Generative AI is rapidly reshaping the landscape of Canadian health care, presenting both unprecedented opportunities and critical regulatory challenges. In this episode of From the Burgundy Chairs, Santis Health's Digital Health Practice Lead, Ben King, is joined by Will Falk, an Executive-in-Residence at the Rotman School of Management and a Policy Fellow at the Canadian Standards Association Public Policy Group.  

Together, they unpack the core themes of Will's recent report, “A Complement, Not a Substitute: Generative AI’s role in Canadian Healthcare in 2026.” The discussion explores the urgent need for health systems to adopt AI, evaluates the unique strengths and weaknesses of current AI tools, and outlines how policymakers can continue to foster innovation in Canada without compromising patient safety.

Listen in for a unique perspective on one of Canada’s biggest digital health priorities and explore the complex requirements of integrating AI into our health ecosystem. 

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William Falk, Executive-in-Residence, Rotman School of Management (U of T)

Will Falk has spent over 25 years as a strategist and advisor in New York and Toronto, advising top academic centres, governments, and innovative companies in healthcare. Currently he is an Executive-in-Residence at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, a Senior Fellow at the CD Howe Institute and a Policy Fellow at the CSA Public Policy Group.

Mr. Falk is interested in the impacts of technological change on health systems and their governance and payment mechanisms. He works with several innovative enterprises on digital health and software development including as an Innovation Fellow at Women’s College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care. He has been a Board Director or Advisor for more than a dozen enterprises including local and national charities, startups, health systems and publicly listed companies. Will received his B.Sc. from the University of Toronto (Trinity College) and an M.P.P.M. from Yale University’s School of Management where he was later a Visiting Research Fellow.

Canadian health systems are facing sustained pressure from workforce shortages, rising patient complexity, and increasing administrative burden on clinicians. In response, artificial intelligence tools are beginning to be introduced into clinical environments with evidence demonstrating improvements in workflow efficiency, reductions in documentation burden, and gains in system capacity.

However, adoption remains uneven, and the real-world impact of these tools is still being defined. While some clinicians are actively integrating AI into daily practice, others are navigating uncertainty around trust, integration, and operational fit within existing workflows. At the same time, public trust in the use of AI in health care remains mixed, adding an additional layer of complexity for health system leaders working to scale adoption responsibly.

This episode of From the Burgundy Chairs - in collaboration with Heidi - will examine how AI is currently being used in clinical settings, what early experiences are revealing about its value and limitations, and what health system leaders should understand as adoption accelerates.

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Dr. Maxim (Max) Ben-Yakov is an emergency physician based in Toronto, where he serves as an EMR Medical Lead at Hennick Humber Hospital and acts as Director of Emergency Clinical Informatics for the University Health Network.

Dr. Paul Hacker is a palliative care physician based in Ottawa providing community-based care in home and residential hospice settings, and serves as a Clinical Advisor with Heidi, an AI Care Partner.

Dr. Sanjay Mehta is a pediatrician based in Toronto who serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto and practices in both emergency and community pediatric care settings.

Digital Health Founders is a Santis Health series featuring one-on-one conversations with leaders from across Canada’s digital health ecosystem. From transformative startups to public sector changemakers, these episodes explore how innovators are shaping the future of care through collaboration, technology and bold thinking.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia, Founder and CEO of Amplify Care, a leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to driving bold digital health and AI adoption across the healthcare system.

Dr. Alarakhia shares the story of Amplify Care’s founding and evolution, how his firsthand experience as a practicing family doctor shapes his approach to technology, his passion for co-designing solutions with clinicians and patients to reduce administrative burden, and where he sees the Canadian digital health landscape going in the future.

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Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia, Chief Executive Officer, Amplify Care

Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia is the founder of and visionary force behind Amplify Care (formerly the eHealth Centre of Excellence), where his extensive experience in primary care as a practicing family doctor at the Centre for Family Medicine FHT and deep expertise in health informatics have shaped the organization’s bold approach to digital health and AI adoption. As a leading influence in the field, Dr. Alarakhia is dedicated to transforming Canada’s healthcare system by driving ground-breaking, patient-centred solutions that reduce administrative burden for clinicians, while creating more efficient and proactive workflows that can improve patient outcomes. His passion for actioning evidence and championing co-design with clinicians and patients has made him a transformative player in the Canadian digital health ecosystem, continually pushing boundaries to ensure Amplify Care remains at the forefront of innovation and that care is delivered efficiently and effectively.

