Community Learning Space

The infraNET Project and 
Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research
at the University of Waterloo


present ...


Wellness and Health in the Internet Age:
We must meet our children's expectations
 

by

Dr. Alex Jadad, MD, DPhil, FRCPC
Director
, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation
Canada Research Chair in eHealth Innovation
University Health Network & University of Toronto

Wednesday, September 24, 2003
3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.


Davis Centre, Room 1302
University of Waterloo

This Seminar is Sponsored By 
    Agfa Healthcare Informatics 

This seminar is of interest to Health and IT Executives, IS/IT Staff, Faculty and Students.
There is no charge for this event, however, we ask that you register to attend.
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Presentation Archive 2003-2004

Abstract

Our children, as the first generation growing up with the Internet, have come to expect a health system that is very different from the inefficient franchise of repair shops we have now. They expect a system that they can understand and trust, that is transparent and accountable, that encourages partnerships, and that promotes health, not only the management of disease. They want a system that acts as a good companion for them, through life, regardless of who or where they are.

If we are to satisfy these expectations, we will need to take far greater advantage of information and communication technologies for health management and care than we have so far, using these technologies in new ways, doing new things, and achieving higher levels of quality than the usual today. This means that we must deal with the issues of health information quality and usability, addressing the completeness, validity, reliability, and timeliness of information, its familiarity to different cultures and ages, its readability relative to a spectrum of literacy, and the effects it has on the consumer. Our research in this area has the objective of more closely coupling information technologies with users. I will give an overview of our research and the future of a health system that will not disappoint our children.

Dr. Alex Jadad was born and educated in Colombia, where he obtained his medical degree in 1986, specializing in anaesthesiology. By the time he was 20 years of age and still a medical student, he became a leading medical expert on cocaine in Colombia and an internationally sought after speaker; by the time he was 25 he had already published his first book. In 1990 he moved to the United Kingdom and joined the University of Oxford, where he developed and evaluated analgesic interventions for the treatment of acute, chronic and cancer pain. Dr. Jadad became one of the first physicians in the world with a doctorate in knowledge synthesis when he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree at University of Oxford (Balliol College) in 1994. He moved to Canada in 1995 and joined the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics at McMaster University, where he held several key positions, including Chief of the Health Information Research Unit. In 2000, Dr. Jadad moved to Toronto to become the Inaugural Rose Family Chair in Supportive Care at University of Toronto, and the first Director of the Program in eHealth Innovation at University Health Network and the University of Toronto.

Time Magazine has featured Dr. Jadad on two occasions, once in 2001 as one of the new Canadians who will shape the country in the 21st century and then again in April of 2002 when his work at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation was profiled as an example of leading edge research in the post boomer era. Dr. Jadad s extensive list of outstanding achievements also includes a Canada Research Chair award in eHealth Innovation by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, and the receipt of the 2002 New Pioneers Award in Science and Technology.

Dr. Jadad is a self-avowed family man who enjoys spending time with his wife and two children. He also likes to play the piano and perform close-up card tricks, both at a basic level.

For more information

Shirley Fenton
Managing Director, WIHIR
The infraNET Project
Computer Systems Group, University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4074

Seminar Hosts

This seminar is hosted by the Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research (WIHIR) and The infraNET Project, University of Waterloo.

The infraNET Project, initiated by the University of Waterloo in 1996, is a partnership to advance Web and Internet technologies. Its founding partners are: LivePage (now part of Siebel), MKS, Open Text, RIM, Sybase (Waterloo) and Waterloo Maple.

We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Institute for Computer Research, University of Waterloo.