Health Data for All of Us 2025 SPEAKERS

Dr. Alexandra Greenhill is a physician leader and tech entrepreneur with a 15-year track record of health care innovations.A leading physician in health innovation, she is a founder, advisor and board member of some of the best digital health and impact at scale focused organizations on a mission to accelerate the future of health. Throughout her career, Dr. Greenhill has used innovation and technology to improve the lives of physicians and patients. After decades of leadership roles in the health care system and at various award-winning companies, she now leads Careteam Technologies, advises health and IT ventures, and is an advocate for advancing the role of women in STEM and changing the world of health care. She is co-editor of Wylie 2023 book AI in Clinical Medicine.

Alvina Nadeem is a mechanical engineer, certified coach and change management advisor with a passion for driving systemic transformation. Specializing in human-centered design and strategic thinking, she creates sustainable, innovative solutions to address complex challenges across organizations, communities and systems. After being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2023, Alvina shifted her professional focus to health care. As co-president of the Committee of Persons Impacted by Cancer of the Quebec Cancer Coalition, she collaborates with communities, organizations and governments to improve health care policies and support services for those affected by cancer. She also serves on the board of Ovarian Cancer Canada and contributes to their Patient Partners in Research program. She is a founding member of the HealthPartners Health Advisory Network Steering Committee and a member of HDRN Canada’s Public Advisory Council.

Dr. Amol Verma is a physician and scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, and the Temerty Professor of AI Research and Education in Medicine at the University of Toronto. Amol co-founded and co-leads GEMINI, Canada’s largest hospital clinical data research network. He is a Provincial Clinical Lead for Quality Improvement in General Internal Medicine with Ontario Health, Vice Chair of the Researcher Council of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada and has received the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine New Investigator Award, the CIHR Trailblazer Award in Population and Public Health Research and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Early Career Leadership Award.

Charlotte Munro is a person with lived experience who has been involved in patient engagement for several years. The co-author of opioid-related research publications, she advises on drug policies and sits on several advisory boards. Charlotte is a single mother by choice, a support worker and a volunteer. As a social justice advocate in her community of Stratford, ON, Charlotte promotes peer support, harm reduction and trauma-informed approaches, working to address social inequalities in marginalized populations. She has been a member of HDRN Canada’s Public Advisory Council since 2024.

Elaine Kicknosway is Swampy Cree through her biological mother from Amisk Lake; her biological father is from Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan. She is a member of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Northern Saskatchewan and is part of the Wolf Clan. Elaine is a Sixties Scoop survivor who returned home in 1996. She has been a longtime community advocate in the areas of child welfare, MMIW2SG, healthy families and Indigenous wellness that include spaces for the LGBTQ2S+. Elaine is an Indigenous, trauma-informed counsellor, a Blanket Exercise facilitator and trainer, an Indigenous full spectrum birth-to-death doula, and a traditional dancer, singer and drummer. She is the co-founder of The Sixties Scoop Network and a carrier of ceremonial teachings. 

Julia Wiercigroch is an MD-PhD student at the University of Toronto. She holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics and Engineering from Queen’s University, specializing in Systems and Robotics. Her research focuses on applying machine learning and computer vision to develop AI-driven tools for medical image analysis, with the goal of improving patient outcomes. She is interested in translating AI applications into clinical practice, ensuring their ethical development, and fostering patient engagement in healthcare innovation.

Dr. Marta Maslej is a staff scientist with the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics (KCNI) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). She completed her PhD in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University, with a focus on understanding the emotional and cognitive symptoms of depression, and implications for treatment. Dr. Maslej started her clinical research training at CAMH in 2018, by evaluating the feasibility and efficacy of an online psychosocial intervention for depression. She joined KCNI as a CIHR-funded postdoctoral fellow in 2019, with an interest in the potential of technology to improve mental health assessment and care. Her postdoctoral research involved analyzing unstructured data from electronic health records to predict outcomes in depression and experimental work into the impact of artificial intelligence-based clinical decision support.

Commissioner Michael Harvey was appointed to a six-year term as BC’s Information and Privacy Commissioner in May 2024. Prior to that, Michael served as the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Newfoundland and Labrador, where he led the implementation of the new Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015. Then, as Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy, Planning and Performance Management in the Department of Health and Community Services, he was responsible for the ongoing statutory review of the Personal Health Information Act. Commissioner Harvey served as co-chair of Canada Health Infoway’s Privacy Forum and was appointed by the federal government to the Expert Advisory Group on a pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy. He holds an IB from the United World College – USA, a BA in Political Science from Memorial University, an MA in Political Studies from Queen’s University and an Executive Certificate in Conflict Management from the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law/Stitt Feld Handy Group.

Dr. Nathan Nickel is the Director of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and an Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba, Co-Director of the Manitoba Interdisciplinary Lactation Centre, and a scientist at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba. Dr. Nickel is an applied population health scientist who uses whole-population administrative data to conduct health and social policy research. Dr. Nickel’s research program uses a cross-disciplinary, team-science approach, partnering with scientists, community and government policy- and decision-makers to generate actionable evidence to improve population health and well-being. His work examines parent-child health and mental health outcomes within the contexts of the social and structural determinants of health. Much of his research is done in partnership with First Nations, Métis and Inuit organizations in Manitoba. Dr. Nickel has been a member of HDRN Canada’s Executive Committee since 2022.

Parsa Balalaie is a research data analyst at the Upstream Lab. He holds a Master of Science in Neuroscience from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Iran. Parsa specialized in bio-signal processing and machine learning, focusing on utilizing artificial intelligence and data analytics to discover patterns in brain activity. At Upstream Lab, Parsa is dedicated to promoting health equity and addressing social determinants of health through innovative data analysis and research. His interest in digital health and technology innovation and his vision of leveraging AI to enhance healthcare services and outcomes attracted him to the lab.