Archived events
Reimagining Healthcare
December 10, 2024 @ Vancouver, BC
Media partners
Hosting sponsors
Meet the panelists
-
As CEO of DIGITAL, Sue Paish leads a portfolio of digital innovation and capacity-building initiatives that in its first five years has accelerated the production of over 630 Canadian IP assets and patents, over $1.2 billion in follow-on investment in Canadian companies, created over 11,000 learning and development placements and is on track to drive $4.2 billion in incremental revenue for Canadian companies over the next five years. Through a collaborative innovation model that brings together industry, academic, community and public sector partners DIGITAL accelerates the development and deployment of technologies across the health, natural resources and skilling sectors to solve some of industry’s and society’s biggest challenges while providing growth opportunities for industry partners.
Prior to leading DIGITAL, Sue held leadership roles in major Canadian organizations including as CEO of LifeLabs, CEO of Pharmasave, and Managing Partner of Fasken Vancouver where she spearheaded the merger of three Canadian law firms into a national leading firm across three continents.
Sue has received recognitions for her community and professional contributions including the Order of British Columbia, King’s Counsel, Honorary Doctorate of Technology, Influential Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award, YWCA Women of Distinction, and the Peter Lougheed Award for Public Policy. Sue’s greatest joy is spending time in Canada’s wilderness with her husband, daughters and granddaughters.
-
As President and Chief Executive Officer, Suzanne Gill leads Genome BC in applying the power of genomics in ways that better the lives of all British Columbians. Suzanne has been at the forefront of catalyzing sustainable, public-private partnerships across the life sciences ecosystem for more than 20 years. She provides a wealth of experience in the Canadian innovation environment, including economic development and stakeholder relations, and in helping to shape and implement strategy for organizations at the nexus of research, innovation and commercialization.
Suzanne is passionate about the important work of integrating genomics into society by supporting responsible research and innovation and fostering an understanding and appreciation of the life sciences, helping BC rise to the challenges of the 21st century.
Working with our partners, Suzanne’s focus is on building upon Genome BC’s successes in precision health, natural resources and education while growing BC’s thriving life sciences research and innovation ecosystem. Genomics has proven to be an important tool in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, rare diseases and the prevention of adverse drug reactions. Genomics is also providing new and transformative ways to address BC’s environmental challenges, such as determining which plants and trees will be better able to adapt to new environmental conditions as well as identifying and managing invasive pests and disease-causing pathogens that pose threats not only to forests but also many fruit crops.
Previously, Suzanne was a founding executive as the Vice President, Government Relations and Public Affairs with the Digital Supercluster (2018-2022), an industry-led organization that aims to accelerate economic growth and position Canada for global leadership in transformative digital technologies. In addition to fostering an essential relationship between industry, academia and government, she also led the development and launch of Digital Supercluster’s inaugural Capacity Building Pilot Program aimed at connecting employers to job ready digital talent.
Prior to joining the Digital Supercluster, Suzanne was at Genome BC for over a decade and last held the role of Vice President, Corporate Development, responsible for corporate strategy, corporate performance management and government relations. She moved to BC following her work at the Ontario Genomics Institute as part of the start up team and was responsible for oversight of a $300 million research portfolio at the time when Canada was making its first large scale investments in research in the sector.
Suzanne holds an MSc degree from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. She has been on the Board of Directors of Innovate BC since 2018.
-
Valerie is strategic healthcare consultant bringing 25 years of experience in health system management, clinical service planning, operational optimization with a focus access and quality of care to address critical patient outcomes. She brings experience in clinical, process and operational workflows, digital transformations, and operating model design and implementations. These are demonstrated through her former roles as a hospital director in large health systems across north America, and specific experience in Canada in health system optimization. Specifically in BC, Valerie worked with the Health Authorities, Ministries, Colleges, BC Cancer, as well as part of the emergency response team during the Covid 19 Pandemic. Valerie also focused on patient access for remote and rural as well as marginalized populations in her work in BC. Valerie is a certified lean six sigma black belt, project manager (PMP), change manager (Prosci) and CPHIMS. Her educational background also includes a Masters in Health Management (MPH) from Yale University and MBA from McGill University.
-
Dr. Anna Kindy, a physician, addiction specialist and dedicated advocate, is running as a candidate for the MLA position in North Island under the banner of the Conservative Party of BC. With a career spanning 35 years in medicine and a commitment to her community, Anna is poised to make a significant impact on the North Island's well-being.
Anna's journey in medicine began with her graduation from the University of Alberta Medical School in 1986. Early in her career, she worked in remote Quebec, gaining valuable experience and contributing to underserved communities. In a unique twist, from 1989-1992, she balanced a career as a family doctor in Port Hardy with her husband, who was also a GP, while simultaneously competing on the World Cup circuit in mogul skiing. Her dedication and perseverance led her to represent Canada in mogul skiing at the Albertville Olympics in 1992.
In 1998, Anna and her husband, Dr. Peter Olesen, a surgeon, made the pivotal decision to move to Campbell River to both work and raise their three children. Anna's commitment to healthcare extended to international missions in Guatemala. She specialised in addiction medicine and embraced principles such as informed consent, doing no harm, and upholding bodily autonomy as core tenets of her practice.
-
An advocate for a hybrid healthcare system incorporating elements of both private and public care, Dr. Brian Day founded the Cambie Surgery Centre in 1996 – the only free-standing private hospital of its type in Canada, billing privately for procedures including orthopedic, oral, and plastic surgery. Dr. Day pioneered the introduction and teaching of arthroscopic surgical techniques in Canada – a minimally-invasive technique for diagnosing and treating joint problems where a narrow tube with a fiber optic camera is inserted through a small incision. Earlier this summer the BC Court of Appeal rejected his challenge of a previous court decision denying his constitutional challenge of laws preventing patients from accessing private care when public system wait times are too long.
Dr. Day is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and is certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. He is past president of the Canadian Medical Association and the Arthroscopy Association of North America, has served as a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Society of Sports Traumatology, and has chaired five international seminars on arthroscopic surgery. He is a former VP of the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation (a national charity), a past Director of the Canadian Orthopaedic Association, and former Executive member of the Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society. For three years, he chaired the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Test Committee in Orthopaedics, responsible for setting the Canadian national qualifying exams in the specialty of orthopaedics. He served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Arthroscopy and is on the editorial board of several other journals. He is an honorary member of the Cuban Orthopaedic Society and the Canadian Society of Plastic Surgeons. He is a physician staff member at Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, and an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia.
-
Mary has been a healthcare executive in the BC system for over 20 years with Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health and the BC Ministry of Health. Educated as an engineer with an MBA, she brings a unique and strategic skill set to healthcare that she uses to drive tangible transformation and modernization of our public healthcare system. She served as President and CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health, an organization with more than 18,000 physicians and staL, from 2014-2020. In 2019, she was the only non-profit CEO to be named as a Top 25 CEO in Canada by the social media site, Glassdoor, based on employee reviews. She was also named as one of BC’s Most Influential Women as well as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women. She continues to share her passion and experience in healthcare as a senior advisor to healthcare consulting firms and through several health related Board positions.