Speakers

TMA, MLT, BSc
Senior Advisor, Strategy & Operations, IQMH Products & Strategic Offerings| Centre for Proficiency Testing

BIO
Haleh Bahrami is a healthcare quality and transformation executive with over 25 years of leadership experience across public and private sectors. She is the Founder and CEO of Praxis Enterprises Inc., where she advances adaptive leadership, operational agility, and digital transformation in healthcare systems. Haleh also serves as a Healthcare Operations Senior Advisor at the Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare (IQMH), leading strategic initiatives in proficiency testing and market growth. Previously, she held senior roles including Vice President of Laboratory Operations at LifeLabs and leadership positions at Accreditation Canada. With a Master’s in Leadership (Healthcare) from Royal Roads University, Haleh is committed to advancing women in science, mentoring future leaders, and fostering meaningful impact in healthcare transformation. 

TALK SUMMARY 
This presentation examines how IQMH leveraged its partnership with ICL to scale proficiency testing operations during a period of rapid national growth. As IQMH expanded program offerings and reached new jurisdictions, including remote and underserved communities, the organization faced increasing demands on storage, packaging, and distribution of temperature-sensitive samples. The session will highlight how a shared operational model, strengthened infrastructure, and coordinated logistics enabled both organizations to respond quickly while maintaining quality, reliability, and equitable access. Attendees will gain insight into how operational partnerships can serve as a strategic lever for expanding laboratory quality services in complex delivery environments. 

MSc PhD FCACB // Clinical Biochemist, Head: Division of Chemistry IWK Health Pathology and Lab Medicine // Assistant Professor, Dalhousie University 

BIO 
As the Clinical Biochemist and Head of Chemistry at IWK Health Pathology and Lab Medicine in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Dr. Lori Beach provides clinical service in laboratory medicine specializing in pediatric and maternal care. She provides organizational leadership as Director of Point of Care Testing and Maritime Maternal Serum Screening. Nationally, she is the Division Head of Public Outreach and Communications for the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists and Chair of the Society’s pediatric and perinatal interest group. As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at Dalhousie University, her academic interests include mechanisms in Using Labs Wisely and translating research to clinical care. 

TALK SUMMARY 
Laboratory medicine in Nova Scotia is undergoing significant transformation in response to digital modernization, increasing healthcare demands, and advances in diagnostic technologies. This presentation will examine provincial experiences with the One Patient One Record initiative, the operational realities of regional hospital pressures, and the expansion of specialized testing services. By reflecting on both successes and challenges, the discussion will highlight key lessons in system integration, laboratory resilience, and innovation. These developments underscore the critical role of the academic tertiary-care laboratory as a centre of excellence for specialized testing, knowledge generation, and regional collaboration, supporting equitable access to high-quality diagnostic services across Nova Scotia and the Atlantic region. 

PhD, NRCC, FCACB 

BIO 
Dr. Veni Bharti is a board-certified clinical chemist at Health PEI and Assistant Professor of Pathology at Dalhousie University. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Manitoba and completed postdoctoral fellowships in epidemiology at Dalhousie University and Clinical Chemistry at the University of Toronto. Her career is further distinguished by extensive industry experience as a health economics and evidence-synthesis consultant for the pharmaceutical sector, translating complex clinical data for health technology assessment. As a leader in laboratory medicine, she specializes in healthcare system transformation, enterprise quality improvement, and strategic diagnostic stewardship to optimize clinical workflows and health outcomes. 

TALK SUMMARY 
This presentation examines the strategic overhaul of Prince Edward Island’s Fecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) screening program, focusing on adjustments made to screening age eligibility and the analytical cut-off threshold. This presentation highlights how proactive diagnostic stewardship and evidence-based laboratory optimization ripple across the healthcare ecosystem, delivering measurable impacts on operational efficiency, specialist resource utilization, and colonoscopy wait times. By aligning laboratory analytics with healthcare system capacity, this initiative demonstrates how targeted adjustments to population-level screening parameters enhance clinical quality, improve adenoma detection rates, and safeguard operational sustainability. 

