Speakers: 2016 Toronto Health IT and LEAD Summit

Geoff Besko, Managing Director, Enterprise Architect, Senior Security Consultant, Hilltop Business Solutions Inc.

Geoff is a seasoned executive leader with more than 15 years of experience as a security practitioner and enterprise security architect and more than 25 years at an IT professional. For the past 13 years, Geoff has been a transformational executive leader for multiple organizations: Geoff led the organizational change program to create shared services IT organization for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority; he then grew Seccuris as President and CEO, culminating in the merger of Seccuris with Above Security and acquisition by Hitachi Systems. Geoff subsequently left Above Security to start Hilltop Business Solutions Inc, a consultancy focused on Enterprise Architecture and Strategic IT Consulting services, with a focus on the healthcare industry. Geoff has broad experience as a business and healthcare executive, transformational leader, IT and security strategist/architect, change agent, and educator. He has a proven ability to build organizations and programs through strong team leadership and mentorship; solid planning and execution skills; organizational change management capabilities and excellent knowledge of best practices. He is a highly motivated and passionate leader with a proven track record of success in building teams, programs, and organizations over his career.

Les Blackwell, CEO, MetricAid Inc

Les Blackwell comes from a clinical background, with 16 years of experience in 2 different emergency departments - North Bay Regional Health Centre and Mount Sinai Hospital.

Les started his career in the ED as a clerk, and transitioned into project management and administration. His expertise is in patient-flow and IT implementation in the ED. One of his most significant projects was ‘Performance Based Physician Scheduling’, for which he and his team won the Ontario Hospital Association award for Innovation at Health Achieve in 2011.

In Ontario, he is recognized as a leader in patient-flow and IT implementation, and has been invited to speak at many conferences and focus groups about these issues.

As CEO of MetricAid, Les helps ED’s across Ontario to improve efficiency, focusing on physician scheduling solutions.

Patrick Blanshard, Co-Founder, President and CEO, Sensory Technologies

With an impressive career history as a consulting project manager prior to co-founding the company, Patrick offers a wealth of experience and perspective to his current position as Sensory Technologies’ CEO. He is also a long standing member of the Canadian Forces serving as an officer in the Army Reserves.

Patrick earned his MBA at Western University’s Richard Ivey School of Business with a focus on strategic leadership. He also studied Alternative Dispute Resolution at Western University, Project Management at the University of Toronto, and earned his Project Management Professional designation. Most recently, Patrick completed a Masters in Law through York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.

In his spare time, Patrick co-chairs for London’s Toys for Tots Christmas charity.

Russell P. Branzell, FCHIME, CHCIO, President & CEO – CHIME

Prior to joining CHIME, Russ Branzell was the VP of IS/CIO, Poudre Valley Health System (PVHS) and the President/CEO of Innovation Enterprises (PVHS’ for profit IS entity). PVHS is an integrated health system with a reputation for excellence and innovative care. They most recently are the recipients of the 2008 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the highest Presidential honor given to US businesses and organizations that demonstrate performance excellence, the Colorado Performance Excellence Peak Award (first and only organization in the state), Solucient’s 100 Top Hospitals, Health Grades Distinguished Hospital Award, Magnet Hospital for Nursing Excellence designation, Avatar International 5 Star National Award, and US News and World Report-America’s 50 Best Hospitals. In addition to these honors and awards, the Information Services Division was recognized with Information Week Magazine’s Top 500 Award for innovative technology usage and also received the Business Technology Optimization Excellence Award for IT Governance Best Practices (2004).Prior to joining PVHS, he was the Regional Deputy CIO and Executive Director of Information Services for Sisters of Mercy Health System in St. Louis, MO. Before his time in St. Louis, Mr. Branzell served on active duty in the US Air Force and continues to serve in the Air Force Reserves. While on active duty, Mr. Branzell served in numerous healthcare administration positions including CIO for the Air Mobility Command Surgeon General’s Office. In 1996, he was selected for the Air Force Medical Service Fellowship program and completed a CIO Internship at the Unity Health System in St. Louis, MO.Mr. Branzell is a past member of the CHIME Board of Directors (2004-2008), past Chairperson of the CHIME Education Committee (2004-2008), and past Program Director for CHIME’s Healthcare CIO Boot Camp (2006 – 2009). He was instrumental in the development and ongoing success of CHIME’s LEAD Forum and CHIME Foundation Boot Camp education programs, serving both as Program Director and as a member of faculty for both since their inception.In addition, he has served as Chairperson of CHIME’s Spring and Fall CIO Forum Planning Committees. Mr. Branzell currently serves on the CHIME Education Foundation Board.Mr. Branzell is a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO), a fellow of CHIME and HIMSS, and board certified through the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). He was awarded the 2005 ACHE Regent’s Award as the Young Healthcare Administrator of the Year for the State of Colorado. PVHS has received numerous industry awards in recognition of it’s commitment to the advancement of healthcare informatics.Russ serves on numerous editorial, volunteer, community and management boards. Additionally, he has been a speaker at regional, national, user groups and vendor conferences.A native of San Antonio, Texas, Russ earned an undergraduate degree in business administration specializing in human resource management and labor relations from the University of Texas. In 1995, he earned a Master’s degree in Administrative Science from Embry-Riddle University with an emphasis in management.

