lead and support PCN projects and partners portfolio, with internal projects and collaborating with external stakeholders to advance our service delivery model to support excellence in patient care. Lead our community engagement initiatives with our Community Advisor Group to involve patients in quality improvements to enhance our primary care services. Collaborate with Care Opinion, a moderated platform for patients to share their experiences in a safe anonymous space, which leads to quality improvements and meaningful change in the healthcare system.

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Darren Lau

Assistant Professor, University of Alberta

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Darren Lau, MD/PhD FRCPC, is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Alberta. As a general internal medicine physician, he sees individuals with complicated diabetes. He holds a $1.4 million PRIHS grant to implement and evaluate a virtual diabetes care clinic, in partnership with the Okaki Diabetes Virtual CareClinic, serving Indigenous individuals in rural and remote settings. He has research experience in administrative database analyses and continuous glucose monitoring trials.

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Dr. Taft Micks

Chief Medical Officer, QDoc Inc.

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Dr. Taft Micks is a family and emergency physician working in Brandon, Manitoba. His medical training has taken him to the University of Ottawa, Memorial University in Newfoundland, University of Manitoba, and Cardiff University in Wales. Along with Dr. Silver, he helped start QDoc which is Manitoba's leading virtual healthcare platform with the mission to ensure equal access to quality medical care of all Canadians regardless of their geographic location or socioeconomic status.

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Dr. Norm Silver

CEO, QDoc Inc.

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Dr. Norman Silver is a pediatric emergency physician and health-care innovator with a career dedicated to improving how care is delivered. Early in his career, he led practical, patient-centred initiatives in the emergency department, including nurse-initiated X-rays and early oral rehydration programs, significantly improving patient flow.

Beyond the ED, Dr. Silver has founded and led numerous programs, including a pediatric sedation service, a regional pediatric locum program for Western Manitoba, a pediatric minor injury clinc. Manitoba’s first non-public urgent care centre, a penicillin de-labelling clinic, and an appointment-based drive-up COVID-19 testing site.

He is currently the CEO and co-founder of QDoc, a real-time virtual care platform focused on providing high-quality medical care to all Canadians, regardless of geography or socioeconomic status. QDoc has helped over 250,000 patients access care in Manitoba. Dr. Silver continues to seek out creative ways to transform health care through innovation and technology.

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Sean Chilton

Chief Executive Officer, Health Workforce Canada

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Sean Chilton is a Registered Nurse and seasoned health executive with over three decades of progressive leadership across one of Canada’s largest and most complex health systems. Prior to joining Health Workforce Canada as CEO, he served as Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations with Alberta Health Services. Sean is known for driving transformational change, building high-performing teams, and delivering strategic results in dynamic, high-pressure environments.

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Monica Schagen

Counselor for Health, Welfare and Sport to Canada and the United States Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport

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As counselor for Health, Welfare and Sport Monica is the representative for the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to both the United States and Canada.
Assignments in this position include: contributing to the Dutch Global Health Strategy goals, bilateral engagements with the United States and Canada, as well as multilateral engagements in the United Nations, the World Bank and the PAHO. In addition, Monica oversees and coordinates all life, science and health activities done, developed and initiated by Dutch public and private stakeholders.

Monica has a background in the military service, serving in the Royal Netherlands Navy as a communication specialist. She studied Nursing at the University of Applied Science in Utrecht and worked as a registered nurse (RN) in the University Medical Centers of both Utrecht and Leiden. She obtained her Masters’ degree from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam in Health Economics, Policy and Law, and worked as a policy advisor in the department for Health Information Policy at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.

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