Executive Committee (Elected): Elizabeth Keller (Chair & Head of Delegation), Bev Knight (Vice-Chair), Finnie Flores (Vice-Chair), Don Newsham (past-Chair).
Elizabeth Keller, MA and BA (Hons), Chair
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and Head of Canadian Delegation (Standards Council of Canada).
Elizabeth is a leading executive, strategist and integrator in Canadian digital health and a recognized health expert internationally. She was recently named one of the Top 10 Women Leaders in Digital Health in Canada by her peers. In her volunteer role as Chair for the MC, Elizabeth has worked on many standards initiatives; including patient summary standards sets, cross collaboration on the Joint Initiative Council, participation frameworks with the World Health Organization (WHO) and eSafety. Elizabeth brings extensive private sector experience from PwC, IBM and now in her current role for Amazon Web Services (AWS), as well as her last 10 years of experience as VP at OntarioMD, where she led dozens of provincial digital health roll-outs to clinicians. Elizabeth gladly volunteers her expertise and leadership in the healthcare community in Canada and internationally; as an elected Advisor to Digital Health Canada and CHIEF (Canada’s Health Informatics Executive Forum), as a writer and speaker at many global Health conferences and as a mentor to the next generation of digital health professionals.
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Grant Gillis’s association on behalf of Canada with ISO/TC 215 Health Informatics began shortly after the committee’s inception in 1998, and he has been a formal member and regular delegate on behalf of Canada ever since. Over this time, he has served several terms as Secretary and then Convenor to the international committee’s WG1 Architecture, Frameworks & Models, as well as working at senior levels on several domestic and international strategic planning and operational initiatives advancing the cause of health informatics internationally, nationally and with several provinces and organization. As a Canadian delegate to ISO, Grant has also contributed to numerous ballot reviews and led several international project teams. Grant is the inaugural Canadian Mirror Committee Chair of Sub-Committee 1 for Genomics Informatics, and supports several Canadian projects at the international level. Grant is currently a Director with Alberta Health Services, focused on the Canadian-first implementation of Epic as the provincial clinical information system.
Committee Members:
Dr. Kelly Abrams, PhD., CHIM
Lindsay Smith, MSc, Vice-Chair of MC/ISO/TC 215 SC1 Genomics
As the Work Stream and Clinical Projects Manager at the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH), Lindsay manages international teams developing standards for the responsible sharing of genomic and health-related data. Her work supports the clinical adoption of genomics through establishing standardized information models to describe clinical data for use in genomic medicine and research, including the capture and exchange of information across electronic health records, research systems, registries, journals, and patient platforms. She also supports the development of policies and frameworks that focus on the ethical, legal and social implications of international data sharing. Lindsay is a strong advocate of a global ‘learning health system’, coordinating the sharing of tools, experience, and knowledge among large-scale national genomic initiatives. Lindsay holds an MSc in Molecular Genetics with a collaborative specialization in Developmental Biology from the University of Toronto. Prior to joining GA4GH in 2019, she was a Clinical Research staff member at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, investigating potential drug targets for rare neuromuscular disorders. She is currently based at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) in Toronto, Canada.
Committee Members:
Dr. Kelly Abrams, PhD., CHIM
Kelly Abrams is a Standards Council of Canada Mirror Committee representative on ISO/TC 215 Health Informatics Working Group 3 - Semantic Content. She has over 30 years’ experience in health informatics and information management Dr. Kelly Abrams, Ph.D., CHIM is a Standards Council of Canada Mirror Committee representative on ISO/TC215 Health Informatics Working Group 3 - Semantic Content and Working Group 6 – Pharmacy and Medicines Business, and ISO/PC 317 Consumer protection: privacy by design for consumer goods and services. Kelly has over 30 years in health informatics with expertise in workforce transformation, privacy, information management, and data governance. Kelly was also the VP with the Canadian College of Health Information Management and presently, is the privacy and data governance consultant on the University of Regina’s RCMP Longitudinal Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Projectis an adjunct professor at the University of Regina’s Masters of Health Informatics and Information Management Program.
Craig Anderson
Craig Anderson is Senior Expert, Program Delivery at Health Canada’s Transformation and Business Informatics Division. Craig’s role is focused on representing Health Canada on international IT/IM forums; facilitating the development and implementation of international standards; facilitating delivery of regulatory informatics projects related to electronic product labeling, data governance, automation; and IT modernization/business optimization.Craig also has over 13 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in regulatory operations and regulatory information management. He has operated as global line manager with staff in Canada, USA and Sweden; with global responsibility for regulatory submission and information management.