Steven Dain, MD, FRCPC, Anesthesiologist, Woodstock Hospital, Adjunct Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo

Steven Dain MD, FRCPC practices anesthesiology at Woodstock Hospital in Woodstock Ontario and is a retired Associate Professor of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. He currently is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Western University, London, Ontario Canada and at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo where he works with the real-time embedded software and design engineering groups.
For over 20 years, Dr. Dain has participated in the writing of Canadian and International Standards for medical equipment, standardized vocabularies and design and construction of healthcare facilities.

In 2008 he was been appointed as Chair of ISO Technical Committee 121, Subcommittee 4 Anesthesia Vocabulary writing standard terminology for critical care and homecare ventilators. ISO 19223 Lung ventilators-Vocabulary and Semantics will be published in early 2017. Dr. Dain is a member of the International Healthcare Terminology Standards Development Organization Anesthesia Special Interest Group (SNOMED CT) and of the Canadian Standards Association Healthcare Technology Steering Committee.
For the past six years, Dr. Dain has participated in the IHE (Integrating the Health Enterprise) Patient Care Devices Committee, developing medical device communications protocol for anesthesia equipment and critical care ventilators which was recently published as IEEE/ISO 11073 Part 10101b.

Dr. Dain is a collaborator in the MD Plug and Play Interoperability Program (www.mdpnp.org) at the Massachusetts General Hospital / CIMIT (Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology) in Cambridge, MA and a member of the Medical Advisory Committee of DocBox Medical Inc (www.docboxmed.com) collecting terabytes of information from Cardiac Surgery Recovery areas daily.

Alyssa Daku, MPA, CIPP, Vice President Strategy, Quality and Risk Management, EHealth Saskatchewan

As the Vice-President of Strategy, Quality and Risk Management, Alyssa oversees enterprise risk management (including Privacy, Security and Patient Safety), corporate strategic services, legal and policy, information governance, analytics, and the delivery of Health Registry services, including Vital Statistics and Health Coverage. Alyssa has been with eHealth since 2013.

She is a strategy and risk leader with significant experience in the health sector and other areas of government as it relates to corporate strategy, risk management, compliance and analytics. She launched the open government initiative with the City of Regina. Alyssa has a Master’s degree in Public Administration with a major in Public Policy from the University of Regina and is a certified Information Privacy Professional.

Alyssa is passionate about helping others and is actively involved in her community. She presently sits on the Board for Sofia House in Regina, which is a second stage housing program for victims of domestic violence.

Ronald L. Dunn, Managing Partner, RL Dunn & Associates Consulting, Inc.

Mr. Dunn is an accomplished and experienced health industry executive with a track record of success throughout Canada and the United States. He has held a variety of executive management and senior sales positions throughout his career and has achieved significant financial and operational successes for his employers.

In February of 2016, Mr. Dunn retired from his position as vice president of McKesson Technology Solutions Canada. During his 25 years at McKesson, he was responsible for the overall leadership of McKesson Corporations’ healthcare information technology business in Canada.

In 2012, Mr. Dunn was awarded the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to the Canadian health informatics industry. He remains a strong advocate for and continues to be an active promoter of Canada’s health ICT industry domestically and abroad.

