2025 Conference Speakers

Rashaad Bhyat, MB, BCh BAO, BSc, CCFP, MPLc

Title of his talk:

"Innovation and the Digital Path Forward"

Dr. Rashaad Bhyat is an award-winning family physician with special expertise in Health Informatics and Digital Health, and an accomplished medical communicator. He is Senior Clinical Leader in the Centre for Clinical Innovation in Digital Health (CIDH) within the Connected Care team, at Canada Health Infoway. In 2024, he joined the new Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Medicine as Digital Health Thread Lead and Assistant Clinical Professor.

Over the past decade, he has advised Infoway on numerous strategic initiatives across Canada, including AI in health care, interoperability, virtual care, EMR/EHR adoption, electronic prescribing (PrescribeIT), increasing patient access to health records, clinician-focused digital transformation, and the successful Connected Care Clinician Innovation Grant initiative.

In addition to his medical training, Dr. Bhyat completed a Masters Certificate in Physician Leadership from York University’s Schulich School of Executive Management, a Certificate in Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare from McMaster University, and executive education in Leading Digital Transformation at Harvard Medical School. 

Recently, he co-chaired the Digital Health Interoperability Task Force, a joint initiative of the CMA, CFPC, Royal College, and Infoway, that released its report and recommendations in the fall of 2024. He also co-chaired the CanMEDS 2025 Data Informed Medicine Working Group, for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Currently he practices in an EMR-enabled family medicine clinic in Brampton, Ontario.

Eric Brown, PhD

Title of his talk:

How AI is Helping Us Rediscover Nature’s Pharmacy

Eric Brown is a Distinguished University Professor at McMaster University in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences and member of the M.G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research.

Dr. Brown received his Ph.D. (1992) in Biochemistry studying proline utilization in bacteria at the University of Guelph in Professor Janet Wood’s laboratory.  Subsequently, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Professor Christopher Walsh’s research group at Harvard Medical School researching bacterial cell wall biosynthesis.  Following his academic training, Dr. Brown worked in the Boston biotech sector with Myco Pharmaceuticals and Astra Research Center Boston (now AstraZeneca) before joining the Department of Biochemistry at McMaster in 1998.

Dr. Brown is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and has received a number of other awards including the Canadian Society of Microbiologists Murray Award for career achievement and the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences Merck Frosst Prize for new investigators.  He currently holds a Killam Research Fellowship from the Canada Council for the Arts and Canada Research Chair in Microbial Chemical Biology.

Dr. Brown is a former department Chair and Director of a leading-edge educational program at the nexus of science and commerce, the Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization program. He has served on advisory boards for a variety of companies as well as national and international associations, including a term as President of the Canadian Society of Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology, member of the Medical Review Panel of the Gairdner Foundation, member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Infection and Immunity of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and College Chair advising the Canadian Institutes of Health Research on peer review. Currently, he is a member of the editorial board of ACS Infectious Diseases, the Series Editor of the annual Antimicrobial Therapeutics Review of the Annals of the New York Academy of Science, a member of the Advisory Board of the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Research.

Brown Lab researchers are searching for the Achilles heels of drug-resistant superbugs. To this end they are using tools of chemical biology and molecular genetics to probe the complex biology that underlies bacterial survival strategies. The goal of these studies is to contribute to fresh directions for new antibacterial therapeutics.

If you are interested in a position at Brown Lab please visit our contact page for more information on how to get in touch with Dr. Brown.

Teresa Chan, MD, RCPSC, MHPE, DRCPSC

Title of her talk:

"Innovation and the Digital Path Forward"

Dr. Teresa Chan is the Founding Dean of the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Medicine (Canada's 18th medical school) as well as TMU’s Vice-President, Medical Affairs, and still practices medicine at William Osler Health System.

Dr. Chan’s contributions as a physician leader have transformed medical education. She is a well-published researcher, impactful leader, and generous mentor. In 2024, Dr. Chan was named one of the top 10 most influential leaders in the Maclean's Power List for Health Care.

