MaRS Mornings - Supporting public health on a changing planet

Bill Gates recently called for moving resources away from climate change towards human health. Yet global health is declining rapidly due to rising temperatures, severe weather and shifting disease patterns, and it’s getting worse. Death from extreme heat in seniors has risen by 85 percent in the last 35 years and the numbers of people experiencing food insecurity have risen sharply as well.

Scientists, entrepreneurs and healthcare leaders are developing solutions — from AI-driven tools that predict outbreaks before they begin, to an evidence-based nature prescription program that could improve health and wellbeing. Join us on November 25 to learn more about these innovations and how they are supporting public health on a changing planet.

Location: MaRS Centre - LIVE Lounge, 661 University Ave, Toronto, ON

Agenda:

9:00 - 9:15 a.m. — Registration, coffee and networking

9:15 - 9:20 a.m. — Opening remarks

9:20 - 9:55 a.m. — Panel discussion

9:55 - 10:00 a.m. — Audience Q&A

10:00 - 11:00 a.m. — Networking

Special addition as part of Canadian Climate Week: At 10:15 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. KITE-UHN will be giving tours of their ClimateLab and WinterLab. Please register here if you'd like to join one of the 30-minute guided tours at 550 University Avenue.

Moderator:

Rachel Giese is an award-winning journalist, best-selling author and the Culture and Life Editor at The Globe and Mail, where she oversees the Globe's coverage of health, life sciences, post-secondary education and online culture. Her 2018 book Boys: What it Means to Become a Man won the Writers’ Trust of Canada Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

Speakers:

Sehjal Bhargava, Family medicine physician – University of Ottawa, Harvard University

Sehjal was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where she completed a BSc in Kinesiology and MD prior to moving to Ottawa for residency. She completed her family medicine residency training at Centretown Community Health Center in Ottawa where she continues to work with clinical interests in inner city health, immigrant and refugee health, and social prescribing. She recently completed her MPH with a focus in Health Policy at Harvard University. She is on the Board of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, as well as the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and co-chairs the CAPE Ontario regional committee. She is currently continuing her post graduate training in public health and preventive medicine at the university of Ottawa. Her advocacy and research focus on access to primary care, equity-based adaptation to extreme heat events, and the health risks of fossil fuel infrastructure.

Andrea Thomas, Head of Epidemiology, BlueDot

Andrea Thomas is a veterinarian with an MSc and PhD in epidemiology from the University of Guelph in Canada. Her interests lie at the intersections of global health, infectious diseases, and surveillance. Andrea is involved in the development of BlueDot's global infectious diseases event-based surveillance system which leverages advanced AI/LLM technology to monitor and make sense of vast global online information pertaining to infectious disease and biosecurity threats. She currently leads BlueDot's surveillance and epidemiology team of expert analysts in disseminating actionable global infectious disease data and intelligence to support a variety of organizations across public and private sectors.

Amira Khan, Senior Research Associate, Centre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children

Amira Khan is a Senior Research Associate at the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health,nHospital for Sick Children, Toronto. With the team, her research focuses on appropriate health and nutrition interventions for women and children in complex crises shaped by conflict and climate change, with an emphasis on knowledge translation and health systems strengthening. Working closely with regional and international collaborators, she has co-led capacity-building initiatives aimed at strengthening health and nutrition systems through digital platforms and blended learning approaches across South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Central Asia. A paediatrician by training, Amira holds a Ph.D. in Nutritional Sciences with a Collaborative Specialization in Global Health from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Public Health from the University of Waterloo.

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