Cutting Edge: AI, Robotics, and the Future of Surgery in Canada

Roundtable Luncheon with Danina Kapetanovic, Dr. Amin Madani and Dr. Fahad Razak

C.D. Howe Institute events and webinars are open to members and their guests.

Please follow this link or contact events@cdhowe.org to register.

Danina Kapetanovic, Vice President, Innovation and AI Strategy, Waterloo Regional Health Network

Danina Kapetanovic is Vice President, Innovation and AI Strategy at Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) and Chief Health Innovation Officer (CHIO) through a joint appointment with the University of Waterloo. She leads WRHN's enterprise innovation and AI strategy, advancing the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence, strengthening innovation capability, and developing the partnerships, governance, and infrastructure needed to transform care delivery and improve health system performance.

Danina is the founding leader of CareNext, a regional health innovation coalition established through an equal partnership between WRHN and the University of Waterloo. CareNext brings together healthcare organizations, academia, industry, government, and community partners to co-design, evaluate, and scale innovations that improve patient care, accelerate research translation, and strengthen the region's learning health system.

Before joining WRHN, Danina served as Chief Innovation Officer at CIUSSS West-Central Montreal, where she founded OROT, Canada's first hospital-based connected health innovation hub. She also served as Executive Director of Hacking Health, a global organization advancing digital health innovation through multidisciplinary collaboration. Earlier in her career, she spent nearly two decades with the United Nations, leading international initiatives focused on innovation, public-private partnerships, and cross-sector collaboration to improve health outcomes and address complex humanitarian challenges.

Danina holds a Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY), and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Neurolinguistics from McGill University. She has completed executive education in healthcare innovation, artificial intelligence, strategic foresight, innovation management, design thinking, entrepreneurship, and executive leadership through leading universities and international organizations.

Dr. Amin Madani, Director, Surgical Artificial Intelligence Research Academy at University Health Network

Dr. Amin Madani is an endocrine and acute care surgeon at the University Health Network (Toronto, Canada), Assistant Professor of Surgery, and cross-appointed in the Department of Computer Science and Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. He specializes in the surgical management of thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal diseases. Dr. Madani’s research focus is in surgical expertise and the use of technology to optimize performance in the operating room. Over the last decade, he has led the design and development of new innovations to improve surgeon performance, including platforms that incorporate machine learning algorithms, computer vision, augmented/virtual reality and simulation. He runs an independently-funded laboratory – the Surgical Artificial Intelligence Research Academy (SARA), where he leads a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, data scientists, engineers and game developers. His work has led to the development and validation of the first AI algorithm prototype for real-time intraoperative decision-support. His group has also spent the last 5 years building global open-source data/machine learning pipelines that enables surgeons to use AI algorithms in the operating room, analyze their performance for feedback, enhance the patient experience, and optimize healthcare resources. Dr. Madani serves as the chair of the Surgical Data Science Committee of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, as well as the co-founder and chair of the Global Surgical AI Collaborative. His pioneering work has not only established some of the scientific precedent for surgical AI, but also its translation to equitable, sustainable, and scalable solutions to democratize and improve surgical care. He has received multiple peer-reviewed grants throughout his academic career, published over 100 peer-reviewed articles to date and edited a textbook.

Dr. Fahad Razak, Internist, St Michael's Hospital; Provincial Clinical Lead, Ontario Health; Canada Research Chair in Data-Informed Healthcare Improvement, University of Toronto; Co-Lead GEMINI and VITAL

Fahad Razak is an internist at St Michael’s Hospital and Canada Research Chair in Data-Informed Health Care Improvement at the University of Toronto. He co-founded GEMINI, the largest hospital research network in Canada, and has received over $310M in funding as Principal Investigator. GEMINI is used by an active community of more than 1,000 scientists, and health system leaders. He is also co-lead of VITAL, which has been funded through a $210M investment from federal and provincial sources to build a pan-Canadian platform for innovation with hospital data.

Fahad completed a degree in Engineering Science and Medical Doctorate at the University of Toronto, and was the first physician appointed as the David E. Bell Fellow at Harvard University. He served as Scientific Director for the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table and contributed to over 50 science and policy briefs that shaped Canada’s response to the pandemic. He was a member of the Federal Expert Panel on Science Advisory and Research convened by Health Canada – “the Walport Panel” – the only Federal review of the pandemic. He is Vice President for Research at the Canadian Society of Internal Medicine, inaugural Chair of the Advisory Committee for Science at the Public Health Agency of Canada, and on the advisory board of the BMJ. He has received three major mentorship awards, include the inaugural Canadian Society for Internal Medicine National Award for Mentorship, and is a two-time recipient of the Teaching Award for Excellence from the University of Toronto.