Since retiring from McKesson, Mr. Dunn has established his own consulting firm focused on helping healthcare software and services companies to maximize their growth and opportunities in the Canadian and US markets.

He currently serves as a health technology advisor for Lumira Capital and also as a health advisor for MaRS Ventures Services. Additionally, he volunteers his time and expertise to Crohn’s and Colitis Canada and other not-for-profit and charitable organizations.

Shirley Fenton, MA, BES (Hon), VP and Director, National Institutes of Health Informatics

Shirley Fenton has over 25 years of experience in information technology focused on innovative Internet applications, community information portals, and web-based tools and technology deployment across various sectors. She seeks to build relationships with industry, organizations, and government to enable innovation and knowledge transfer. She is the Vice President and Director of the National Institutes of Health Informatics, a Canada-wide not-for-profit organization bringing together experts in Health Informatics and eHealth. She is also the Business Development Director, Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology and a Research Associate, Computer Systems Group, University of Waterloo. Her research interests are Health Informatics, eHealth, BioHealth, Innovative Intelligent Communities, Communities of Practice and Community Information Utilities. She was a key member of the team when Waterloo was named one of the Top 7 Intelligent Communities in 2006 and the Intelligent Community of the Year in 2007. In 2011, she received the Zonta International Women of Achievement Award for being a “Trailblazer”. Shirley is a graduate of the University of Waterloo where she obtained her BES and MA degrees.

Vincent Finn, Life Sciences/Science/Technology Trade Commissioner to the U.S. for the Consulate General and Government of Canada

Vince Finn, the Life Sciences/Science/Technology Trade Commissioner for Canada. In addition to his trade-related responsibilities, Vince also supports the Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Services through ongoing monitoring and analysis of local political and economic issues and their potential effect on Canada-US relations, conducts outreach activities and events to promote Canadian political and economic interests in the region.

Prior to joining the Trade Commissioner Service Mr., Finn held a variety of senior management positions in Europe and the United States in strategic sourcing, product development, sales and marketing for such companies as Marks & Spencer and Milliken & Company and Sprint. Mr. Finn has a Master of Science (MSc.) in Technology from Manchester University, and he currently sits on the board of the Welcome Center for New Pennsylvanians.

Roger Girard, BA (L.Ph.), MBA, Independent Consultant, Former CIO at Manitoba Health

Roger Girard is an executive consultant specializing in Health Informatics and the use of Shared Services as an integration strategy. He was recently the CIO at Manitoba eHealth, with the responsibility for the Province’s eHealth Strategy. In this role, Roger was the executive sponsor for the award-winning eChart Manitoba project, Manitoba’s version of the Electronic Health Record, and for a shared EPR that is now being rolled out across the Province. He has also been a CIO of large and complex organizations in the provinces of Quebec (McGill), Ontario (McMaster), and Alberta (Calgary). As an independent consultant in Ontario, Roger also performed the role of Chief eHealth Strategist for the Ontario government.

Roger holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Manitoba, and an MBA from Concordia University in Montreal.

Mark Hagland, Editor-in-Chief, Healthcare Informatics

Mark Hagland has been Editor-in-Chief of Healthcare Informatics (www.healthcare-informatics.com) since January 2010. Prior to that, he was Contributing Editor and then Senior Contributing Editor to the magazine, for over ten years. He has spent a quarter century in the health care publishing field, as a writer, editor, public speaker, and author. He has won numerous national and regional journalism awards, and is the author of two books on healthcare quality and efficiency: Paradox and Imperatives in Health Care (2008, with Jeffrey C. Bauer, Ph.D.) and Transformative Quality: The Emerging Revolution in Health Care Performance (2009). He holds a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Frank Hivert, CEO, Oculys

In June 2011, Franck agreed to take the leadership role of a newly formed company. A short time later, Oculys was born and its team began to grow. Since then, Franck and his team have implemented their healthcare solutions to several hospitals in Ontario and Manitoba. Oculys has won several awards including: in 2013 and again in 2015, Branham Group selected Oculys as one of Canada’s Top 25 Up and Coming ICT companies in Canada; in 2014, Oculys and St. Mary’s General Hospital received the prestigious ITAC Ingenious Award and in 2015 St. Mary’s General Hospital and Oculys received the Business Excellence Innovation from the KW Chamber of Commerce.