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Helen is a Project Manager at CanImmunize. With experience in public health, research, project management, and digital health technologies, Helen has contributed to various projects for the development, implementation, and adoption of digital tools that support clinicians and increase access to care for patients. Her experience includes large-scale implementations in diverse settings such as Electronic Health Record (EHR)-based clinical decision support tools in long-term care homes, digital medication reconciliation solutions in hospitals, and electronic referrals in health clinics across Ontario. Helen is committed to improving population health outcomes through safety and quality standards, advances in patient care and experience, and the continued integration of digital health services into Canada’s healthcare system. She is excited to join the Standards Council of Canada ISO TC 215 to support positive transformation in standardizing data and health informatics.
Frederic Laroche
Frederic Laroche is a digital health expert with 20 years of IT consulting experience, including more than 16 years in healthcare informatics. His main fields of expertise are: systems integration, interoperability, standards, architecture, advanced data analytics and health information exchange. In his career to date, Frederic has contributed to several large-scale and complex health projects and he played a key role in high-visibility projects for many organizations. Frederic has a solid background both in technology and business and he works with healthcare and life sciences organizations and startups in Canada and internationally.
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Marion Lyver, MD, FRCP(C), FCFP, CPHIMS-CA
Dr. Marion Lyver is an emergency medicine specialist certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and the College of Family Physicians of Canada and an Assistant Clinical Professor at McMaster U in the Faculty of Medicine. She is a well-known, trusted and well-respected digital health and healthcare consultant, providing services in her areas of expertise to both public and private sector organizations provincially, nationally and internationally for over 20 years. Marion has served as a two-term elected Convenor (Chair) of ISO Technical Committee 215 (Health Informatics) - Working Group 8 (EHR Requirements) and Vice-Convenor of WG1 – Architecture, Frameworks and Models, two terms as an elected representative on the IHTSDO (International Health Terminology Standards Development Organization) Implementation and Innovation Committee, two terms as an elected Board member of COACH – Canada’s Health Informatics Association (now Digital Health Canada) and multi-year terms on Canada Health Infoway governance committees – the Standards Collaborative (SC) Strategic Committee and the SC Coordinating Committee. Marion is among those who have received a national peer recognition award from Canada Health Infoway for her work in advancing health informatics standards to improve quality of care and electronic sharing of healthcare data. At present, Marion is a senior associate for a private sector, international health IT advisory and management consulting services corporation, in addition to continuing her private medical practice.
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Ethne Munden, R.N., HD. (R.Hom.), Dr.Ac., R.Ac
Ethne Munden is sincerely motivated and very dedicated to the profession and practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture (TCM). She is a respected private practitioner of over 35 years. Her private practice Back to Health Inc. was established in 1989. She is often requested consultant to various industries to advise on strategies for back injury prevention, provide treatment programs for injured workers, and deliver educational training sessions in alternative health care interventions. Ethne spearheaded the regulation for TCM in Newfoundland and Labrador and held an active role as Chair of the professional College for TCM and Acupuncture in NL. She has been a founding member in the Canadian Alliance for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture (CARB-TCMPA) and continues to promote the development of the profession in Canada. She has had past participation in an active Chair role for TC 249. Ethne has is regularly invited to present at educational institutions, and she is a frequent featured speaker provincially and internationally. As a Doctor of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Registered Homeopath and Registered Nurse, she brings over forty years of eclectic education and experience to the clinic, its patients, students and the profession.
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Michael Nusbaum is a senior strategist, advisor and thought leader, with more than 35 years of experience devoted exclusively to healthcare. With a background in health services administration and industrial engineering, Michael provides a unique blend of management consulting services to health authorities, governments, hospitals, vendors and professional associations in Canada, the US and around the world. Michael has been actively representing Canada to ISO/TC 215 since 2008, and has served as an elected Vice-Convenor of WG2. Michael continues to participate as a subject matter expert on a number of ISO standards under development, and regularly promotes ISO standards adoption in Canada. Michael concurrently is also the Head of Delegation for IHE International, a “Liaison A” member of ISO/TC 215. Michael is a Past member and Vice-Chair of HIMSS-North America Board, and has been a member of the IHE International Board since its inception.
