Building a collaborative community
Research and technological innovation have demonstrated the ability to make meaningful improvements and address known and emerging challenges in the healthcare system. The best innovations occur when researchers work collaboratively with health care professionals who have deep insight into the problems and what would make a successful solution to solve complex, people-centered problems.
The Clinical Council initiative aims to support these collaborations with the health care community at the University of Waterloo by:
- Providing networking opportunities
- Facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations with the health care community
- Inspiring meaningful innovations
Clinical Council
Answering complex questions requires collaborative approaches, new connections, and multidisciplinary conversations. To work towards this, we founded the Clinical Council – a group of health care professionals wanting to engage with health technology researchers and innovators, share their insights, and facilitate broader connections within the healthcare community.
The clinicians that are part of the council are here to have conversations with researchers in structured events about:
- Building connections
- Health care challenges and opportunities
- Realities of health technologies in active clinical settings
Upcoming events
Clinical Council Engagement Session
The first opportunity for Engagement Sessions will occur in May/June 2024. Sessions are intended to provide face-to-face interactions with relevant Clinical Council members to discuss current or future project ideas, and develop potential partnerships, collaborations, and receive expert clinical perspectives and feedback. Researchers will need to apply to participate in this event.
Clinical Problem Space Exposition
This event will occur in October and feature a blend of health care professionals giving invited talks on prominent and urgent health care problems they see in their own contexts and professional settings along with opportunities for students to showcase their current work.
Clinical Council Engagement Session
The second opportunity for Engagement Sessions will occur in November 2024. Sessions are intended to provide face-to-face interactions with relevant Clinical Council members to discuss current or future project ideas, and develop potential partnerships, collaborations, and receive expert clinical perspectives and feedback. Priority for this round of talks will be given to research applicants whose research areas align with the Clinical Problem Space Talks.
If you are interested in learning more about these events or registering for any of these events, please reach out to Jessica O'Connor.
Council members
The clinicians who make up our Clinical Council serve a 1-year term with the opportunity for renewal.
Dr. Steven Dain
Steven Dain MD, FRCPC is Chief Medical Informatics Officer at DocBox Inc, a Critical Care Unit software provider, semi-retired anesthesiologist and Adjunct Professor, Systems Design Engineering and the Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology at the University of Waterloo. He has practiced anesthesiology and perioperative medicine for over 35 years in southwestern Ontario, Canada. He is a retired Associate Professor of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Dr Dain’s research for the past 30 years was at the nexus of medical practice and technology. How can computer technology be leveraged in anesthesia and critical care. Much of his work has been in collaboration with the MD PnP — the Medical Device "Plug-and-Play" Interoperability Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Cambridge, MA developing the “Patient-centric integrated clinical environment” creating a bedside micro-network of interoperable, time synchronized medical devices as a platform for automation of medical records, tele-critical care, remote control, and autonomous care. At DocBox, he also has been working with TATRC, the US Army Telemedicine and Advanced Research Center, remotely controlling ventilators and infusion pumps as part of an Integrated Clinical Environment. At the University of Waterloo, he has mentored undergrads, grad students and postdocs in their projects. For over 25 years, Dr. Dain has participated in the writing and development of Canadian National and International Standards for medical equipment (ISO and IEC), medical device communications (IEEE) and design and construction of healthcare facilities (CSA). In January 2018, he was appointed Chair of the Organization for International Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee 121 Anesthetic and respiratory equipment, with over 50 participating and observing member nations, overseeing over 100 published ISO standards and 44 standards under development.
Dr. Doug Dittmer
Dr. Doug Dittmer graduated with a degree in medicine from Queen’s University and completed his fellowship training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at McMaster University. He became chief of PM&R at Victoria Hospital in London with a focus in trauma (orthopedic and burn) and was on faculty at UWO (Western). He has published over a dozen peer reviewed articles, plus book chapters and editorials and an international patent on an orthotic device. He continues to teach residents and fellows both in London and Kitchener-Waterloo. His clinical interests include Prosthetics and Orthotics, sports medicine, musculoskeletal medicine, and EMG (Electromyography). With a life-long interest in sports medicine, he served on the executive of the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine and was elected President in 2009. He was a physician on the Canadian medical teams for 3 Paralympic Games (Atlanta, Nagano and Sydney), the Vancouver Olympics, and 2016 Pan Am and Para Pan Am Games. He has served on the development commission for FIMS (Federation International de Medecine du Sport, Lausanne, Switzerland), and as President of the Ontario Football Conference (of the Canadian Junior Football League).
