November 2011 Conference and Workshop – Bios of Speakers and Panelists

Daniel Z. Sands, MD, MPH

Danny Sands is senior medical informatics director and director for healthcare business transformation for Cisco, where he provides both internal and external health IT leadership and helps key customers with business and clinical transformation using IT. His prior position was chief medical officer for Zix Corporation, a leader in secure e-mail and e-prescribing, and before that he spent 13 years at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where he developed and implemented numerous systems to improve clinical care delivery and patient engagement.

He has earned degrees from Brown University, Ohio State University, Harvard School of Public Health, and trained at Boston City Hospital and Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital.  Dr. Sands currently holds an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School and maintains a primary care practice in which he makes extensive use of health IT.

Dr. Sands is the recipient of numerous health IT awards, has been elected to fellowship in both the American College of Physicians and the American College of Medical Informatics, and is a founder and president of the Society for Participatory Medicine.  In 2009 he was recognized by HealthLeaders Magazine as one of “20 People Who Make Healthcare Better.”

Doug Gosling

Doug Gosling, Patient Destiny Principal, is a full-time patient fighting terminal cancer.  In addition to his personal battles, he is a fierce proponent of patient rights, advocating aggressively for patients to be more involved in their personal health as well as planning and decision-making across all aspects of healthcare. Key to this is empowering patients by providing meaningful access and control over their personal health information. Doug is also an author, a blogger and an active healthcare volunteer. His book, The Wolf at my Door, is an intimate exploration of his personal experience with cancer and interactions with the healthcare system.  He started a blog www.talkingaboutcancer.com which dealt with the emotional impact of cancer and now blogs regularly at www.dyingdigitally.com which is an intimate journal of a dying man and includes musings on life, death and what might come after. You can also follow him on Twitter @douggosling.

Doug holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto, an MBA from York University, and has worked in information technology for over 25 years. He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Canadian Association for People-Centred Health (www.capch.ca), and provides advice and guidance to a number of healthcare institutions and organizations.

Edward M. Brown, MD

Dr. Ed Brown is a founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), one of the largest and most active integrated telemedicine networks in the world.  Under his leadership, OTN supports the delivery of care to more than 135,000 patients annually and access to health professional education to more than 360,000 learners at more than 1200 sites.

Dr. Brown has won numerous awards for his work in telemedicine and is currently Vice-President of the American Telemedicine Association.

An emergency physician who studied mathematics and engineering before embarking on his medical career, Dr. Brown is a passionate advocate for the advancement of telemedicine as an important tool to improve access to care, quality of care and the sustainability of health care systems.

Kevin J. Leonard, MBA, PhD, CMA

• Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (HPME), Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
• Founder/Executive Director, Patient Destiny (www.patientdestiny.com)
• Executive Director of the IMPROVE IT Institute – Indices Measuring Performance Relating Outcomes, Value and Expenditure from Information Technology
• Research Scientist with the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, University Health Network.

Kevin Leonard received his PhD from the Joint Doctoral Program in Montreal where he specialized in Statistics and Information Systems Theory for Business. He has two primary areas of research: (i) the implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) along with researching issues pertaining to the development and implementation of patient-focused information technology (Personal Health Records or PHRs); (ii) the creation and implementation of metrics for performance measurement of the Information Technology (IT) investment within healthcare.

Kevin has Crohn’s disease and has had frequent and extensive interactions with the healthcare system. He is a strong believer in patient empowerment and the critical role patients play in deciding about their care in consultation and collaboration with their health providers. Through Patient Destiny, Kevin is working to expand the voice of the consumer in healthcare – the patient voice.

