Dr. Sofia Ahmed, MD, is a Professor and the Vice-Chair of Research for the Department of Medicine at the University of Calgary. She is a nephrologist and clinician-scientist with a focus on sex differences in human cardiovascular and kidney physiology and outcomes. Dr. Ahmed is an Advisory Board member for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Gender and Health, and the Education Chair for the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences. Dr. Ahmed is a strong proponent of the importance of mentorship and fostering excellence in the next generation of kidney and cardiovascular researchers.

Dr. Jeff Bakal, PhD, is the Program Director for Provincial Research Data Services at Alberta Health Services which operates the Alberta Strategy for Patient Oriented Research (SPOR) data platform and Health Services Statistical & Analytics Methods teams. He is a biostatistician with over 15 years of experience working with Health Services data and Randomized Clinical Trials. His specialties include Biostatistics, Survival analysis, Cost-Utility modeling, Exploratory analysis, Experimental Design, Clinical Trials, Population Health Research, Analytics.

Dr. Hude Quan, MD, is a Professor at the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Classification, Terminology and Standards at the O’Brien Institute for Public Health. A major theme of Dr. Quan’s research is to develop novel methods for analyzing big data and improving its quality to enable its optimal use for health research, precision medicine, disease surveillance, and healthcare system performance assessment. He leads the International Methodology Consortium for Coded Health Information, which was created to develop, test, and promote methodological advances for the applied use of coded health information with the aim of improving methods in health services research.

Dr. David Johnson, MD, is the Co-Lead for the Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit Learning Health System Team, a Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Calgary, and the Senior Medical Director for the AHS Maternal, Newborn Child and Youth Strategic Clinical Network. His primary research focuses on the management of common respiratory illnesses (croup, bronchiolitis, and asthma). Dr Johnson also investigates how best to translate knowledge into practice. He has completed several large multi-centre studies assessing different strategies for implementing clinical practice guidelines and clinical pathways in Alberta. He is an active member of KT Canada.

Tracy Wasylak, MSc, is a Co-Lead for the Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit Learning Health System Team and the Chief Program Officer, Strategic Clinical Networks with Alberta Health Services. She has held numerous senior leadership roles within Alberta Health Services. Tracy holds an adjunct assistant professor appointment with the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. She received the Order of Merit, Nursing Policy Award, from the Canadian Nurses Association in March 2018. She was the recipient of the 2015 AHS Presidents Excellence Award in the category of Innovation and in 2019 she received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Quality Improvement for her provincial contributions to care pathways.

Dr. Maria Santana, PhD, is a health services researcher, patient and family-centred care scientist, an Assistant Professor in the departments of Pediatrics and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary. She is the provincial lead for the Strategy of Patient-oriented Research, Patient Engagement. Dr. Santana has received training in clinical pharmacy, public health, and clinical epidemiology. Her research focuses on developing new methods for advancing person-centred care and patient-oriented research.