Dr. Alarakhia was awarded the Digital Health Executive of the Year Award in 2019 and the College of Family Physicians of Canada Award of Excellence in 2018 and 2022. He was recognized by Digital Health Canada as the Clinical Innovator of the Year in 2023, and in 2024, he was the recipient of the John C. Sibley Award for Excellence in Education for Part-Time Faculty. Dr. Alarakhia and Amplify Care won the Innovation Award in 2022 from the Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce. Amplify Care also received a Canadian Medical Association Joule Innovation Grant and an AFHTO Team Award in 2020, as well as a Patient Care Innovation Team Award at the 2019 Canadian Health Informatics Awards, and a 2019 Ingenious Award from the Information Technology Association of Canada.

In this deep dive, veteran health journalist Avis Favaro sits down with Nik Nanos (Nanos Research) and Patrick Nelson (Santis Health) to break down the inaugural Santis-Nanos Canadian Health Perspective - a national survey tracking public sentiment on health care delivery, priorities, and system innovation.

Worried and frustrated by the status quo, Canadians have lost confidence in the system's current trajectory. However, the data reveals more than just discontent; it provides a clear mandate. Canadians are giving governments and decision-makers the license to move faster, innovate, and disrupt the status quo to improve access - all while protecting our publicly-funded system.

Combining Nanos Research’s public opinion methodology with Santis Health’s deep sector expertise, this conversation reveals the critical evidence gaps facing Canadian health care today and how leaders can partner to build better outcomes, better access, and better health for all.

Read the full report: santishealth.ca/canadian-health-perspective/

While Canadian researchers are making incredible biomedical breakthroughs in labs across the country, our capacity to bring those medicines to patients and their health care teams is inefficient, complex and fragmented.

The challenges that currently shape Canada’s access environment are being  exacerbated by an increasingly unstable and competitive global marketplace.

The result?  Without new pathways, new investments and a new commitment to collaboration, too many Canadians will have too little access to breakthrough medicines available to patients in other countries around the world.

To deliver world-class care, Canada must align its life sciences ecosystem—from manufacturers and patient groups to policymakers. By harmonizing policy and funding strategies, we can improve equitable access to life-saving innovations for all Canadians. 

In this episode of From the Burgundy Chairs, Santis Health Senior Advisor Avis Favaro sits down with Dr. Bettina Hamelin, President & CEO of Innovative Medicines Canada. Their conversation focuses on a shared vision for the future: moving past old hurdles through meaningful partnership to support a thriving innovation economy and a healthier Canada.

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Dr. Bettina Hamelin, President & CEO, Innovative Medicines Canada

Dr. Bettina Hamelin, PharmD, EMBA, joined IMC in 2024 with over 30 years of experience in academia, industry, and not-for-profit organizations. Most recently, she served as President and CEO of Ontario Genomics, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to catalyzing and supporting the development of genomics- and engineering biology-based solutions across key sectors of the economy.

Prior to joining Ontario Genomics, Dr. Hamelin served as Vice President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) Research Partnerships Directorate, where she was responsible for encouraging public/private sector collaboration and technology transfer by connecting Canadian research enterprises to Canadian and global innovation partners. She also previously held positions of increasing responsibility in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, including leadership positions at BioChem Pharma and Pfizer, in addition to 10 years of academic research expertise as a tenured professor at Université Laval.

Dr. Hamelin is an active volunteer in the broader research and innovation community, serving as a Board Director at the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization and IRICoR, a centre of excellence in commercialization and research specialized in drug discovery. She also chairs the National Engineering Biology Steering Committee, serves on Ontario’s COVID-19 Genomics Network Steering Committee, is involved in several advisory committees, and is a Mentor at the Creative Destruction Lab, a global startup program for seed-stage, science-based companies.

With over 2.5 million Ontarians currently without a family doctor, the pharmacy is no longer just a place to pick up prescriptions—it is where health care must start. Yet, a significant regulatory bottleneck remains: while Ontario pharmacists can now administer a wider range of vaccines, they often lack the authority to prescribe them, forcing patients back into a strained primary care system for a simple signature.