Ron G. Parker
Ron G. ParkerisPrincipal Consultant, Parker Digital Health Consulting (DHC) Inc. and has 36 years of experience in architecting integrated IT solutions in health and social services enterprises and is currently consulting on Digital Health projects in the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Sri Lanka, focused on Digital Health Enterprise Architecture, and standards-based interoperability. Recently, he was lead and a contributing author on the joint ITU/WHO Digital Health Platform Handbook. As a Fellow of HL7 International, he has over 20 years of participation, and currently he is Chair of HL7 Canada, Co-Chair of the HL7 International Council, and an International Director on the HL7 Board.
Derek Ritz, P.Eng., CPHIMS-CA
Derek Ritz is the principal consultant at ecGroup Inc., a Canadian professional services firm that provides advisory services to domestic and international clients regarding digital health strategy, architecture, standards, implementation and adoption. He has been an advisor to national-scale digital health infrastructure projects in Canada and in over a dozen countries in southern Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Derek is a delegate of Canada to ISO/TC 215 (Health Informatics) and is Canada’s official Liaison to the International eHealth standards profiling organization, IHE. In addition to his consulting work, Derek teaches graduate-level courses in health informatics at the University of Edinburgh, has authored and co-authored multiple books and articles on digital health interoperability, and is an active contributor to a donor-funded project, OpenHIE (www.ohie.org), whose mission is to “improve the health of the underserved through the open, collaborative development and support of country driven, large scale health information sharing architectures.”
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Sue Schneider, BA, CHIM, CPHIMS-CA
Sue Schneider is Director, Digital Health, at Ontario Health, with 15 years in roles dedicated to health informatics standards, focused on data exchange, data content and terminology standards for provincial digital health information accessibility and interoperability. She has been a participant in World Standards Day celebrations from 2011-19. Sue has over 36 years experience across acute, community and veterinary health settings, and government focused on health information and informatics standards. She has contributed to the development and review of ISO and HL7 standards, has been participant in the TC 215 Mirror Committee for 9 years and is a champion for standards-based solutions that foster customer value. She chairs the Ontario Health Digital Health Interoperability Standards Committee advancing Ontario’s application of health informatics and interoperability standards. Sue is an author, mentor, lecturer, and has awards from Canada Health Infoway and the Canadian Health Information Management Association.
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Sarah is a leading Data Analytics and AI professional, Technologist and Futurist, with over 15 years’ experience working with Health Data. Sarah is responsible for leading large Advanced Analytics and AI teams to drive innovative transformational strategies and solutions for health organizations across Canada. As a leader, Sarah actively identifies and facilitates the design and development of sustainable AI within the health sector and provides advisory support to leaders looking to build automation and predictive capabilities. Recent highlights include leading provincial AI initiatives for Ministry of Health BC to enable better data sharing across Health Agencies; supporting the BC COVID-19 response by automating the response to questions from members of the public through development of a provincial intelligent agent; and applying analytics and dynamic data visualizations to monitor vaccine adverse events.
Gordon Wehner
Gord has extensive experience in Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs in the medical device industry having worked with both smaller entrepreneurial organizations and larger well-established firms implementing and improving Quality Management Systems and ensuring regulatory compliance. Gord has participated in standards development as part of TC 210 for medical devices and more recently with TC 215 for IEC 62304. He is currently supporting the development of a standard for Test Methods for Medical Devices that utilize AI. Gord also works as an advisor for two business accelerator organizations assisting early stage medical organizations with regulatory and quality strategies towards the goal of commercialization.
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Timothy Wood, RN, BScN, MScN (in progress)
Timothy is an early career researcher working with Health Authorities in British Columbia and collaborating with universities across Canada and internationally. His clinical background as a Registered Nurse has led him to a career in academia with experience primarily in telehealth research and technological integration into healthcare. Work has included the development of a quality indicator measurement system for Health Authorities, a clinical trial to test and implement new health technology for older adults, and standardized clinical information systems. After a work term as a visiting scholar at the Center for Health Services Research in Australia, Timothy joined TC215 Mirror Committee to provide clinical knowledge and telehealth expertise for revision of the TS13131 Telehealth Quality Guidelines. He is also currently completing his thesis on teletrauma utilization in northern British Columbia and plans to further his training in the area of telehealth research at University of Queensland. With a passion to advance equitable access to appropriate health services for all Canadians, Timothy continues to remain involved with various telehealth related projects and regularly guest lectures and sits on panels at the University of Northern British Columbia. He is excited to be apart of the important work that ISO TC215 is apart of to further the quality, equitability, and accessibility of Canada’s health care system with a focus on technology.