Elvis Chen, BSc (Hon), MSc, PhD, PDF

Title of his talk:

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Computer Assisted Surgeries (CAS)

Dr. Elvis C.S. Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering with cross-appointments in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Medical Biophysics, and Department of Medical Imaging at Western University.

He is also an Associate Scientist at the Robarts Research Institute and London Health Sciences Centre. Dr. Chen received his Ph.D. from the School of Computing at Queen's University. 

Prior to joining Western Engineering, he was an Assistant Professor in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University. His research focuses on applying computer science techniques, such as machine learning, mixed reality, and computer vision, to assist surgeons performing minimally invasive surgeries.

Dr. Ron Foxcroft, CM

Title of his talk:

"The 40 Ways of the Fox"

Ron Foxcroft was appointed to Canada’s highest citizen honour, the Order of Canada. He was named Entrepreneur of the Decade by Profit Magazine and named to the Burlington Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. He has been named Citizen of the Year in both Hamilton & Burlington. He received an Honourary Doctor of Laws from McMaster University where he was also inducted into the McMaster Athletics Hall of Fame. Ron served for 21 Years as the Chair of the Hamilton John C Munro Airport, the largest packaging freight airport in Canada. 

Ron had an audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace in 2015. He was the Honorary Colonel of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders during the tragic shooting of one of his regiment, Corporal Nathan Cirillo. 

Ron officiated the 1976 Olympic Gold Medal Basketball Game. He enjoyed a distinguished career in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Division-1, highlighted by officiating Michael Jordan’s first college game and the Sweet 16. He chaired the Road to the Final Four NCAA Men’s First and Second Round Tournaments three times and chaired the NCAA Frozen Four, in Buffalo, NY. He was named by Referee Magazine as one of the 52 most influential persons in North American Officiating history. Ron has served 24 seasons with the NBA observing and evaluating the performance of NBA referees. In 2016, the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) named Ron the recipient of the esteemed Gold Whistle Award, which is the officiating industry’s highest honour bestowed on a referee.

Today, Ron serves as CEO of Fluke Transportation Group and CEO of Fox 40 International, which he founded in 1987. In 2020, Fluke Transport celebrated 100 years in business. Ron serves on many Boards of Directors, is involved with many charities, and continues as a motivational speaker

Emre Karataş, BSc, MASc, PhD

Title of his talk:

"Flying Clean: The Past and Future of Sustainable Propulsion."

Dr. Emre Karataş is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University. His research focuses on sustainable propulsion, emissions reduction, and advanced diagnostics for combustion systems. He leads experimental investigations into soot formation, alternative fuels, and electrified aviation technologies, collaborating with international partners to advance sustainability in energy and transportation.

Dr. Karataş also serves as an Affiliate Scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital and holds an adjunct appointment at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Sheila Singh, BSc, MD, PhD, FRSC(C), FAANS

Title of her talk

Targeting Chaotic Evolution in Glioblastoma with Novel and Empiric Immunotherapies

Dr. Sheila Singh is a Professor of Surgery and Biochemistry, University Scholar, Chief Pediatric Neurosurgeon at McMaster Children’s Hospital, Division Head of Neurosurgery at Hamilton Health Sciences, and Inaugural Director of the Centre for Discovery in Cancer Research (CDCR) at McMaster University.

She holds a Tier 1/ Senior Canada Research Chair in Human Brain Cancer Stem Cell Biology, and served as founding Director of the McMaster Surgeon Scientist Program.

Her PhD thesis described the novel identification of a population of cancer stem cells that exclusively drive the formation of brain tumors (SK Singh et al. Identification of human brain tumor initiating cells. Nature 2004: 7015(432): pp 396-401).

Since 2007, her lab applies a developmental neurobiology framework to the study of brain tumorigenesis. Building upon previous cell culture techniques developed for the isolation of normal neural stem cells (NSC) and applying them to brain tumors, and through development of a xenograft model to efficiently study brain tumor initiating cell (BTIC) activity, her lab aims to understand the molecular mechanisms that govern BTIC self- renewal.