How can we modernize our primary care system to ensure every Ontarian has equitable, "one-stop" access to life-saving immunizations? What does "unlocking the script" actually mean for patients in rural communities or those navigating private insurance?

In this episode of From the Burgundy Chairs, Santis Health Senior Vice President, National Practice Lead, Management Consulting  and former Physician Dr. Brendan Carr explores the strategic shift needed to position the local pharmacist as a vital clinical partner.

Dr. Carr is joined by a panel of experts leading this charge including: Angeline Ng, VP of Professional Affairs at the Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA); Dr. Paul Jones of Arthur Family Practice and Arthur Travel Health; and Antonella Pucci, Manager of Immunization Initiatives at the Canadian Public Health Association.

Together, they discuss reframing prescriptive authority as a tool to reduce the burden on physicians and close the immunization gaps—such as Ontario’s stalled HPV vaccination rates—that leave too many Canadians behind.

Digital Health Founders is a Santis Health series featuring one-on-one conversations with leaders from across Canada’s digital health ecosystem. From transformative startups to public sector changemakers, these episodes explore how innovators are shaping the future of care through collaboration, technology and bold thinking.

In this episode, we sit down with Adrian Schauer, Founder and CEO of AlayaCare, Canada’s leading software provider for the home care sector.

Adrian shares the story of AlayaCare’s founding and growth, the key challenges and opportunities for digital health in Canada, his own experience as a Canadian innovator growing both here and abroad, and where he sees the digital health landscape going in the future.

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Adrian Schauer, Founder and CEO, AlayaCare

Adrian Schauer is the founder and CEO of AlayaCare, a home healthcare software company that has grown to over 600 employees in eleven years and is delivering its disruptive solution across the globe. AlayaCare’s purpose is to enable the type of care that we would all want our loved ones to receive at home rather than in a hospital or long-term care facility. By combining virtual care tools with the supporting software for in-person homecare, AlayaCare is leading the industry through a transition from fee-for-service to value-based care.

Adrian is a serial technology entrepreneur. Prior to AlayaCare, Adrian built two mobile software companies, both of which were leaders in their respective markets before being acquired. Adrian is an active Angel Investor and sits on the boards of several companies including fast growing technology firms.

In 2016, Adrian received the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Emerging Entrepreneur category in Quebec, and, more recently, AlayaCare has been named a Deloitte Technology Fast50 winner 4 years in a row, securing the #37 position in 2022 and the 17th spot on the 2021 Start-up 50 ranking of Canada’s Top new Growth Companies as published by Canadian Business and Maclean’s.

Adrian is the co-founder of Madiro, a charitable organization created to support innovative solutions to the health problems in low-income countries. He holds a Master of Applied Science from the University of Toronto and Bachelor of Engineering from Queens University.

When pregnancy overlaps with incarceration, trauma histories, or systemic discrimination, care decisions become deeply influenced by power imbalances and stigma. These intersecting challenges often leave vulnerable populations facing significant gaps as they navigate pregnancy and childbirth.

How can we rethink care approaches to reduce this stigma and address the trauma and systemic inequities that exist? What does truly respectful, integrated perinatal care look like for everyone?

In this episode, Santis Health, in collaboration with Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH), unpacks these important questions.

Together, they will unpack the complex issues driving stigma and power imbalances in perinatal care and discuss concrete steps to foster stronger relationships and create healthier outcomes for marginalized and often overlooked populations. 

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Avis Favaro, Senior Advisor, Santis Health

Avis Favaro is an acclaimed medical journalist with decades of experience. As a Senior Advisor at Santis Health, Avis leverages her extensive background in uncovering and reporting on stories that matter to Canadians. Avis leads Santis' media and executive presence training programming. 

Dr. Martha Paynter, Associate Professor, University of New Brunswick, Faculty of Nursing

Dr. Martha Paynter has worked to advance abortion access in Canada for over twenty years. A writer, nurse and public scholar, she is recognized internationally for her expertise at the nexus of reproductive justice and prisoner health. 

She is an associate professor at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing, where her research addresses the health rights of people experiencing incarceration, as well as sexual and reproductive health care in Canada and around the world. 