As CEO, Franck leads the Oculys team and drives the overall strategic direction of Oculys’ technology and commitment to current and future hospital clients. Franck’s extensive executive background is rooted in areas as varied as software development, business development, marketing, finance and operations. This diversity is quite unique and unquestionably lends to his dynamic approach in leading the Oculys Team and driving its singular vision for improved healthcare. Franck’s entrepreneurial spirit and thirst for challenge prompted him to take on Oculys’ leadership as a new venture.

During his 20 years of executive experience, Franck held the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer positions at numerous prominent software companies. Franck also spent 10 years in a variety of roles at Manulife Financial in both their Canadian and US Divisions. Franck holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree, an international MBA and is a Chartered Professional Accountant.

Robert Kaul, President & CEO, Cloud DX Inc.

Robert Kaul is the President & CEO of Cloud DX Inc, a digital healthcare startup based in Brooklyn New York. Their Cloud DX Connected Health Platform is revolutionizing personal health monitoring by providing outstanding accuracy & user experience at an affordable cost. Cloud DX was won multiple awards including 2015 Startup of the Year for Innovation. Team Cloud DX is a Top-7 finalist in the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, a 4-year global innovation competition to create a futuristic “Tricorder” that autonomously diagnoses 14 separate health conditions. The winner of the $6 million top prize will be announced in January 2017.

Michael Levinger, Chief Operating Officer, Primaris

Michael Levinger is a technology and healthcare industry executive and entrepreneur specializing in transformative eHealth services and solutions. Mike is the Chief Operating Officer for Primaris, a healthcare consulting firm that works with hospitals, physicians and nursing homes to drive better health outcomes, improved patient experiences and reduced costs. Previously, Mike was the President & CEO of Digital Collaboration Solutions a consulting firm improving care coordination and engagement and President & CEO of an electronic health record systems integration company. Mike has also been an executive in multiple software and services companies dedicated to successful use of enterprise information systems. Mike teaches a graduate course on Electronic Health Records at Boston University, is an advisor to the University of Missouri School of Medicine Department of Health Management and Informatics, a member of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council Healthcare Advisory Board and of the Massachusetts/Rhode Island HFMA managed services and revenue cycle committees and on the Board of Directors of Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Eastern Massachusetts. Mike holds an AB in Computer Science from Brown University and an MS in Policy from Columbia University.

Laura Madsen, Manager, Enterprise Analytics and Data Warehouse, Children's Business Campus, Children's Minnesota

Laura Madsen is the author of the books, Data Driven Healthcare: How Analytics and BI are Transforming the Industry (Wiley & SAS business series, 2014) and Healthcare Business Intelligence: A Guide to Empowering Successful Data Reporting and Analytics (John Wiley & Sons, 2012). Laura has over 15 years of experience in BI and data warehousing for healthcare as well as a passion for engaging and educating the BI community.

Laura leads the Enterprise Analytics and Data Warehouse teams at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. Prior to joining Children’s, Laura spent over five years as a consultant, providing guidance to a multitude of healthcare organizations across the United States. She has held senior positions with several leading healthcare technology companies.

Andrea Masterton, Corporate Marketing Director, eSignLive

Andrea Masterton is Corporate Marketing Director of eSignLive. In this role she oversees industry marketing strategy, market awareness and demand generation within key industry segments, specifically insurance, banking and financial services. Andrea’s 15+ year experience in the electronic signature market includes producing hundreds of educational webcasts and seminars, authoring dozens of white papers, and active participation in industry electronic signature and process improvement workgroups such as ACORD, Life Brokerage Technology Committee, Life Insurance Direct Marketing Association and IRI.