MLT, BAppSc, Interim Regional Director of Laboratory Services, Horizon Health Network 

BIO 
Emily Bodechon is the Interim Regional Director of Laboratory Services with Horizon Health Network in New Brunswick. With nearly 30 years of experience in laboratory medicine, she has held progressive leadership roles spanning core laboratory services, phlebotomy, chemistry, and regional operations. Emily earned her Medical Laboratory Technology diploma from New Brunswick Community College and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Medical and Applied Biotechnology from Charles Sturt University. Her professional interests include interdisciplinary collaboration, leadership development, quality improvement, and harm reduction. An active assessor with Accreditation Canada Diagnostics, she is currently pursuing a Master of Health Management at McMaster University. 

TALK SUMMARY 
New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province in Canada, serves a diverse population through its two regional health authorities, Vitalité Health Network and Horizon Health Network. In a context of rapidly evolving diagnostic technologies and precision medicine, laboratories play a central role in transforming healthcare delivery. Laboratory services maintain the highest standards of quality and safety through Accreditation Canada Diagnostics accreditation and ISO 15189 Plus™ certification, promoting innovation, continuous improvement, and equitable access to safe, reliable diagnostic services across the province. This session will highlight New Brunswick’s collaborative approach to advancing laboratory medicine through several transformational initiatives, including the launch of the provincial HPV primary screening program using PCR-based testing, implementation of a provincial Public Health Laboratory, development of the Provincial Medical Genetics Program, and preparation for a provincial Clinical Information System. Together, these initiatives demonstrate the province’s commitment to innovation, quality, and the continuous improvement of patient care through integrated and forward-looking laboratory services. 

Regional Director of Laboratory Services, Vitalité Health Network 

BIO  
Annie Carré is a healthcare professional with more than 30 years of experience and serves as Regional Director of Laboratory Services for the Vitalité Health Network. Throughout her career, she has held several leadership positions in the fields of diagnostic and laboratory services. Recognized for her collaborative approach and strategic vision, she contributes to the modernization of healthcare services, the integration of new technologies, and the development of innovative provincial programs. Her commitment to quality, patient safety, and excellence in care guides her efforts to continuously improve the healthcare services provided to the population of New-Brunswick. 

TALK SUMMARY 
New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province in Canada, serves a diverse population through its two regional health authorities, Vitalité Health Network and Horizon Health Network. In a context of rapidly evolving diagnostic technologies and precision medicine, laboratories play a central role in transforming healthcare delivery. Laboratory services maintain the highest standards of quality and safety through Accreditation Canada Diagnostics accreditation and ISO 15189 Plus™ certification, promoting innovation, continuous improvement, and equitable access to safe, reliable diagnostic services across the province. This session will highlight New Brunswick’s collaborative approach to advancing laboratory medicine through several transformational initiatives, including the launch of the provincial HPV primary screening program using PCR-based testing, implementation of a provincial Public Health Laboratory, development of the Provincial Medical Genetics Program, and preparation for a provincial Clinical Information System. Together, these initiatives demonstrate the province’s commitment to innovation, quality, and the continuous improvement of patient care through integrated and forward-looking laboratory services.  

CSA Public Policy Fellow

BIO

Will Falk has spent over 25 years as a strategist and advisor in New York and Toronto, advising top academic centres, governments, and innovative companies in healthcare. Currently he is an Executive-in-Residence at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, a Senior Fellow at the CD Howe Institute and a Policy Fellow at the CSA Public Policy Group.

Mr. Falk is interested in the impacts of technological change on health systems and their governance and payment mechanisms. He works with several innovative enterprises on digital health and software development including as an Innovation Fellow at Women’s College Hospital Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care. He has been a Board Director or Advisor for more than a dozen enterprises including local and national charities, startups, health systems and publicly listed companies. Will received his B.Sc. from the University of Toronto (Trinity College) and an M.P.P.M. from Yale University’s School of Management where he was later a Visiting Research Fellow. He recently published a report with the CSA Public Policy Group titled “A Complement not a Substitute: the role of Generative AI in Canadian Healthcare in 2026.”

