dr ronald lett

Founder of CNIS (Canadian Network for International Surgery)

Founder of the Canadian Network for International Surgery (CNIS), Dr. Ronald Lett did his undergraduate medical training and post-graduate surgical training at the University of Alberta. He completed his Masters in Injury Epidemiology at McGill University. In 1996, Dr. Lett co-founded the Injury Control Centre – Uganda, the first lead-agency for injury control in sub-Saharan Africa and the Injury Prevention Initiative for Africa (IPIFA), a 10-country network. He is currently the International Director of the CNIS, residing in Ethiopia. Dr. Lett is co-chair of the African Canadian Committee for Essential Surgical Skills (ACC-ESS), Scientific Associate of the Injury Control Centre-Uganda (ICC-U) and ICC-Tanzania, honorary member of the IPIFA steering Committee and Adjunct Professor of Surgery at McGill University and at the University of British Columbia.

Dr. york hsiang

York N. Hsiang, MB. ChB., MHSc., FRCSC., is Professor of Vascular Surgery at the University of British Columbia and Consultant Surgeon at the Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, B.C. Born in Taiwan, educated in the United States, New Zealand, and Canada, Dr. Hsiang has diverse interests in vascular engineering, vascular biology, lasers, and clinical epidemiology. Dr. Hsiang was the former Director of Surgical Research in the UBC Department of Surgery. He also has a special clinical interest in wounds and served on the Board of the Canadian Association of Wound Care.

Dr. Leslie Grad

MSFHR’s program designer, responsible for the Foundation’s Innovation to Commercialization Award Development -- Manager, Research Programs (Design & Development) at the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR)

Dr. Leslie Grad is the Manager, Research Programs (Design & Development) at the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR), BC’s health research funder. He held a senior Research Associate position at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, developing therapeutics against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. He now uses his research experience and knowledge of the health funding landscape to design new funding program models and serve as a resource on trends in health funding, research and innovation at MSFHR. Les recently designed MSFHR’s new Innovation to Commercialization (I2C) program, which provides funding support for researchers to advance their products or technologies towards practical application to improve health outcomes.

Dr. Heather Lindsay

Acting Department Head and Medical Director, VGH Emergency

Dr. Heather Lindsay is an Emergency Physician and the Department Head at Vancouver General Hospital, as well as the informal IT coordinator. She received her medical training at Queen’s, and completed her Royal College residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Toronto. She has an MPH from UBC with a focus in injury prevention and disaster management, and is a graduate of the BC Clinician Quality Academy and acted as the CQI Director for the VGH Emergency Department for 3 years. Her focus is quality and process improvement, and she has an interest in technology and innovation in healthcare and medical education.

SUkhbinder dhiman

ER Physician

I’m an emergency physician at Surrey Memorial Hospital.  I’ve been in clinic clinical practice for 10 years.  My interests include innovation in healthcare delivery.  I am interested in mindfulness in medicine, flow states, and bringing an urgent care centre to surrey and to scale that solution province wide.  I want to develop a way to etriage patients from home and link it into emr systems. 

Stewart wong

Occupational Therapist

Kris Gadareh

Chairman of Charted Engineers Pacific

I am a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers and past Chair of Chartered Engineers Pacific. My background is in education and the design, development and application of assistive device technology in the rehabilitation of patients with neurological disorders. My research interests are in the investigation and measurement of balance instability in patients with peripheral nervous system disorders, as well as fall prevention and recovery in the elderly population.

Kevin Oversby

Member of Charted Engineers Pacific

Kevin Oversby is a Regulatory Compliance Manager at Westport Innovations (a UBC spinoff in 1996). Over the past 20 years, he has worked on the commercialization of clean technologies. Specialties include verification of new products in extreme conditions. Working with governments to develop regulations and certify new products is also a major area of focus. Kevin holds 5 U.S. patents. He was awarded Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in engineering from the University of Cambridge and serves on the local alumni board.

Lyndia Wu

Instructor at UBC, Faculty of Applied Science

Dr. Lyndia Wu is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia. She completed her undergraduate studies in Engineering Science at the University of Toronto, and her PhD in Bioengineering at Stanford University. Her main research topic is mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or concussion. She develops novel wearable sensors to study the biomechanics of mTBI, and investigates how mechanical trauma leads to short and long term brain changes.

DOUG GOERTZEN

CEO of Kardium

Doug is a co-founder and CEO of Kardium, a company that has developed an advanced ablation catheter for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Prior to Kardium, Doug held the position of General Manager, Proofing and Color at Eastman Kodak Company. Doug was responsible for the $55 million worldwide proofing and colour business and managed the 130 person team developing the proofing and colour product portfolio. He held senior positions in service, development and management during his 12 year tenure at Kodak and Creo Inc. (which was acquired by Kodak in 2005). Doug graduated with a B.A.Sc. in electrical engineering from Simon Fraser University.