Nathaniel Osgood, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Associate Faculty, Department of Community Health & Epidemiology University of Saskatchewan

Nathaniel Osgood is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Associate Faculty in the Department of Community Health & Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan. His research is focused on providing cross-linked simulation, ubiquitous sensing, and machine learning tools to inform understanding of population health trends and health policy tradeoffs. His applications work has addressed challenges in the communicable, zoonotic, environmental, and chronic disease areas. Dr. Osgood is further the co-creator of two novel wireless sensor-based epidemiological monitoring systems, most recently the Google Android- and iPhone-based “iEpi” smartphone system. He has additionally contributed innovations to improve dynamic modeling quality and efficiency, introduced novel techniques hybridizing multiple simulation approaches and simulation models with decision analysis tools, and which leverage such models using data gathered from wireless epidemiological monitoring systems. Dr. Osgood has led many international courses in simulation modeling and health around the world, and his online videos on the subject attract thousands of views per month. Prior to joining the U of S faculty, he graduated from MIT with a PhD in Computer Science in 1999, served as a Senior Lecturer at MIT and worked for a number of years in a variety of academic, consulting and industry positions.

William Pascal, Former CTO, Canadian Medical Association, Principal, Richard Warren Associates

William Pascal is a seasoned executive who draws upon 35 years of experience with a number of Federal government departments, with the Canadian Medical Association and with NGO organizations on a volunteer basis. He has extensive knowledge and experience in federal-provincial-territorial (FTP) relations; building strategic alliances; large scale contract negotiations; policy development in the economic and social policy sectors; crisis management planning and execution; developing advocacy and communications strategies; managing large government operations; as well as board member experience with private sector companies, national associations and NGOs.

William brings a deep understanding of the health care system in Canada through his experience in leading the advocacy and communication responsibilities for Health Canada, managing the largest regional operation for Health Canada, participating in the development and obtaining FPT approval of a health information strategy for Canada, and in his role as the Chief Strategic Advisor at the Canadian Medical Association where he was responsible for shaping the strategic direction and policy for the Association’s e-Health agenda. He currently has his own company, RichardWarren & Associates, where his work is focused on the digitization of the health care sector.

He is a regular commentator on the health information technology agenda in Canada, a sought-out speaker nationally and internationally, and a regular contributor to several publications focused on the digitization of the Canadian healthcare sector.

By way of education background he is an electrical engineer, urban planner and a certified management accountant.

Brendan Seaton, CISSP, CIPP/C, CRISC, President, ITAC Health

Brendan provides leadership and support to 130 companies providing ICT products and services to the health sector. He represents the interests of Industry to governments and health organizations, particularly in the areas of ICT investment strategies, regulation and standards. He is one of Canada’s leading experts and innovators in the management of eHealth risks, including privacy, security, safety, project and business risk. He has more than 30 years experience in both the public and private sectors.

Mark W. Stevens, Principal, ARRAHealth Consulting, Inc., Contributing Editor, Health IT Leaders & News

Since 2010, Mr. Stevens has lead the health IT consulting firm he co-founded, ARRAHealth. During that time, Mark Stevens also served as a Vice President at Best Practice Partners (BPP), a leader in healthcare training, process re-design and IT optimization solutions serving providers, payers, HIEs and ACOs, where he focuses on strategic partnerships and executive search in health data analytics. Mr. Stevens also served as President and COO of BPP’s accountable care subsidiary, EnableHealth, which he co-founded in 2013. Prior to joining BPP, Mr. Stevens was Vice President of Digital Collaboration Solutions, a health It professional services firm; Senior Director for eHealth Innovation at World Congress, a leader in healthcare conference management; and Executive Director of the Pennsylvania eHealth Initiative (PAeHI), a not-for-profit organization founded in 2005 by Pennsylvania’s leading healthcare stakeholders to promote broader adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchange (HIE).

Mr. Stevens currently serves as President-Elect on the board of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) Central Pennsylvania Chapter, which he co-founded. Mr. Stevens is a past recipient of the Spirit of HIMSS award, and in January of 2016 was named Contributing Editor for Health IT Leaders & News. Mr. Stevens also also an active member of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and serves on its Innovation Conference Committee board. His prior professional experience includes a decade each in public sector management and executive search. Mr. Stevens is active in his community, and serves on the Board of Directors of both the historic Charles A. Melton Arts and Education Center and the Brandywine Valley Business Council.

Trevor Strome, Director, Analytics & Business Intelligence, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority

Trevor Strome MSc, PMP is the Analytics and Process Improvement Lead for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority Emergency Program and is responsible for developing and implementing innovative analytics tools for use in healthcare quality improvement initiatives. He is also Assistant Professor with the Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, where he participates on clinical and operations research projects and lectures on the topics of statistics, informatics, and quality improvement.