John Schram

John Schram joined the Board of Directors for We Care Health Services in March 1996 and subsequently assumed the role of President and CEO of We Care in 1999. Prior to joining We Care on a full-time basis, John held a number of senior executive positions in the publishing industry, both in Canada and in the United States. Throughout his tenure at We Care, John has strived to bring the concerns and issues of the home health care sector into the forefront for governments across the country. He has also worked intently to expand the awareness of home care for private and third party payor sources. John championed We Care’s drive to accreditation with Accreditation Canada in 2000, and now serves on its Board. He has been a board member of the Canadian Home Care Association (CHCA) since 2007. In November 2010, he was elected President of CHCA.  John holds an Honours Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Laurie Poole, RN, BScN, MHSA

Laurie Poole is the Vice-President, Telemedicine Solutions at the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN). A strong advocate for the use of information, communications and technology in health care, Laurie has worked in the field of telehealth for 14 years and has provided leadership and oversight for a number of innovative telehealth programs in Canada. Currently, she is leading OTN’s telehomecare program which is designed to support patients with chronic diseases through the use of technology, health coaching, and self-management.

A registered nurse with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and a Master’s Degree in Health Services Administration, Laurie is also the Past President of the Canadian Society of Telehealth (CST).  She is a recognized speaker and has presented at a number of national and international conferences and workshops.

Nancy Dudgeon

Nancy Dudgeon is a patient, a spouse and caregiver for two elderly parents, and a long-time user of MyChart™.

Nancy is a retired business and information technology executive whose career has centred around strategic-enablement of organizations through its people, information, and processes. Since retirement she has studied both Canadian and international health systems and advocates for client-centric integration across the care continuum which fosters patient self-management and facilitates effective caregiver support.

Nancy Lefebre, RN, BScN, MScN, CHE, EXTRA Fellow, FCCHSE

Nancy Lefebre is Chief Clinical Executive and Vice President, Knowledge & Practice who is leading the creation and transfer of wisdom throughout Saint Elizabeth Health Care, positioning the organization to become a knowledge leader in health care. Nancy is one of the first nursing leaders in Canada to complete the Executive Training for Research Application (EXTRA) Fellowship program and is now leading the integration of evidence into management decision making throughout the organization. As the chief clinical executive, Nancy is passionate about creating a healthy work environment that enables academic practice and advances quality care for all.  Nancy has more than 25 years of experience in the North American health care sector, with a focus on community care, from front-line practice to management, as well as the development of new business, research and clinical leadership.

Sarina Cheng

Sarina Cheng is the Director of eHealth Strategies & Operations, Information and Telecommunication Services, Library Services, Health Data Resources and Patient Registration at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.  As a member of the IS/IT senior management team, Sarina is responsible for support services, operations and eHealth strategies and ensuring corporate goals and broader eHealth visioning are aligned.

Sarina has over 15 years experience in the health care sector. While at Sunnybrook, a 2006 eHealth innovation strategy was the launch of MyChart™, a personal electronic health record (EHR) management system designed to assist patients and families manage personal health information. The program helps to improve continuity of care processes which significantly enhances the participation of the health consumer in the development of EHRs.

Prior to joining Sunnybrook, Sarina came from Cancer Care Ontario where she was responsible for stakeholder engagement, implementation and the deployment strategy for a key provincial program.

Sholom Glouberman

Sholom Glouberman is President of the Patients’ Association of Canada. He is also Philosopher in Residence at the Kunin Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit of Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto. He gained much of his interest in the health field, first caring for his dying father and then as a planner in the trenches at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal and the King’s Fund in London, England. He has been an advisor to senior management and clinicians at major teaching hospitals in Canada and the UK including among others the McGill University Health Centre, the Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust, and many others across Canada, the UK and Europe. He has designed and directed innovative management programs at the King’s Fund in England and at McGill University in Montreal.

Sholom has a BA from McGill and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University. For the past 25 years he has applied philosophical methods and conceptual analysis to organizations and systems. He has focused increasingly on the area of health as the single most challenging and little-charted frontier. He has worked in England, France, Germany, Holland, Romania and Spain in Europe, throughout North America and in Australia. His publications have been in the areas of complex health systems, health in cities, health care reform and reconnecting to care.