B. Comm, MBA, CHE, ICD.D

BIO 
Craig Ivany is a health system executive and laboratory services strategist with more than 35 years of executive leadership experience. Recognized as a collaborative leader, he has worked with teams to deliver health system transformation across many dynamic environments including start-ups, turnarounds, stabilizations, consolidations, and mergers. His depth of experience in system integration includes regional, provincial, and national roles in both the public and private sectors. Craig currently works as an Independent Consultant specializing in laboratory medicine strategy and systems transformation. Previously, Craig served as the Chief Provincial Diagnostics Officer with Provincial Health Services Authority, the President & CEO of Alberta Precision Laboratories, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association. He also held senior executive roles with Dynacare Medical Laboratories, Canadian Blood Services, and the Clarenville Area Hospital Board in Newfoundland. Craig holds a Bachelor of Commerce from MUN and an MBA from UBC, where he is currently pursuing a PhD in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He holds an Adjunct Professor appointment with the UBC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, is a member of the Canadian Association of Pathologists, and is a published researcher in laboratory medicine and health system readiness. Craig holds a CHE designation through the Canadian College of Health Leaders and a ICD.D with the Institute of Corporate Directors. 

TALK SUMMARY 
Achieving measurably better healthcare through lab enabled best practices. Laboratory medicine is a vital contributor to healthcare excellence. With nearly 100 examples of laboratory-enabled best practices now recognized through the UNIVANTS of Healthcare Excellence award program, cross-disciplinary teams around the world are inspired to ‘unify for something greater’. This session will review common themes across globally recognized best practices. Examples of measurably better outcomes for patients, payors, clinicians and health systems with be linked to strategic insights directly associated with laboratory medicine. The program will review top areas of focus as well as key success factors associated with the (1) development of new clinical pathways, (2) measurement of key performance indicators, and (3) competencies needed to drive transformation. 

Learning Objectives:
Appreciate the importance of laboratory medicine in driving healthcare transformation across diverse areas on unmet meet.
Understand critical success metrics that are most widely associated with proven examples of measurably better healthcare.
Become more familiar with the UNIVANTS of Healthcare Excellence award program with guidance on how to submit an eligible best practice to achieve global recognition and executive accolades for your high-performing integrated clinical care team(s). 

Gynecologic pathologist, Area Department Lead for Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in Saskatoon for the Saskatchewan Health Authority and an associate professor for the University of Saskatchewan

BIO

Dr. Kinloch is a gynecologic pathologist on Treaty 6 territory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and loves nothing more than when a cancer biomarker for a new drug is ready to be tested in the lab the same day the cancer drug is funded for patients. Her research has been centred on bringing comprehensive diagnostics to oncology and ensuring every patient in Saskatchewan has access to them, regardless of where they live.

TALK SUMMARY
Dr. Kinloch and Dr. Schaeffer will take the audience on a journey through precision cancer drug approval in Canada and how the cancer biomarkers that allow patients to access precision medicine are fragmented across provinces. A structured template to take back to provincial teams will be provided to build your own sustainable precision cancer biomarker approval process.

MLT, MBA, CHE

BIO
Kelli-Ann Lemieux is an accomplished healthcare executive with more than two decades of leadership experience across healthcare, higher education, governance, and community engagement. She currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of St. Joseph’s General Hospital Elliot Lake, an integrated healthcare facility providing services that include acute care, long-term care, and addiction treatment services.

Kelli-Ann started her career in healthcare as a Medical Laboratory Technologist and from there held a number of progressive senior leadership positions within Ontario’s healthcare sector, including Chief Allied Health Professional and Director of Clinical Support Services at Sault Area Hospital and Vice President of Surgical and Clinical Services, President of Sudbury Vascular Lab at Health Sciences North. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with clinical teams, including laboratory professionals, to advance patient care, operational excellence, and healthcare innovation. Her leadership experience spans both urban and rural healthcare environments, providing her with a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing healthcare organizations and professionals across the province.

Kelli-Ann has a long career championing the essential role that laboratory professionals play in delivering safe, effective, and timely patient care. She recognizes laboratory medicine as a cornerstone of clinical decision-making and healthcare quality and is a strong advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration across the healthcare system.

Kelli-Ann is pleased to join today’s event to share perspectives on leadership, healthcare transformation, and the future opportunities and challenges facing healthcare professionals.

BIO
Dr. Notisha Massaquoi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough, with cross-appointments in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. She is also the Founder and Director of the Black Health Equity Lab, a research and action-oriented initiative that conducts community-based health research and collaborates with Black communities to develop advocacy tools, strategies, and programs aimed at improving health outcomes, wellbeing, and success within Canadian systems.