Dr. Saraswathi Vedam, Lead Investigator, Birth Place Lab, Professor of Midwifery, University of British Columbia

Dr. Saraswathi Vedam is Lead Investigator of the Birth Place Lab and Professor of Midwifery  at the University of British Columbia. She has been a clinician and a health professional educator for over 30 years in which she has successfully coordinated multi-stakeholder community-led research projects in provincial and national settings. Her research focuses on improving maternity care through national and provincial studies examining birth preferences, respectful care, and inequities affecting marginalized communities.

Trust in traditional public health systems is eroding. At the same time, health misinformation - and disinformation - is spreading faster than ever, reshaping how Canadians view and interpret  science and health care.

The 2025 Health and Media Annual Tracking Survey, commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), found that 43% of Canadians are highly susceptible to health misinformation. The impact of this is significant with 37% having acted on online medical advice because they couldn’t access a family doctor, and nearly one in four experiencing negative health outcomes as a result.

The damage isn’t limited to physical health. Misinformation is also driving stress and fear — with 43% of Canadians reporting anxiety or mental distress linked to the spread of false or misleading health information.

The first of a series on the topic, in this episode of Santis Health’s podcast, Santis senior advisor Avis Favaro sits down with Dr. Brendan Carr, Senior Vice President, Management Consulting, and Dr. Joss Reimer, physician and former president of the CMA. Together, they unpack what’s driving the decline in trust in institutions and traditional sources of health information, the role of misinformation, disinformation and what can be done to rebuild confidence in science and care delivery.

This episode is for everyone, decision-makers who see trust not as lost, but as something we can rebuild — paving the way for stronger relationships and healthier communities.

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Avis Favaro, Senior Advisor, Santis Health

Avis Favaro is an acclaimed medical journalist with decades of experience. As a Senior Advisor at Santis Health, Avis leverages her extensive background in uncovering and reporting on stories that matter to Canadians. Avis leads Santis' media and executive presence training programming. 

Dr. Brendan Carr, Senior Vice President, National Practice Lead, Management Consulting, Santis Health

Dr. Brendan Carr is a distinguished health system leader who served as the President & CEO of the Nova Scotia Health Authority, William Osler Health System, and Island Health in British Columbia. He brings an array of expertise in strategic health system leadership and governance with a focus on improving outcomes and rethinking the delivery of care. Dr. Carr’s vast experience in enacting positive improvements and large scale initiatives make him uniquely-suited to providing guidance to Santis clients in the areas of stakeholder engagement, transformation, and strategic implementation.

Dr. Joss Reimer, Past President, Canadian Medical Association & Chief Medical Officer, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority

Dr. Joss Reimer is past president of the Canadian Medical Association and chief medical officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. She is an expert in public health, health communications, health equity and immunizations. She was also the medical lead and spokesperson for Manitoba’s COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce and spent nine years as director of population health at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Reimer practices maternity care and has received awards such as Humanitarian of the Year by Doctors Manitoba and holds the King Charles III Coronation and Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals.   She completed her medical training at the University of Manitoba and McMaster University and holds a master’s in public health focused on health communication.

As Canada prepares for the fall return of Parliament, a major policy question is emerging across industries: what is the country’s economic strategy for the next decade, and what role should health play in it?

After attending the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s B7 summit in May, BD-Canada posed the question: what happens when we shift our view of health as a strategic investment instead of a spending item? This episode of From the Burgundy Chairs reframes medical technologies not as cost centres, but as strategic investments -vital tools to strengthen Canada’s economic resilience, create high-value jobs, and fuel innovation.

In our latest podcast, we explore how a stronger, more integrated MedTech ecosystem can support national priorities from workforce productivity to global competitiveness, and why now is the moment to embed health innovation into Canada’s economic planning.

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Robyn Saccon, Vice President of Public Affairs, BD-Canada

Robyn Saccon is Vice President of Public Affairs at BD-Canada, a global medical technology company that advances health care by improving discovery, diagnostics and delivery of care. Robyn has led BD’s efforts to strengthen system partnerships and shape health policy through evidence-based advocacy.

Rob Pankhurst, Vice President (West), Medtech Canada

Rob Pankhurst is the Vice President (West) of Medtech Canada, the national association representing the medical technology industry. Rob brings deep public and private sector experience, and is a vocal advocate for aligning government priorities with industry innovation.