Dr. Dominik Nowak is a family doctor and health leader. In addition to caring for patients and serving as Department Head in Family and Community Medicine at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, Dr. Nowak's mission is to build teamwork across the health system. He is a trusted advisor to leading provincial, national, and international organizations toward a health system that is more kind, caring, and careful. As President at the Ontario Medical Association, the voice of 50,000 doctors across Ontario, he advanced substantive health systems change.

Dr. Nowak trained at McMaster University, where he specialized in family medicine and served as chief resident. He went on to the University of Toronto to finish a Master of Health Administration at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation as well as the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program at the Rotman School of Management. Dr. Nowak is a faculty member in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. He is a recipient of the College of Family Physicians of Canada Award of Excellence for his leadership in Canadian healthcare.

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In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Nicola Mercer.

Dr. Nicola Mercer (MD MBA MPH FRCPC C. Dir) is the Medical Officer of Health and CEO of Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. Before joining Public Health in 2007, she spent 15 years as an anesthesiologist and critical care physician.

She is currently a Board member at Public Health Ontario sitting on the Audit Finance and Risk Standing Committee. She is also a past member of the Royal College of Physician and Surgeons nominating committee, and the University of Guelph Board of Trustees.

In 2017, Dr. Mercer was appointed to the Minister of Health's Expert Panel on Public Health. For her work during the pandemic, she was recognized with a Municipal World Women of Influence in Local Government Award in 2021, and a King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2024.

In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Altaf Stationwala.

Altaf Stationwala is President and CEO of Unity Health Toronto, one of Ontario's largest and most comprehensive health care networks. The network includes St. Joseph's Health Centre, St. Michael's

Hospital and Providence Healthcare, and a constellation of clinics across Toronto's core. Unity Health delivers the full spectrum of care offered across Ontario's health system— from primary care, seniors care, rehabilitation, and acute services to specialized regional programs and long-term care— and is a globally recognized, university-affiliated teaching and research institution. It is a learning destination of choice for health professionals, known for its leadership in integrated, compassionate, high quality, and collaborative care.

Prior to joining Unity Health Toronto in 2025, Altaf was President and CEO of Mackenzie Health for more than 14 years. Under his leadership, Mackenzie Health received Accreditation with Exemplary Standing consecutively in 2013, 2017 and 2022 – the highest rating a Canadian healthcare provider can achieve – and numerous awards for its commitment to safety and quality patient care, as well as approval to build the organization's second hospital – Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital which opened in early 2021. Before joining Mackenzie Health, Altaf held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer at Mount Sinai Hospital, and previous to that he was Site Executive - Brampton Civic Hospital and Vice President, Patient Services at the William Osler Health Centre.

Altaf was presented with the Canadian College of Health Service Executives Canada's Outstanding Young Health Executive of the Year Award in 2007 for his demonstrated leadership in improving the effectiveness and sustainability of the country's health system. He has a diverse educational background with undergraduate degrees in Economics, Geography and Business Administration, as well as a Master's in Health Administration. Altaf is adjunct faculty at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and a surveyor with Accreditation Canada. Altaf serves as a member of several Boards of Governors including: GS1 Canada, Mohawk Medbuy Corporation, and The United Way of Greater Toronto. Altaf is the past Chair of the Ontario Hospital Association.

Altaf has a particular applied research interest in organizational resilience and transformational change.

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In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Will Falk and Dr. Zayna Khayat.

Will Falk has spent over 25 years as an international strategist, advising top academic centres, governments, and innovative companies in healthcare. He is currently the Board Chair of AMS Healthcare's Board of Directors, an Adjunct Professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and a Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute. Will is interested in the impacts of technological change on health systems and their governance and payment mechanisms. He works with several innovative enterprises in 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 also served as a Board Director or Advisor for more than a dozen enterprises, including local and national charities, start-ups, health systems, and publicly listed companies.

Will's strong understanding of digital health, along with his commitment to improving healthcare through policy and innovation, makes him an important part of AMS as we focus on a system shaped by advancing technology while remaining rooted in compassion.

Zayna Khayat, PhD, is the Chief Program Officer at AMS Healthcare, where she leads the strategic design and delivery of the organization's flagship programs in Artificial Intelligence & Compassion. She is adjunct faculty in the Health Sector Strategy stream at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Zayna previously held senior roles as Future Strategist at SE Health, Lead of Health System Innovation at MaRS Discovery District, and was seconded to the REshape Innovation Centre at Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. Earlier in her career, she was a Principal in the healthcare practice of The Boston Consulting Group.