Dr. Massaquoi has had a distinguished career in health leadership. She played a foundational role in establishing several organizations serving Black communities in Canada, most notably serving for over two decades as the Executive Director of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre in Toronto—the only community health centre in North America dedicated to providing primary healthcare for Black and racialized women.

TALK SUMMARY
Title:  It Starts in the Lab: Advancing Health Equity Through Laboratory Leadership

Health inequities are not only produced in health care organizations or communities they are also shaped upstream in laboratories, through diagnostic practices, research design, data interpretation, and institutional decision-making. Laboratory leadership, therefore, has a crucial role in advancing health equity in order to ensure equitable health outcomes for all.

Chief Medical Laboratory Officer (CMLO), Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL), Edmonton Base Lab

BIO 
Dr. Carolyn O’Hara is Chief Medical Laboratory Officer for Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL), Edmonton Base Lab, where she provides medical leadership for province-wide laboratory medicine and pathology services. APL is the sole provider of publicly funded community- and hospital-based laboratory services in Alberta, employing more than 7,500 healthcare professionals and technical staff. Dr. O’Hara has helped guide the organization through a number of significant changes to advance quality laboratory service delivery across Alberta.

A General Pathologist by training (AP/CP) with subspecialty expertise in bone and soft tissue pathology, Dr. O’Hara brings extensive leadership experience in laboratory medicine, having served as Provincial Medical Director for AHS Laboratory Services since 2014 , and CMLO for APL since the formation of APL in 2018. She is committed to medical education and leadership development, with a particular interest in physician engagement and laboratory stewardship and appropriateness. 

TALK SUMMARY:

Scaling a Provincial Laboratory System for the Future
Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL) is currently the sole provider of publicly funded community- and hospital- based lab testing in Alberta, providing essential laboratory diagnostic services throughout the health care continuum. In this session, Dr. Carolyn O’Hara, Alberta’s Chief Medical Laboratory Officer, will share how APL has kept pace with sustained growth in testing volumes while advancing its innovation agenda, including new equipment investment, anatomic pathology automation, and initial stages of digital pathology adoption. Dr. O’Hara will also touch on aligning a provincial lab system with a health system in transformation. 

Donald B. Rix Professorship in Laboratory Quality Chair, Canadian Microbiology Proficiency Testing Program Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada 

BIO 
Dr. Lucy A. Perrone is a trusted leader dedicated to advancing the quality and accessibility of diagnostic medicine services. She brings 20 years’ experience working at the international level strengthening national health and laboratory systems. Dr. Perrone currently holds the Donald B. Rix Professorship in Laboratory Quality and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Perrone is the Chair of the internationally accredited Canadian Microbiology Proficiency Testing Program, and leads the department’s educational programming related to laboratory quality management. Dr Perrone currently serves on the Board of Directors at the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (2026) and is a member of ISO- TC 212 which shapes the international standard ISO 15189:2022 Medical laboratories – Requirements for quality and competence. 

TALK SUMMARY  
Diagnostic medicine directs patient care and treatment and informs public health – every sample is a patient, and every test result informs a decision or action. The need for diagnostic accuracy is paramount in every test, and errors in the testing process need to be objectively monitored and communicated. In publicly financed health service delivery contexts, and especially those experiencing escalating operational costs, stewardship to monitor laboratory service utilization is essential by all stakeholders.

Quality assurance and adherence to national and international quality standards remain core values in the Canadian system and are objectively monitored by neutral third-party entities such as accreditation agencies and proficiency testing (PT) providers. While the cost of maintaining quality is an ongoing concern, the value of standardization and nationwide compliance to ISO 15189:2022- Medical laboratories — Requirements for quality and competence helps ensure continuity of quality when provincial silos of health administration and funding exist.