Since coming to the Waterloo area, Dr. Dittmer has worked as Chief and Medical Director at Grand River-Freeport Hospital and has embraced the engineering community and innovation atmosphere of the region. He is currently an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His current research project is the development of a “Smart” socket for amputees to reduce skin problems. He has worked to develop an online AI course for healthcare workers, now available through Queen’s University. He has chaired four med-tech conferences. He has helped foster a collaboration between post secondary institutions and hospitals to work in partnership on common interests, particularly innovation in community and rural hospitals. He is a competitive tennis player and enjoys his five grandchildren.
Dr. Chryssa McAlister
Dr. Chryssa McAlister is the co-division lead of ophthalmology and with Dr. Toby Chan helped to establish the first regional centralized cataract referral program in Ontario. Dr. McAlister helps to coordinate the WRC medical student and family medicine resident teaching in ophthalmology and teaches bioethics for postgraduate ophthalmology with appointments at the University of Toronto and McMaster University. In 2023, she started the Macrae Bioethics and Professionalism Course in Ophthalmology, a biennial program for senior ophthalmology residents across Canada.
McAlister runs a diverse comprehensive medical and surgical ophthalmology practice and manages a wide range of ocular conditions. She performs cataract surgery, refractive cornea, and strabismus surgery, intravitreal injections and various laser procedures. She also sees pediatric patients with eye disease in the Waterloo Region.
Dr. Neil Naik (Chair, Clinical Council)
Dr. Neil Naik grew up in the GTA and studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. He completed his residency in both urban Newfoundland and rural Nunavut, and further enhanced his education at OntarioMD with a rotation in Health Informatics and Leadership. He has embarked on his Executive MBA at the Ivey School of Business, where he is looking at how to make an innovative public healthcare system while continuing to build on our high quality of care. He practices family medicine in Waterloo, Ontario where he teaches family medicine and office management to medical students as an Assistant Clinical Professor at McMaster University and the University of Waterloo.
Dr. Naik is a Physician Advisor with the eHealth Centre for Excellence, medical advisor for multiple startup companies, Primary Care Lead for the KW4 Ontario Health Team, Regional Primary Care Lead for Prevention and Treatment of Cancer for the Waterloo Wellington Region, and is on the Board of Governors for the Grand River Hospital Foundation where he chairs the Jupiter Lab subcommittee, bringing innovation into hospital care through novel investment streams and opportunities.
He sits on a series of advisory boards including the regional renal and endoscopy boards, the Ontario Medical Laboratories Network for Connect Care board, the Waterloo Medtech Innovation working group, and the Leadership Action Committee for the KW4 OHT. As a Board Director for the Canada-Africa Community Health Alliance, Dr. Naik is working on bringing innovative medical products to clinics in remote villages in Tanzania while providing medical care. As president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Academy of Medicine, Dr. Naik is working on enhancing communication between physicians, socially and professionally.
In his spare time, his true passion is in backcountry hiking and portaging. It has led him to attempt to build canoes in his spare time.
Dr. Tejal Patel
Dr. Tejal Patel is a Clinical Associate Professor and Co-Director, Master of Advanced Pharmacy Practice Program at the University of Waterloo (UW) School of Pharmacy, Schlegel Specialist in Medication Management and Aging with the Schlegel-UW Research Institute of Aging and Pharmacy Lead for the MINT Memory Clinics. Dr. Patel obtained her Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Kentucky and completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Pharmacokinetics and Neurology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Patel’s clinical practice is focused on the pharmacotherapeutic management of cognitive disorders, seizures, and Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Patel’s research program centers on: 1. Identifying medication related problems in older adults with neurological disorders; 2. Examining the impact of pharmacist interventions on medication optimization and; 3. Investigating the role of healthcare technology in medication self-management by older adults.
Dr. Kevin Samson
Dr. Samson is a family physician. He is also an electrical engineer specializing in computer programming and biomedical engineering and has been actively involved in the development and application of digital health solutions throughout his career. He maintains active roles with a number of provincial and national organizations including the Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario (AFHTO), OntarioMD, Diabetes Action Canada, the eHealth Centre of Excellence, Ontario Health, the Centre for Effective Practice, Healthcare Excellence Canada and Khure Health. He is the Clinical Lead for Digital Health and Privacy and Security for the Guelph Wellington Ontario Health Team, an executive member of the Guelph Wellington Physician Association, and Chair of the OntarioMD TELUS Practice Solutions Suite EMR Community of Practice. Dr. Samson is an Associate Clinical Professor (Adjunct) in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University and a clinical advisor for the MACcelerate Health innovation accelerator.
Dr. Samson received the 2019 inaugural Canada Health Informatics Clinical Innovator award which recognizes a clinical innovator who has shown outstanding leadership in Canada in advancing the use of Digital Health or Virtual Health in clinical practice resulting in improved provider and patient experiences and outcomes.