Strategic Digital Health Leadership in Action: IHPME’s MHI2025Y Course Drives Real-World Health Innovation

IHPME’s MHI2025Y course is preparing students to take on senior level leadership roles in digital health.

By: Marielle Boutin

MHI2025Y: Strategic Leadership for Digitally Enabled Health System Transformation is an advanced leadership course tailored for mid to late career learners who are considering senior leadership roles in Canada’s digital health system. Open to students from various U of T programs, such as IHPME’s Executive Master of Health Informatics (EMHI), Health Systems Leadership and Innovation (HSLI), and Health Administration (MHSc) programs, Rotman School of Management Health MBA Programs, the PharmD programs, and programs in the Faculty of Medicine, the course was developed to connect diverse learners with opportunities to leverage digital technologies to transform health policy and enact systems-level change.

The course is designed to be fully immersive, allowing enrolled students to work in collaborative groups to develop and implement real-world health system transformation projects that are digitally enabled. Groups are supervised by senior Canadian digital health executives, who serve as project mentors, while focusing on areas such as the use of digital tools in care integration, AI for health system transformation, and the use of virtual care in service delivery.

“In MHI2025Y, by having projects run parallel to classroom learning, students can immediately apply concepts about advanced leadership to actual digitally enabled transformation projects in the Canadian heath care system,” says course instructor Wendy Nelson.

Students are given tangible experience that closely mirrors how leadership is practiced in health systems, enriched by dynamic interdisciplinary collaboration that comes out of diverse teams from across the University of Toronto campus coming together.

“In our health system, leadership is always performed within and across teams, diverse groups of interdisciplinary leaders who leverage individual skills and collaborate to successfully lead change and transformation,” says Nelson. “This makes for a more realistic learning experience, very similar to what they will experience as senior leaders after graduation […] and allows graduates to have more impact sooner in their leadership careers.”

There are currently five student-led projects underway, led by the inaugural cohort of graduate students from health-related programs across U of T, spanning topics of digital transformation, data governance, and system-level improvements in healthcare across Canada.

This years’ projects are sponsored by public health system sponsors from across Canada.

“Student feedback has been outstanding, and we are deeply grateful for the support of the many organizations and digital health leaders who have sponsored projects this year,” says course instructor Dr. Gillian Strudwick.

Dr. Frank Myslik, EMHI student, Senior Medical Information Officer for London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), and member of the current MHI2025Y cohort, says the impact of the course is clear-cut and meaningful, allowing him to feel completely immersed and engaged in the work.

“Often with projects with the master’s programs, you’re doing work for the sake of learning, which of course is important, but it can be hard to always feel motivated,” says Dr. Myslik. “When you’re doing a project like this you start to feel more connected to something impactful and that the hours of work being could actually change something in real-life on a larger scale.”

Dr. Mysilk and his team are working to develop a privacy framework that will allow researchers to access patient data securely and leverage that data to support innovative changes in healthcare.

Reflecting on the work that has been completed, Dr. Myslik says his passion for digital health leadership has been ignited by the connections he has made with other senior leaders who are investing so much energy into solving crucial issues.

“It’s inspiring to see that passion and recognize strong leaders are needed in digital health more than ever. It certainly lit a fire in me to see where I can contribute and work as a leader in this space.”

Much like the interdisciplinary nature of the course, members of the inaugural cohort have also highlighted how the projects have inspired them to become more self-directed, adaptable and resilient, traits that students have now learned are crucial in the digital health landscape.

MBA student Yifan Cao says that while her ability to effectively shift priorities came into play during her project’s lifespan, factors such as new stakeholders being woven into the conversation forced her and her team to reevaluate their vision, which she says provided a valuable lesson on how to keep focus in the midst of a storm.

“Having to pivot, reframe our approach, and keep engagement moving forward under those conditions was incredibly valuable,” says Yifan, who is working with her team to create a digitally enabled value-based payment system aimed at improving access and cost-effectiveness in an integrated health authority on Canada’s east coast. “It taught me that real transformation is less about executing a perfect plan and more about building relationships and flexibility to navigate change while keeping the long-term goals in sight.”

Nelson and Strudwick are now planning to build off the success of the course’s initial launch as they prepare for the next round of student-led projects.

Applications from public and private sponsored organizations are open now for digitally enabled transformation projects beginning May 2026. The next cycle of the course will consist of five new transformation projects that drive meaningful change in care systems at provincial, regional, or sub-regional levels, with a focus on digitally enabled care. Interested graduate student applicants can submit applications for enrolment in 2026.

Visit the MHI2025Y course webpage for more information.