Health Futures

The Waterloo School of Pharmacy implemented a mass vaccination clinic for COVID-19 immunization in 2021.

With many multidisciplinary teams working together in an environment not built for such a complex clinical system, researchers at the University of Waterloo created an app to support front-line workers. The app streamlined information flow to help solve logistical challenges that arose.

Waterloo’s globally recognized startup program Velocity launched an initiative that aims to help new companies in the health-tech sector access funding and get products and services in the hands of those who need them.

The initiative – Velocity Health – was officially launched at a kickoff event at the University of Waterloo. The latest stream of the Velocity suite of platforms was created to address the key challenges health-tech startups face.

Able Innovation’s robotic patient transfer platform has found a home in Ottawa.

The company’s ALTA platform, which enables hands-free patient transfer, will be used at Saint-Vincent Hospital, a complex care unit of the Elisabeth Bruyère health network.

ChatGPT, a language processing tool driven by artificial intelligence (AI), has been making headlines since its launch late last year.

Waterloo’s School of Pharmacy has already been utilizing a generative AI platform since early-2018 to enhance experiential learning for pharmacy professionals and students. Now, the School is looking to incorporate ChatGPT technology in that same platform.

The entrepreneurship ecosystem at Waterloo Engineering nurtures promising ideas into thriving enterprises. In our weekly Founder Fuel series, we look at new ventures and how they have benefited from that crucial early support.

Youssef Helwa (BASc ’15, nanotechnology engineering, MASc ’17, electrical and computer engineering) arrived at Waterloo not long after Velocity launched and new ventures like Thalmic Labs were creating big buzz.

The World Health Organization recently stated that the spillover to mammals of H5N1 influenza—commonly known as bird flu—should be monitored closely, and we need to be prepared to face infection in humans. Dr. Christine Dupont, a biologist at the University of Waterloo, is an expert on infectious disease in animals. This interview has been condensed.

This outbreak of bird flu is affecting domesticated and wild bird populations worldwide. How would you characterize it?

Many things change with a dementia diagnosis, but support for your health and wellness should not be one of them.

The Dementia Resources for Eating, Activity, and Meaningful inclusion (DREAM) project is a cross-Canada research team, led by the University of Waterloo alongside the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). It brings together 40 people and 15 organizations, including the Alzheimer Society of Ontario, Alzheimer Society of British Columbia and the YMCA of Three Rivers.

Medical assistance in dying (MAID) raises many ethical issues, one of which is whether an absence of social support makes MAID an authentic choice.

That’s the view of Dr. Andrew Stumpf, an assistant professor of philosophy at St. Jerome’s University, a federated institution of the University of Waterloo. Stumpf’s research focuses on ethics and end-of-life care.

According to Statistics Canada, in 2019 roughly 1.3 million Ontarians reported that they did not have access to a family physician.

Hospital emergency rooms are extremely busy, but a significant portion of avoidable ER visits can now be managed by pharmacists through the new expanded scope of practice for pharmacists, which gives them the ability to prescribe medications for 13 minor ailments.

The entrepreneurship ecosystem at Waterloo Engineering nurtures promising ideas into thriving enterprises. In our weekly Founder Fuel series, we look at new ventures and how they have benefited from that crucial early support.

Sunscreen can help prevent skin cancer, but only if it is used correctly. Andrew Martinko (BASc ’15, nanotechnology engineering, MBET ’16) and his Capstone team decided to give sun-seekers a little nudge.