Speakers

Speaker Sessions

Speaker sessions are each 50 minutes long. Each attendee will be asked to select their top choices during preference selection, which will occur a few weeks after ticket sales and registration.


Keynote Speakers 

Dr. Shaf Keshavjee: Future of Transplantation: Engineering and Distribution of Super-Organs for Transplantation

Dr. Shaf Keshavjee is a Thoracic surgeon and Director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program. He is Chief of Innovation at University Health Network (UHN). He is Professor of Thoracic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering and Vice Chair for Innovation, Department of Surgery, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto (UofT).

Dr. Keshavjee completed his medical training at UofT in 1985. He subsequently trained in General Surgery, Cardiac Surgery and Thoracic Surgery at UofT followed by fellowship training at Harvard University and the University of London for airway surgery and heart-lung transplantation, respectively. He joined the faculty at UofT in 1994 and was promoted to Full Professor in 2002. Dr. Keshavjee was the inaugural holder of the Pearson-Ginsberg Chair in Thoracic Surgery and served as the Chair of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Toronto from 2004 to 2010. He served as Surgeon-in-Chief of University Health Network from 2010-2022.

Dr. Keshavjee’s clinical practice is in thoracic oncology, lung cancer and lung transplantation. He has a passion for surgery and innovative research. He is a Senior Scientist in the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, UHN. He leads a large team of researchers in a foremost pulmonary research program and is widely published in the field. His specific research interest is in lung injury related to transplantation. His current research involves the study of support systems, molecular diagnostics and gene therapy to repair organs and to engineer superior organs for transplantation.

Dr. Keshavjee has served on the board of directors of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, the Canadian Society of Transplantation, and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, where he also served as Treasurer and 102nd President. He has received numerous awards for contributions to medicine, including the George Armstrong Peters Young Investigator Award, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, the Colin Woolf Award for Excellence in Medical Education, and the Lister Prize in Surgery - the highest award for research achievement in the Department of Surgery at UofT. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and has been awarded Honorary Doctor of Science Degrees from both Ryerson University and Queen’s University. He was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for his service to mankind. 

He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Society for Transplantation, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Canadian Blood Services, and the American Society of Transplantation Innovation Award for contributions to the field of lung transplantation. He received the prestigious Flance-Karl Award (2021) from the American Surgical Association - awarded to a surgeon who has made a seminal contribution in basic laboratory research which has been applied to clinical surgery for his work in ex vivo organ perfusion. He also received the FNG Starr Award (2021) - the highest national award from the Canadian Medical Association recognizing a physician for their outstanding and inspiring lifetime achievement.

Dr Keshavjee has received two Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals and the national Governor General’s Award for Innovation. He was awarded the Order of Ontario in 2014 and received Canada’s highest civilian honour in 2013 with an appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Dr. Vipan Nikore:

Dr. Vipan Nikore, MD, MBA is an internal medicine physician at Cleveland Clinic Canada and at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus in Cleveland, Ohio. He is also the Chief Medical Director of TD Bank globally and the Site Medical Director for the Department of Medicine at Trillium Health Partners Credit Valley Hospital. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, where he teaches clinical medicine on the hospital wards and lectures on healthcare leadership, emotional intelligence, and health innovation.

Dr. Nikore has led and founded various organizations and groups, such as HomecareHub to help patients find home care, and the non-profit LYFE (formerly uFLOW), which empowers underserved youth to start their own health service projects. He is a former software developer at IBM, and also led projects at Sun Microsystems, Citibank, UCLA, WHO in Geneva, UNICEF in India, the Ontario Ministry of Health, and Lux Capital in NYC.

He has authored chapters on e-Health, medical devices, and genomics, and is authoring a chapter on artificial intelligence in healthcare. He has given talks on healthcare technology, innovation, global health, and leadership in various cities around the world.

Dr. Nikore completed his internal medicine residency training from Cleveland Clinic's main campus, MD degree at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC), MBA at the Yale School of Management, and his BSc in computer science and software engineering at the University of Western Ontario. He is a recipient of Canada’s “Top 40 under 40” award, the country’s most coveted award for young leaders.

In his free time he enjoys sports, travelling, writing, technology, entrepreneurship, philosophy, mentoring youth, discovering new restaurants, and more recently, attempting to learn the guitar and other new activities. He remains very active by working out and participating in hockey, baseball, hot yoga, skiing, and martial arts.