Sholom became a patient when he underwent a major surgical procedure in 2005 and since then has recognized the need to enhance the patient voice in health care. His latest book My Operation interweaves his own experience of a surgical procedure with the detailed medical record. It is a graphic example of the wide disparity between the patient experience and institutional concerns that led him to found Patients’ Association of Canada. To learn more go to www.patientsassociation.ca and if you believe that patients should have more of a voice in health you can join us online.

Susan Anderson

Susan Anderson is the Executive Director of Electronic Health Record Delivery Services for Alberta Health and Wellness.   Susan oversees Alberta Netcare EHR initiatives, Electronic Medical Record Program and Alberta’s Personal Health Portal Program. Susan has been working within the Ministry for the last three years. Previously, she has worked in both public and private sector organizations with health informatics focus in North America.

Ted Ball

Ted Ball is a partner in Quantum Transformation Technologies, a consulting firm specializing in building the internal capacity of organizations to redesign and transform themselves using the systems-thinking-based tools and processes developed by Quantum and its strategic partners, Quantum Innovations of Austin, Texas, and Clearpath of Seattle, Washington.

Ted is well-known in the Canadian healthcare system for his thought-provoking essays on organizational transformation, leadership, governance, balanced scorecarding and the design of complex adaptive systems.

For the past twenty years Ted has worked on leading-edge knowledge product development teams to create tools and processes that liberate the knowledge and wisdom of frontline workers to redesign their systems, structures and processes to improve quality, efficiency and to enhance the patient experience. These tools combine the art and science of organizational alignment, leveraged strategic thinking and story-boarding.

Ted has worked as a speech writer, policy advisor and Chief-of-Staff to Ontario Ministers of Health from all three political parties. He has operated as a transformation coach to CEOs of hospitals, CCAC’s, community services and Think Tanks as well as a facilitator for high performance teams developing strategy, creating knowledge products, shifting corporate culture, designing new governance processes and reconfiguring whole service delivery systems.

Ted was recently appointed by the Government of Ontario as a “governance expert” to establish the governance structure incorporating York Central Hospital and the Vaughan Health Campus of Care. He and Ken Moore of Quantum Innovations facilitated the Board and Senior Management Team at North York General Hospital to create the first Balanced Governance Scorecard at a Canadian hospital.

Most recently, Ted has been an innovator in the field of experience design – methods and processes created to enhance and dramatically improve the patient experience by mobilizing the knowledge and wisdom of front-line healthcare service providers.

Warren J. Winkelman, MD, MBA, PhD, FRCPC

Dr. Warren Winkelman is an author, patient, physician, medical advisor, and research consultant.  A Royal College and American board certified dermatologist, he was awarded a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) fellowship focusing on the hidden power structures existing between healthcare institutions and patients living with chronic skin disease in the present age of information technology. Dr Winkelman is a graduate of the University of Toronto, earning a PhD in eHealth under the supervision of Professor Kevin Leonard. He has written numerous scientific publications and creative works, and is wellness expert for several global virtual communities, including www.sagereflections.net.

Wendy Graham, MD, CCFP, FCFP

Dr. Wendy Graham is CEO of the newly-founded Company  Mihealth  Global Systems Inc.  at  www.mihealth.com.

Dr. Graham is the Founder of The Association of Family Health Teams and the past Medical Director and Lead Physician with North Bay’s Blue Sky Family Health Team. She is an influential physician in primary care reform and collaborative care models for Canada, publishing and speaking on patient healthcare reform including addressing 60 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) gathered at the UN. Dr Graham is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards from the College of Family Physicians of Canada, Canadian Medical Association, and the Ontario Medical Association. Past memberships have included the Institute of Optimizing Patient Outcomes Board, the Canadian Council for Integrated Health Care, and Ontario Medical Association Board of Directors. Presently, she is a member of the Local Integrated Health Network ALC Committee, eHealth Ontario. Dr. Graham also acts in a consulting capacity to several healthcare technology companies, including the Board of Directors of Pharmatrust and presently holds an Assistant Professorship at Queen’s University.