In this conversation, Kieran Quinn, a general internist and palliative care clinician-scientist at Sinai Health in the Department of Medicine and at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, and James Downer, a critical care and palliative care physician in Ottawa, discuss virtual end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://pcpcrc.ca/ - The Pan-Canadian Palliative Care Research Collaborative is a national network of researchers, healthcare providers, community stakeholders, and patient and caregiver partners who are passionate about palliative care research.

Dr. Kieran Quinn is a General Internist and Palliative Care Clinician-Scientist at Sinai Health in the Department of Medicine and Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). His research focuses on using advanced analytic methods and large administrative datasets to improve access and delivery of high-quality end-of-life care for patients with terminal noncancer illness, such as heart failure and dementia, and improving the recognition and care of people with post COVID-19 condition (long COVID). Dr. Quinn was awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence and the John Charles Polanyi Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He is co-lead of Canada’s national research network on post COVID-19 condition and co-chair for the development of clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of post COVID-19 condition. He served as the Assistant Director of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, the Ontario Public Health Emergencies Science Advisory Committee, and as an Expert Member of the Chief Science Advisor’s National Task Force on the Post COVID-19 Condition. His early research success includes over $28 million in competitive grant funding and 7 CIHR grants as the nominated principal applicant. He has mentored 12 trainees who have published and won several awards for their work together. He has 103 peer-reviewed publications, including 52 as first author or senior author in high-impact journals such as JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, and BMJ.

Dr. James Downar is a Critical Care and Palliative Care physician in Ottawa. He graduated from McGill Medical School and completed residency training in Internal Medicine, Critical Care, and Palliative Care at the University of Toronto. He has a Master’s degree in Bioethics from the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto. He is currently the Head of the Division of Palliative Care at the University of Ottawa and a Professor in the Department of Medicine. He is the chair of Palliative and End-of-Life Care at the University of Ottawa, the co-chair of the Pan-Canadian Palliative Care Research Collaborative, the chair of the Ethical Affairs committee of the Canadian Critical Care Society, and the co-chair of the Ontario Palliative Care Network’s Provincial Education Steering Committee. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, has been principal investigator on more than 20 peer-reviewed grants, and is a former Associated Medical Services Phoenix Fellow. Dr. Downar also led several provincial and national efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was involved in planning for medication shortages for both critical care and palliative care and led the development of a critical care triage system for the event of major surge in critically ill patients His research interests include communication and decision-making for seriously ill patients and their families; Palliative Care for the Critically Ill; and Palliative Care for Noncancer Illnesses.

http://amshealthcare.ca/

In this conversation, Charlene Ronquillo, a Filipina scholar, registered nurse, and health implementation expert at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing, engages in a captivating dialogue with Chantelle Recsky, a dedicated nurse and postdoctoral research fellow.

Together, they delve into the crucial topic of "Advancing Compassionate and Equitable Healthcare through Technology." Charlene, an AMS healthcare fellow and compassion and AI advocate, brings her extensive background as a health informatician, focusing on critical theory and implementation science. Her program of research is dedicated to ensuring the meaningful inclusion of non-dominant groups in the development of health technologies. Join them as they explore Charlene's recent work, which investigates the role of nursing data in shaping opportunities to embed health equity in machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence for health systems.

Chantelle, driven by her passion for improving healthcare, shares insights into collaborative research methods. As a postdoctoral research fellow hosted at BC Cancer in partnership with the UBC School of Nursing, Chantelle's research centers around the intersection of technology and quality of care. With a keen interest in the unintended consequences of advancing technologies in the health system, she contributes valuable perspectives to the discussion.

Tune in for a thought-provoking exploration of compassionate, equitable, and inclusive technology use in healthcare, featuring two dynamic voices at the forefront of shaping the future of nursing and health informatics.

Chantelle: https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/51211.html
Charlene: https://www.charleneronquillo.com/
Nursing & Artificial Intelligence Leadership (NAIL) Collaborative https://www.nailcollab.org/

In this conversation, Laura Sikstrom, a Medical Anthropologist and Project Scientist at The Krembil Center for Neuroinformatics at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, and an AMS Healthcare fellow in Compassion and AI, speaks with Sean Hill, the Director of The Krembil Center for Neuroinformatics, Senior Scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, and Professor at the University of Toronto. They discuss the meaning of fairness in mental health and the concepts used to support.

Dr. Laura Sikstrom is also an assistant professor (status-only) in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Sikstrom also co-leads the Predictive Care Team at CAMH, which focuses on the intricate intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and mental health care. By integrating computational techniques with ethnographic insights, this team investigates the potential and challenges of incorporating AI into mental health practice, with a focus on compassionate and equitable care. Dr. Sikstrom received funding from AMS Healthcare, Google, SSHRC and CIHR and is also a nominee for the prestigious Governor General’s Gold Award. 

Dr. Sean Hill is also a computational neuroscientist with experience in building large-scale computational models of brain circuitry. The Centre collaborates with clinicians and researchers, employing neuroinformatics, artificial intelligence, and multi-scale modeling, to develop data-driven definitions of brain disorders, predict patient trajectories, and transform mental health care. Dr. Hill applies large-scale data integration, neuroinformatics, multiscale brain modeling and machine learning to improve our understanding and treatment of mental health disorders. The Centre’s mandate is to accelerate global collaborations in brain science using the power of big data and brain modeling to fundamentally change how mental illness is understood.

Resources:

Sikstrom, Laura, Marta M. Maslej, Zoe Findlay, Gillian Strudwick, Katrina Hui, Juveria Zaheer,

Sean L. Hill, and Daniel Z. Buchman. 2023. “Predictive Care: A Protocol for a Computational

Ethnographic Approach to Building Fair Models of Inpatient Violence in Emergency

Psychiatry.” 

Sikstrom, Laura, Marta M. Maslej, Katrina Hui, Zoe Findlay, Daniel Z. Buchman, and Sean L. Hill.

2022. “Conceptualising Fairness: Three Pillars for Medical Algorithms and Health Equity.” 

What is ‘AI’ and what is it doing in psychiatry? A webinar presented at the RBC Patient & Family

Learning Space, CAMH, November 2, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVUs-BnGIOU

What happens to our brains when we get depressed? The Walrus, 2021, by Simon Lewsen.

https://thewalrus.ca/what-happens-to-our-brains-when-we-get-depressed/