Zayna earned her PhD in diabetes research from the University of Toronto. A recognized voice on health system transformation, she advises health technology companies across Canada and internationally.

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In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Cynthia Whitehead.

Cynthia Whitehead is an education scientist, educator, and family physician. Her research examines the effects of power relations on various structures, systems, processes, and practices in health professions education, paying attention to who and what is advantaged or disadvantaged as a result. She aims to use her research findings to promote health and education practices that are compassionate, equitable, and effective. Working at the intersection of health and higher education, she sees exciting opportunities to harness the transformative potential of education in service of a healthier world.

Cynthia's program of research is anchored in critical historical analyses of health professions education. Knowing our history is vital for understanding our current contexts, avoiding past mistakes, preserving what works well, and appropriately adapting that which needs change. Aware of the need to deliberately collect multiple perspectives and voices in the history of health professions education—and at times dismayed by the absence and loss of documents—Cynthia is engaged in efforts to preserve relevant archival materials. She is also committed to helping to grow the community of scholars interested in studying the history of the field.

Theoretically, Cynthia engages with the work of Michel Foucault, as well as post-colonialism, anticolonialism, and decoloniality. Some of her specific content areas of interest are globalized medical education, primary care education, accreditation, outcomes-based education, and education for collaboration.

Underpinning Cynthia's historical research is the knowledge that the creation of Euro-American models of higher education, health professions education, and healthcare institutions globally were intrinsically intertwined with European colonization of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. She understands that colonization has shaped and continues to perpetuate inequities in health professions education and research practices locally, nationally, and globally. Cynthia's involvement in the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC) is one key partnership within which she collaboratively interrogates these processes. As a high income country researcher and white settler Canadian, she strives to listen, learn, and collaborate with humility, taking care that her work not inadvertently reproduce colonial academic practices.

Cynthia has provided education consultations and worked with educators, scholars, and learners in many countries, as well as with the World Health Organization. She has held many education leadership positions, and is involved in teaching, curricular design, program evaluation, and education administration locally, nationally, and internationally.

Cynthia is a Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine; Director and Scientist at the Wilson Centre, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and University Health Network; and an academic family doctor based clinically at Women's College Hospital. She holds the BMO Financial Group Chair in Health Professions Education Research at University Health Network.

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In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Andy Smith.

Since 2017, Dr. Andy Smith has been the President and CEO of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where he leads over 12,000 staff, physicians, researchers and learners and an annual budget of more than $1.4 billion. Prior to his current role, Dr. Smith served as Sunnybrook's Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Executive.

With a long-established career as a surgeon and a recognized leader in the management of colorectal cancer, Dr. Smith is intensely passionate about improving healthcare. He has been involved for many years in quality improvement initiatives in Ontario and is passionately interested in healthcare leadership, innovation and the evolution of the healthcare system in Canada. Dr. Smith is on the Board of Directors for ORNGE, Public Health Ontario (PHO), HealthCareCAN, Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP) and is an active member of Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network (TAHSN).

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In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Tara Kiran.

Dr. Tara Kiran is a family physician and a health systems researcher with nationally and internationally recognized expertise in primary care policy, quality improvement, and health system evaluation. She holds the Fidani Chair in Improvement and Innovation at the University of Toronto where she also serves as Vice Chair, Quality and Innovation for the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Dr. Kiran's research focuses on understanding and addressing gaps in access, equity, and quality in primary care, with recent work examining shifts in the physician workforce, the impact of team-based care, and public priorities for reform. Dr. Kiran is the founder and national lead of OurCare, Canada's largest public engagement initiative on the future of primary care, which has shaped policy direction in multiple provinces and informed Ontario's Primary Care Act. She also hosts Primary Focus, a podcast that explores innovative primary systems and clinics—in Canada and around the world. She practices family medicine at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto where she is also a Scientist at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions. Throughout her work, she is motivated by a deep commitment to improving access to high-quality, equitable, and patient-centred care.

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In this episode, host Helen Angus, CEO of AMS Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Laura Desveaux, PhD, CPCC, ACC , a scientist and Director of the Learning Health System Leadership Center at the Institute for Better Health at Trillium Health Partners. She is a Senior Fellow with AMS Healthcare, an Assistant Professor with IHPME at the University of Toronto, and a 2023-24 Leadership Fellow with the International Women's Forum.

Dr. Desveaux's program of work focuses on learning health systems, the future of leadership, and how and why things work in healthcare with a focus on identifying how context influences success (and failure). She is also the founder and Executive Director of Women Who Lead, a not-for-profit dedicated to supporting leadership development for women in the health sector.

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