JANE DESROCHERS

Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility

Jane Desrochers is a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility. Her research aims to develop better ways to understand how cartilage and meniscus recover (or don’t!) after a knee injury in an effort to help doctors and patients make better treatment decisions. She earned her PhD from the University of Calgary in 2012, and has a BSc in mechanical engineering. She is currently an instructor in the Engineers in Scrubs program at UBC and has also taught engineering design at the undergraduate level.

PHILLIP TSAO

Design Engineer, Misty West

Phil is a Design Engineer working at MistyWest - a local Vancouver research and engineering lab dedicated to solving hard problems into positive breakthroughs. Phil has a deep breadth of knowledge in manufacturing and prototyping, with years of hands-on skills in machining and 3D printing. As a result of his experience in rapid prototyping & manufacturing, he has helped startups and research labs create real products through his own contracting work. After earning his BASc in Electrical Engineering (Biomedical) at UBC, Phil was involved in a medical isotope automation project at TRIUMF, robotics (size selection & biopsy coring) at Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, and product development for several successful startups. In a previous life, he also competed provincially and nationally in badminton. Phil’s multidisciplinary background and desire to create work that has real societal impacts pulled him towards the complex problems being solved at MistyWest.

CHRIS BELLAMY

Senior Product Engineer, WIIVV

Chris is a chartered engineer and designer from the UK. After training at the University of Cambridge he worked in the outdoor equipment and automotive industry for 7 years. 5 of these years were spent at Jaguar Land Rover, developing electric vehicles and creating new customer centric features for future vehicles. In 2016 he moved to Canada and joined Wiivv, a company pioneering 3D printed customer fit footwear, ordered from you’re smartphone.

VICTOR KULLA

Spira3D

HARI TAMIL SELVEN

Spira3D

JONATHAN AITKEN

Founder and Project Leader, Tacit Design Strategy

Jonathan Aitken has a passion for unraveling complex problems and designing creative solutions that help effect real change. Jonathan’s education in Communication and Industrial Design help bring an interdisciplinary focus to his work, and his creative solutions include interaction, industrial, and communication design. Recently, Aitken was the Director of the Health Design Lab at Emily Carr—a human-centred design research centre looking at complex problems in healthcare. Aitken has now established Tacit Design Strategy, offering his own unique blend of co-creative and participatory design research practices to a broad base of clients.

SARAH HAY

Faculty at Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Sarah Hay is an interdisciplinary designer, facilitator and educator. She brings a wide range and depth of experience working collaboratively in sustainable architecture, health + well-being and civic engagement. She is an instructor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design* where she is currently teaching a 3rd year industrial design studio called Medical and Assistive Device Design.

She is a co-director of the Vancouver Design Nerds Society and founder of Slow & Steady Design.

ecuad.ca

vancouver.designnerds.org

slowandsteady.co

REINIER HALBERTSMA

Strategic Designer

A design strategist with 15 years agency experience, Reinier develops products and services for Startups and Multinationals such as Philips, TomTom, and Heineken. He is currently launching two businesses in the wellness sector, lecturing on strategic innovation, and coaching leaders and entrepreneurs through his initiative Working Lunch.* Reinier's expertise is in defining consumer-centric propositions for radical innovations, and how to bring them to market.

ourworkinglunch.com

MICHAELA BAER

Product Design Manager

Michaela Baer is a product design manager specializing in medical software. After a cancer diagnosis in 2012, Michaela became fascinated by efforts to improve patient and clinician experience and developed a keen interest in healthcare innovation and mHealth. She is currently Innovation Lead at Arya Health and was previously Director of Products at Reliq Health Technologies. She holds a BFA from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

RADU POSTOLE

Lead Design Engineer at Arbutus Medical

Radu Postole is the Lead Design Engineer at Arbutus Medical. His work has spanned product development in solar lighting, assistive devices for people with disabilities, and most recently, medical devices for orthopaedic surgery in developing countries. He is an avid tinkerer and maker, passionate about developing technologies that help address society's needs.

VICTOR G. MARTINEZ

KPU Product Design Faculty & Researcher

Victor is an industrial designer with experience in Transportation, Sustainability and Systems Thinking Design.

His PhD project explored the early stages of new product development and how to integrate sustainability criteria. As part of his research he developed Trophec, an online product lifecycle visualisation tool: www.trophec.com

His personal interest subjects are: systems thinking, complexity, sustainability and new business models, all applied to the design process of products, services or systems.