The importance of national quality standards escalates in the context of point of care test (POCT) expansion, especially when POCT is being performed by personnel with no formal medical laboratory education. This quality assurance challenge was clearly illustrated during the COVID-19 pandemic when mandatory PT for all any location performing COVID-19 diagnostic testing was implemented. Even still 4 years following the end of the pandemic, IVD users still largely operate in provincial silos and there is no national forum in which to present and discuss in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test performance challenges in actual clinical settings.
As new IVDs are implemented in every province both in and outside of the medical laboratory, there needs to be stronger post marketing surveillance of IVD performance and a community of practice to support the oversight. A concept for a National Quality Consortium is presented here, which builds on the national commitment to ISO 15189:2022 to monitor diagnostic performance nationally. In this presentation I aim to present the need for a national quality forum in which to discuss IVD performance with Health Canada among other diagnostic quality matters.

Medical laboratories across Canada could utilize standardized biological reference materials for internal and external quality control, ideally diagnostic supply procurement would be given preference to Canadian manufacturers and quality assessment providers who would be integrated in the consortium as quality partners to support timelier system level responses. Validated data could populate quality dashboards and enable timelier in vitro diagnostic device performance and post marketing surveillance insight. Such a National Quality Consortium would promote: quality, cost effective practices, support Canada’s medical supply chain capacity and sovereignty, support local jobs and economies, and strengthen our community.  

MD, Vancouver General Hospital

BIO 
Dr. David Schaeffer is a professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia and a gastrointestinal pathologist at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH). Dr. Schaeffer obtained his medical degree from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany. After a residency program in anatomical pathology in Vancouver, he completed his gastrointestinal pathology fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. His areas of clinical expertise are in colorectal, pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancers. Dr. Schaeffer is the co-director of Pancreas Centre BC and holds the Pancreatic Cancer Research Chair at VGH, where he is actively engaged in translational research to improve diagnostics and treatments for pancreatic cancer patients.

TALK SUMMARY  
Dr. Kinloch and Dr. Schaeffer will take the audience on a journey through precision cancer drug approval in Canada and how the cancer biomarkers that allow patients to access precision medicine are fragmented across provinces. A structured template to take back to provincial teams will be provided to build your own sustainable precision cancer biomarker approval process.

NOTE : Presentation will be together with Dr. Christie Vermeiren and Marilyn Spagnoli. 

Marilyn Spagnoli , MLT , MHS Executive Director, Shared Hospital Laboratory (SHL) 

BIO 
Marilyn Spagnoli, MLT, MHS has served as Executive Director at SHL since 2022, providing strategic leadership to support high-quality, collaborative laboratory services across SHL partner organizations. She previously held the role of Director at Michael Garron Hospital with responsibility for Laboratory Medicine, Diagnostic Imaging and Pharmacy. Marilyn also serves as an ACD Assessor. Marilyn has been a key contributor to SHL leadership since 2008 when Michael Garron Hospital joined SHL. 

TALK SUMMARY  
Evolution of a Shared Microbiology Service Model. 
Explore the journey of designing and implementing a regionalized, multi-site microbiology laboratory service in Ontario; examining the integration of multiple hospital cultures and highlight how collaborative frameworks have successfully transformed the clinical service delivery.

Core Themes
1. Partnership Foundations & Integration
2. Governance, Technology, & Impact
3. Strategic Outlook & Next Steps 

NOTE : Presentation will be together with Dr. Christie Vermeiren and Marilyn Spagnoli. 

BIO 
Dr. Vermeiren is the Deputy Medical Director at Shared Hospital Laboratory at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. She is a Fellow of the Canadian College of Microbiologists and holds an academic appointment with the University of Toronto in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology. Dr. Vermeiren completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Medical and Public Health Microbiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and earned a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Western University. In addition, Dr. Vermeiren is the Past President of the Canadian College of Microbiologists, a certified technical assessor for the Accreditation Canada Diagnostics, chair of the Institute for Quality Management in Healthcare Scientific Committee for Bacteriology and Parasitology. She is actively involved in research focused on evaluating diagnostic testing strategies for the purpose of improving patient management and laboratory work flow and participates in both local and national collaborative studies.  

TALK SUMMARY  
Evolution of a Shared Microbiology Service Model. 
Explore the journey of designing and implementing a regionalized, multi-site microbiology laboratory service in Ontario; examining the integration of multiple hospital cultures and highlight how collaborative frameworks have successfully transformed the clinical service delivery.

Core Themes
1. Partnership Foundations & Integration
2. Governance, Technology, & Impact
3. Strategic Outlook & Next Steps