She has published extensively on the regulation of BTIC signaling pathways in glioblastoma, brain metastases and childhood medulloblastoma, with an ultimate goal of selectively targeting the BTIC with appropriately tailored immunotherapies and molecular therapies.

Her laboratory is funded by CCSRI, CIHR, TFRI, CRS, the Stem Cell Network, McMaster Surgical Associates, Brain Canada and the Boris Family Fund.

She served as scientific founder and interim CEO of a start-up company, Empirica Therapeutics, a brain cancer therapeutics company that is seeking new, datadriven and polytherapeutic treatment options for patients with Glioblastoma and brain metastases.

Empirica was acquired by Century Therapeutics Inc (Philadelphia) in June 2020, resulting in the creation of a Canadian subsidiary, Century Canada, based in the McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton.

She has won many awards including most recently the 2024 Canadian Cancer Society Robert L. Noble Prize for outstanding achievements in basic biomedical cancer research, and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and of the Royal Society of Canada, and a council member of AACR.

She has published over 200 manuscripts in journals such as Nature, Nature Medicine, Cancer Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Cancer Research, PNAS and many others; she has 26,792 citations and her h-index is 84. B./;

The Hon. David H. Tsubouchi, BA, JD, LLD, DSLitt, CDire, ECO

Title of his talk: 

Gambette - Never Give Up

David Tsubouchi is the first Japanese Canadian to be elected to any provincial legislature in Canada and to be appointed as a Cabinet Minister. He has served as the Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations, Solicitor General, Chair of Treasury/Management Board and Minister of Culture. Mr. Tsubouchi sits on the boards of OMERS Pension Fund, and Tarion. He is a lawyer, former Regulator, Integrity Commissioner and Honorary Consul General of Mongolia. His book, Gambatte was nominated for the Speaker’s Book Award and the Heritage Toronto Book Award. He has also written sci-fi fantasy novels, The Chinese Door series and Zeke. His latest book, The Ripple Effect has been the #1 best seller in Career Advancement & Professional Development on Amazon.

Peter Visscher, BESc

Title of his talk

Lunar Rover Development in Canada

Peter Visscher is the Vice President of Rovers at Mission Control and has spent the past 17 years developing numerous off-road and off-planet vehicles for various industries and customers.

After earning a degree in mechanical engineering from Western University in 2007, Peter was the lead mechanical/mobility engineer or the chief engineer on numerous Moon or Mars rover prototyping projects ranging from 25kg to over 1,200kg, including Juno, Artemis Jr., Artemis Sr., LRPDP, SPRP , MR-T, LSASP, LSEI Raptor utility rover, and many other bad acronyms. Additionally, Peter led the design and testing of multiple iterations of a lunar rover wheel (TIRELESS and SWARM) and rover drivetrain projects.

Peter also was co-Chief Engineer for Canada’s first lunar rover flight program, the Lunar Rover Mission, and was the Technical Lead or contributor to numerous concept studies such as the CSA Mars Sample Fetch Rover, ESA’s Sample Fetch Rover, and the Lunar Surface Exploration Initiative. Peter also commercialized much of the rover technology in the development of the Argo J5 Rover, the Argo J8 Rover, and the HAWC/Raptor robotic vehicles. When not designing and building lunar rovers, Peter enjoys mountain biking and thinking about lunar rovers.

Eiji Yafuso, BS, MBA, MS, PhD

Title of his talk: 

Pixxel Space Technologies:  Earth Health Monitor:  Unveiling the Unseen

Eiji Yafuso is Chief Science and Operations Officer of Pixxel Space Technologies Incorporated. Pixxel is a leader in LEOS hyperspectral imaging, with US parent and operations worldwide. Eiji is an accomplished innovator in aerospace technologies and recipient of a PhD  from the University of Arizona's James C. Wyant College of Optics.