Research & Impact Day 2026: Equity & Innovation

Dr. Ibukun Abejirinde is a Scientist at the Institute for Better Health, Trillium Health Partners, and an Assistant Professor (Affiliated Scientist) at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Her research team- the Moonshot Collaborative for Translational Health Equity conducts applied health systems research to understand and address complex problems in healthcare focusing on structurally marginalized populations. With a belief that communities hold power to achieve transformative healthcare, Dr. Abejirinde works collaboratively with policymakers, patients/caregivers, community organizations, and researchers from other disciplines to translate equity at a systems level. Dr. Abejirinde is a 2022 AMS Healthcare Fellow in Compassion and Artificial Intelligence, and co-lead of the digital health equity hub of the International Collaborative for Translational Digital Health- a trilateral partnership between the Universities of Toronto, Manchester and Melbourne.

Alex Haines has over 12 years of experience in health economics, working with organizations including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Canada’s Drug Agency (CDA-AMC), and the World Health Organization. Throughout his career, Alex has supported decision-makers in making evidence-based choices about funding healthcare technologies. He is currently Director of Health Economics at CDA-AMC, where he leads the health economics team in assessing whether new technologies deliver value to the Canadian health system.

Nicole Iancovitz is Director of Digital Transformation and Adoption at VHA Home HealthCare, where she leads strategic initiatives advancing digital health transformation, virtual care, and data-driven transformation across home and community care. Her work focuses on leveraging technology, project and change management methodologies, analytics, and digital tools to improve system efficiency, strengthen care coordination, and support clinicians delivering care in the community.

Nicole is particularly passionate about ensuring that digital innovation advances health equity. She champions initiatives that build digital literacy for both providers and patients, working to ensure the digital divide does not become a health divide as healthcare systems increasingly adopt virtual and technology-enabled care models. She holds a Masters degree from the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) at the University of Toronto where she applied her interest in reshaping healthcare delivery.

Andrew McFadyen, BA, BEd, MHSc, HEC-C, is the Ethics Lead for Precision Child Health at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Previous to SickKids, he was the Executive Director of two patient advocacy organizations that provide support and education to patients and families with rare diseases. His organization has raised millions of dollars for research projects aimed at curing rare diseases, and has been responsible for launching five clinical trials, including two gene therapies. He has worked extensively in the pre-approval access to medicines space, has worked closely with and been a long-time advisor to governments and pharmaceutical companies to help ensure access to novel therapeutics for patients in need, as well as how to create equitable expanded access programs and how to fairly ration scarce resources in the preapproval access stage of development. Andrew has testified as an expert witness in both the U.S. Senate and Canadian parliamentary steering committees on access to treatments for patients with rare diseases. He is a long-time member of NYU’s Division of Medical Ethics Working Group on Compassionate Use & Preapproval Access (CUPA) as well as their Working Group on Pediatric Gene Therapy & Medical Ethics. Prior to this work, Andrew spent 15 years as an elementary school teacher. 

Andrew’s interest in rare diseases, novel therapeutics, and access to medicines began when his son, Isaac, was diagnosed with Mucopolysaccharidosis VI (MPS VI). 

He has an academic appointment at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH) at the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor and an appointment to the Research Institute as a Project Investigator with the Genetics & Genome Biology team. 

Frances Simbulan brings an integrated market access and health economics perspective informed by diverse HTA and evidence generation experience across the pharmaceutical industry, public sector, and academia. She has over five years of experience leading health economic modelling, HEOR, and payer value proposition development across oncology and cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases, as well as public health interventions.

Frances is currently a Senior Manager in Health Economics, Payer Evidence, Methods, and Access at AstraZeneca Canada, where she has spent the past three years leading economic evaluations that shape payer value strategies. She is a graduate of the IHPME Health Systems program with an emphasis in HTA and previously worked as a Health Economist at Ontario Health, contributing to the HTA of system level breast cancer screening program.

She strives to advancing equitable and inclusive health innovation grounded in real world system needs, through collaboration with academics, payers, clinicians, and patient partners to generate decision relevant evidence that supports patient access and sustainable health systems.

Dr. Abbas Zavar is a futurist physician–scientist with over two decades of experience in medicine, digital health, AI, and health information technology. His career spans clinical practice, digital health consulting, and clinical AI science, demonstrating his tech-savvy expertise and strong dedication to transforming healthcare.

He holds a Doctor of Medicine (MD), a Master of Public Health (MPH), and a Master of Health Informatics (MHI) from the University of Toronto, supplemented by specialized coursework and fellowship training in AI in healthcare (Harvard and University of Toronto).  

Dr. Stephen Hwang is Director of St. Michael’s Hospital’s MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, Canada’s largest research centre focused on health equity and the social determinants of health. He is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and has worked as a physician serving patients experiencing homelessness for more than 3 decades. Dr. Hwang is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Homelessness, Housing and Health, leading a team that develops and evaluates interventions to to end chronic homelessness and to improve the health of people experiencing homelessness.