Healthy Cities, Healthy People 2024

The digital health revolution has the potential to transform healthcare in several meaningful ways, increasing access, enhancing patient experiences, reducing costs, accelerating information sharing and advancing public health research. But reaping these benefits through the digital revolution is not without its challenges.

Now in its second year, Healthy Cities, Healthy People 2024 will focus on digital health and femtech - the use of digital health applications such as software, diagnostics, products, and services to improve women’s health.

As a hospital focused on moving the needle of health equity and leading the new era of sex and gender in health, Women's College Hospital wants to be a part of making Toronto a better, healthier place to live. Healthy Cities, Healthy People 2024 will bring together a diverse group of presenters and attendees for a lively and interactive program, engaging members of the public and local community in thought-provoking discussions.

With opening remarks from the Mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow, Healthy Cities, Healthy People 2024 will feature six speakers with a variety of expertise to discuss the rapidly evolving theme of digital health.

We hope you will join us!

Our speakers:

Eileen de Villa, Medical officer of Health, City of Toronto.

Dr. Eileen de Villa is Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health and leads the largest local public health agency in Canada, serving Toronto’s 3 million+ residents. Dr. de Villa has been at the forefront of public health efforts in Toronto, including guiding the largest vaccination campaign in Toronto's history during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. de Villa continues to push for initiatives that address the health inequities faced in our city, such as addressing mental health and substance use challenges and strategies to advance the health of Indigenous peoples and racialized communities in Toronto.

Talk Topic: Using data to engage the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Enid Montague: Human factors engineer, associate professor University of Toronto.

Dr. Enid Montague, PhD is a University of Toronto Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering with expertise in human-centered automation in health care. Dr. Montague researches appropriate automation between physicians, patients and technologies and designing systems for health equity, and patient safety. Dr. Montague has received numerous awards for her research including the Francis Research Fellowship, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) early career award from that, and a Fulbright award to improve health care systems.

Talk Topic: The critical role of human-centered automation in primary care and its inclusion in planning healthier and more equitable cities.

Goli Ameri: Chief Scientific Officer, Cosm Medical

Cosm Medical is a Toronto-based medical device company, leading the transformation of pelvic health with precision-based urogynecological devices designed for unique bodies and needs. Driven by the belief that every body is different, Cosm is pioneering personalized solutions for pelvic floor disorders like pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence, which affect up to 50% of women in their lifetime. Dr. Goli Ameri received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering, specializing in image-guided therapy and surgery, from the Robarts Research Institute at Western University in 2018. Shortly after, she joined Cosm Medical as its first employee and has been instrumental in the company's growth. As Head of Research, Dr. Ameri leads Cosm’s clinical research and scientific affairs.

Talk topic: TBC

Carmen Logie: Canada Research Chair: Global Health Equity & Social Justice. Professor, University of Toronto and United Nations University.

Dr. Carmen Logie is a Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto, Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Research Institute at Women’s College Hospital, and Canada Research Chair in Global Health Equity & Social Justice with Marginalized Populations. She works with international, multi-sectored teams around the world that include community leaders, policy makers and decision-makers in the public sector and the non-profit sector, as well as researchers in postsecondary institutions including undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Talk topic: Empowering Urban Refugees: The Role and Limits of Digital Technology and mobile Health in Healthcare Access

Sarah Sharma: Professor of Media Theory and Director of the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Sarah Sharma's research and teaching focuses on the relationship between technology, time and labour with a specific focus on issues related to gender, race, and class. She has authored several books and is currently working on one on the topic of gender, technology and escape tentatively titled Broken Machine Feminism due out next year.

Talk topic: "Digital Selfie Care". From Tik Tok self-care trends to fit bits to short mindfulness moments at your desk, this talk will discuss how new forms of digital culture continuously reshape the contours of self-care. I will turn to the digital capture of self-care, or what I call “selfie-care”, as distinct from and often odds with the types of self-care needed in communities. But rather than dismiss selfie-care as a frivolous or individualistic practice, I suggest we treat it as a vital media form that needs to be better understood for the overall health of our communities.

Lucrezia Spagnolo: founder and CEO of VESTA Social Innovation Technologies.

VESTA is a social enterprise transforming how individuals who have experienced gender based violence seek and access justice. Lucrezia Spagnolo is on a mission to harness the power of community and technology to lower the barriers to reporting, and to increase and equalize access to resources. Her vision is that by ensuring individuals have agency, choice and equal treatment under the law, systemic change can and will occur.

Talk topic: Creating Safer Communities: The Impact of Gender-Based Violence