Presenters

Dr. Samantha Winemaker: Modern Palliative Care: Essentials For Future Physician

Dr. Winemaker is a graduate of McMaster University Medical School. She has completed residency training in Family Medicine, and fellowship training in Palliative Medicine. Her clinical work is predominately community based, caring for people in their home. She is an associate clinical professor at McMaster University in the Department of Family Medicine, Division of Palliative Care. She has held multiple leadership roles including McMaster Postgraduate Curriculum Lead, Hospice Medical Director, Regional Palliative Clinical Lead and Medical Lead Palliative Care Outreach Team. She is an active educator and researcher. Most importantly, Dr. Winemaker is an advocate for palliative care reform.  She believes strongly that basic principles of palliative care should be the responsibility of all health care providers and integrated into care seemlessly, upstream in the patient’s illness journey. She is the co-creator of the social movement called The Waiting Room Revolution, the co-host of the Waiting Room Revolution podcast, co-authour of the book Hope For The Best Plan For The Rest: 7 Keys for Navigating a Life-Changing Diagnosis, and very active voice on multiple social media platforms. She has won numerous awards for her leadership and palliative care education for health care professionals.

Dr. Lee Bartel: Sound as Medicine: Mapping the Landscape of Music and Health 

Lee Bartel, PhD, is Professor Emeritus, the former Associate Dean of Research, and Founding Director of the Music and Health Research Collaboratory (MaHRC) at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto and currently a research member of the Music and Health Research Institute at the University of Ottawa. At U of T  he is a member and former board member of the Collaborative Program in Neuroscience, cross-appointed to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, to the Institute for Life Course and Aging, to the Rehabilitation Science Institute, and a participant in the Collaborative Program in Musculoskeletal Science. In Music and Health Bartel has a broad interest ranging through music therapy, music medicine, music neuroscience, musician’s health, and music in human development. He has a special interest in applications of music in health conditions of aging and rehabilitation and is well known for his research and design of music for brain effects with 27 albums on Solitudes and SonicAid.  His primary research interest is Pulsed Stimulation Therapy with applications in pain, depression, Alzheimer’s, spinal and skeletal conditions, and Cardiac Rehab.  He serves as Chief Scientific Officer and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for Neuro Spinal Innovations and was Co-Chair of the Board, and Chair of the Research and Development Committee, for the Room217 Foundation devoted to music care in long-term care contexts.  His current research studies include a study of the mechanisms of fibromyalgia with Women’s College Hospital and Baycrest, an international back pain study, and a study of a therapeutic for the cognitive deficit of COVID19 with University College London and an international team of researchers.  Currently in development are studies on the effect of vibroacoustic stimulation on schizophrenia with a group at a hospital in Tours France  and a study on sound as neuromodulation for migraine headaches with a researcher at the MAYO clinic. 

Dr. Jon Novick: Physician Wellness: As a Learner and Beyond

Dr. Jon Novick is the Medical Director for the Physician Health Program (PHP) of the Ontario Medical Association.  His team works to enable careers, transform the health care system and address the unique needs of medical learners and physicians facing occupational hazards, addictions, and mental health problems.

After receiving his MDCM from McGill University, he trained as a psychiatrist, an addiction medicine specialist, and a psychoanalyst.  He obtained certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, the American Board of Preventive Medicine (Addiction Medicine), and as a Medical Review Officer.  

Prior to joining the OMA’s PHP in 2017, Dr. Novick pioneered work in career exploration and career development for medical students, and served as the first Director, Career Advising System, with the MD Program at the University of Toronto.  

In addition to his work with the OMA PHP, Dr. Novick maintains a psychiatric practice in the Greater Toronto Area where he lives with his husband, two kids, and a bouncing clown (also known as a whoodle.)

Dr. Noah Crampton: AI in Medicine: Where We Are Now and Where We Are Going

 

Dr. Noah Crampton is a family physician at Toronto Western Family Health Team in Toronto. After graduating, he pursued a career as a clinician researcher because he knew that digital technologies would likely transform his career as an early-stage clinician. Today, he is working diligently to advance the field of AI in EMRs as an effective method of improving quality of care across populations. Specifically, he is CEO of an ambient AI scribe start-up Mutuo Health Solutions, and is a lecturer at the University of Toronto with expertise in the EMR aggregator database UTOPIAN. He is also the co-chair for the digital health planning table for the Mid-West Ontario Health Team.