In addition to achieving Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, Trevor also has advanced certifications in Lean and Six Sigma. Trevor has had leadership and other influential roles in many successful projects that have facilitated information transparency, enabled quality improvement, and enhanced patient safety and satisfaction. Recent projects involve overseeing the implementation of a system-wide (soon to be province-wide) healthcare analytics portal, developing a real-time Emergency Department wait-times monitoring system for patients, and overseeing graduate-student research projects. These research projects include using artificial intelligence (AI) methods to determine patients’ likelihood of influenza infection, optimizing RFID tracking algorithms to improve patient and equipment locating, and developing highly-accurate simulation models that can be used for designing and testing new patient care processes.

In addition to healthcare operations and academic activities, Trevor has been involved in the successful commercialization of health informatics technology, including an Emergency Medical Services data system launched in cooperation with the University of Alberta and other commercial partners.

Trevor has co-authored three book chapters and numerous articles on healthcare topics, and is currently authoring a book on the topic of Healthcare Analytics which is due to be published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc, in 2013. You can read Trevor’s blog at http://healthcareanalytics.info

John Waldron, Associate Director, Interoperability & HIE at Mount Sinai Health System

An established expert in health IT architecture, John Waldron’s experience spans more than 15 years in health care as an analyst, developer, technical project manager, application, solution and enterprise architect. John started his career at an ambitious start-up building an acute-care EMR. He then led the development of a real-time, interactive patient tracking board deployed across multiple EDs in Toronto, Ontario. John led the development of a chronic disease registry for the New York City public hospitals and recently established an enterprise architecture practice for a health authority in Vancouver, BC. Today, John guides the development and operations of the health information exchange for a major health system in New York. John is a graduate of the School of Health Information Science at the University of Victoria and holds a B.A. honors sociology from Bishops' University.

Jan Walker, PhD, Vice President, Strategy, Innovation and CIO, West Park Healthcare Centre

Dr. Jan Walker is Vice President, Strategy, Innovation and Chief Information Officer at West Park Healthcare Centre in Toronto, Ontario. In that role, she provides leadership and direction for information management and technology at the Centre. She also leads the organization’s strategic planning, innovation, and evaluation functions. As West Park is currently in a redevelopment phase, Jan is responsible for the vision and development of the Information, Communication, Automation and Technology (ICAT) strategy for the new hospital building. This strategy is taking advantage of current and future opportunities in the areas of mobile health, cloud computing, big data and the internet of healthcare things.

Jan holds a PhD in epidemiology from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Over her career, she has worked extensively with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, LHINs and hospitals using “big data” to develop and implement funding systems, capacity and strategic plans, and case costing and data quality initiatives across many sectors of the health care continuum.

Jan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Haliburton Highlands Health Services, a rural health system that provides integrated health care to residents and visitors to Haliburton County and surrounding areas. She is a member of HIMSS, CHIME and COACH.

Julia Zarb, PhD, Program Director, Master of Health Informatics (MHI) Program, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto

Julia Zarb, PhD is Program Director for the Master of Health Informatics (MHI) at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto. Julia directs both the executive and regular options, oversees practicum and work project efforts, and delivers capstone courses on building strategic frameworks in the field. Of 19 years in health information technology strategy and marketing leadership, she has spent 14 in the US arena and 10 years on corporate executive teams in both US and Canada. Her own firm, Zarb Consulting, served dozens of clients in national-scale initiatives, including Allergan, Allscripts, American College of Cardiology, Siemens Healthcare, McKesson and Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS).

Julia was a co- founder of the Electronic Health Record Vendor Association (EHRA), whom she represented for several years in the US. She has served on a variety of industry workgroups, including HIMSS HL7 & IHE Interoperability Collaborative, and HIMSS Katrina Phoenix. For HIMSS, she developed and project managed National Health IT Week (2006-2011).

Julia holds a PhD in Communications Theory from the University of Toronto, specializing in post-structuralism and postmodern cultural and communications theory.

Summit Speakers - Toronto

Mark Hagland, Editor-in-Chief, Healthcare Informatics

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