You can find more at: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/victorgmartinez

NADIA BEYZAEI

Coordinator at Health Design Lab

Nadia Beyzaei is the Coordinator of the Health Design Lab at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Nadia has been involved in projects ranging from small-scale communication design projects to systems-based research projects related to aging, indigenous health and community engagement. Within her role as coordinator, Nadia is responsible for the logistical/operational aspects of running design research projects, but also brings a health research lens to her work within the lab, based on her 5 years of experience in working at the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Through her work at BCCHR, Nadia has been involved in research projects involving vulnerable patient populations and their families, as well as health care professionals in the community. Within both these roles, Nadia’s research interests reside in bridging the gap between health and design research methodologies that aim to improve health outcomes for individuals of different backgrounds, age groups, and cognitive abilities.

IRYNA KARAUSH

KPU Product Design Faculty & Coordinator

Iryna Karaush, B. Arch, MASA (UBC), is a faculty member in the Wilson School of Design at Kwantlen Polytechnic University where she teaches Design Thinking and Design studies. She served as Product Design coordinator over 4 years. Originally trained as an architect, Iryna’s professional portfolio includes work in spatial design, design research and sports apparel design. Her recent professional and scholarly projects focus on Food Design research, where she explores the relationship between people and food from wide-ranging design perspectives in order to foster stronger connections between local food producers and their communities.

PAT BRADY

Director, Industry Innovation Programs | Genome BC

Pat Brady has held the role of Director of the I2 Fund at Genome British Columbia, a non-profit organization, since September 2015. The I2Fund is focused on funding companies commercializing life science technologies. Prior to this position, Mr. Brady was Vice President, Investments at Growthworks Capital Ltd, a venture capital fund management firm. At Growthworks from 1998 to 2015, Mr. Brady lead equity investments in numerous companies. He served as a Board Director or observer for over 13 private and public life science firms during this period including OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tekmira Pharmaceuticals (now Arbutus BioPharma Corp.) and Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to Growthworks, Mr. Brady spent six years in financial and operating roles with Inex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and a cleantech company, DynaMotive Technologies Corporation. He was also a professional athlete. Mr. Brady holds a MBA and an HBA from the Ivey Business School. He resides in Vancouver, BC.

DANIEL WANIS-RUIZ

Senior Venture Manager at Creative Destruction Lab West

Daniel Wanis-Ruiz is a Senior Venture Manager at the Creative Destruction Lab West. Prior to joining the Lab, he conducted mental health research as a consultant for counseling organizations in Vancouver, held marketing positions within the fashion industry, and volunteered with non-profits such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Synaptic Health. He received a BSc from the University of Calgary in natural science with specializations in mathematics and biology and recently graduated with a masters degree in health policy and leadership from the University of British Columbia.

CHANDNI RAO

Venture Manager at Creative Destruction Lab West

Chandni is a Venture Manager at the Creative Destruction Lab West and manages a mixed portfolio of Prime and Health Ventures. Prior to joining the lab, she used data-driven insights to lead sales and marketing activities in the biotech sector, most recently at STEMCELL Technologies. She has also served as President of the Student Biotechnology Network, a Vancouver non-profit focused around supporting budding entrepreneurs and students in the life-sciences. She holds a BSc and and MSc in biochemistry from the University of Calgary.

ANDREW (ANDY) SIU

BCPSQC Engagement & Campaign Specialist

Andrew Siu works for the BC Patient Safety & Quality Council, a government organization that advances the improvement of health care quality across the province. His practice includes applying human-centered design and design thinking toward building products, services, and experiences that accelerate patient safety and quality of care. He is a design graduate from Emily Carr University of Art & Design and is finishing his MBA in Design Strategy from the California College of the Arts.

TOMASZ (TOM) MAJEK

BCPSQC Director Health System Improvement

Tom joined the Council in 2018 as the Director of the Health System Improvement team. Prior to this he led numerous process improvements, strategic projects and change initiatives in his role as Manager of People and Culture at Vancouver Coastal Health. Tom is grateful for all that he has learned from years of working with clinicians, staff, leaders, patients and families across the spectrum of care, including perioperative services, medical and surgical programs, mental health and addiction, home health and long-term care. Tom has a passion for organizational transformation, systems thinking, quality improvement and education. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Simon Fraser University and has extensive training and certification in lean six sigma, planning and change management methods. On his days off Tom plays amateur mechanic and cook. Additionally, he loves to travel, ski and hike, exploring the beautiful backcountry of British Columbia whenever possible.

GEOFF HOULTON

Chief Executive Officer and President of Heart Force Medical Inc.

MEGAN SCHELLENBERG

Meg Schellenberg is an Advisor with Joule Inc., a subsidiary of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). Joule proudly collaborates with physician entrepreneurs who are pushing the boundaries of technology in health care. Meg is responsible for administering the Joule Innovation grant program which funds physician-led innovation across Canada. She also supports health care events (including Hackathons and Design Jams) and a nation-wide mentorship program for CMA members. Meg has 10+ years' experience in administering healthcare grants, implementation science, and project management.