Health Data for All of Us convenes stellar speaker lineup in Montreal
A stellar lineup of speakers from across Canada will gather at HDRN Canada’s annual public forum, Health Data for All of Us: Earning Trust through Transparency on April 23. Building on this year’s theme of trust, speakers will tackle a range of topics related to health data access and use at the day-long event, which takes place in Montreal and online.
Keynote speakers Dr. Antoine Boivin and Farin Shore will discuss their concept of “inclusive data dialogues” to help bridge sources of knowledge, in particular social determinants of health and lived experience of marginalized people who face challenges accessing health care. A family physician and Canada Research Chair in Partnership with Patients and Communities, Dr. Boivin will share lessons learned from his research program, which focuses on patient and citizen engagement in community care, health services delivery, science and policy. Shore, a harm reduction peer with Doctors of the World Canada, will draw upon his practice as a peer worker among people experiencing homelessness in Montreal.
Canadian health research can’t happen without access to our personal health information. But to earn and maintain the public’s trust, an understanding of when and how personal health information can be accessed is critical. ~ Dr. Donna Curtis Maillet
Harlan Pruden and Dr. Teddy Consolacion will discuss Two-Spirit health and wellness, exploring how to create better relations through data management and research. Pruden is co-founder of the Two-Spirit Dry Lab, “Turtle Island’s first research group that focuses exclusively on Two-Spirit people, communities and experiences.” As a collaborative of Indigenous and settler researchers as well as community leaders engaged in research at the intersections of Indigeneity, gender and sexual orientation, the Two-Spirit Dry Lab works to promote wise practices in sex and gender research.
Hot button topics of privacy and patient rights are at the core of Dr. Donna Curtis Maillet’s presentation. “Canadian health research can’t happen without access to our personal health information,” explained Dr. Curtis Maillet, Privacy Officer with the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training. “But to earn and maintain the public’s trust, an understanding of when and how personal health information can be accessed is critical.” She will also shed light on common misunderstandings around the use of personal health information.
The closing panel highlights emergent and burning issues coalescing around artificial intelligence and the use of big data. Panelists Dr. Cécile Petigand, Dr. Andrew Pinto and Dr. Alison Paprica will delve into issues such as public mistrust, embedded bias, privacy concerns and the need for data literacy and ethical guidelines. Dr. Petigand, founder of Data Lama, brings her perspective on the need to democratize data and AI while Dr. Pinto will draw from his expertise on using data to understand social determinants of health through his work with Upstream Lab. Dr. Paprica will round out the conversation by sharing her research on public understanding of the use of health data in research.
See the full agenda for Health Data for All of Us: Earning Trust through Transparency. In-person and online tickets are available here.