In its February 2025 guidance, Health Canada emphasized the need for manufacturers to demonstrate that their machine learning-enabled medical devices are developed from data that is adequately representative of the Canadian population. However, Canadian health data can be difficult to come by. The culture of caution and the hesitancy to share data with commercial partners have historically been prevalent across Canadian health systems, leading to a dilemma for health innovators.

In this webinar, Phil Boyer, Manager of INOVAIT’s Health Data Innovation Program, and Yolande Dufresne, Counsel at Torys LLP, will share insights on data licensing, governance, and regulatory best practices that manufacturers may employ to encourage data partnerships with Canadian healthcare institutions and improve success in regulatory review and clinical use.

Registration Fees

Member: $0
NonMembers: $10

Speakers

Phil Boyer, MASc, PhD
Manager, Health Data Innovation Program, INOVAIT, Sunnybrook Research Institute

Phil Boyer is the lead author of “Data Mobilization: Principles for safely and ethically harnessing Canadian health data to unlock innovation, economic growth, and better patient care”. As a long-time supporter of health innovation in Canada through roles in commercialization and healthcare research, he currently leads the Health Data Innovation program at INOVAIT, Canada’s image-guided therapy and artificial intelligence (AI) network. Phil holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering focused on AI in healthcare from the University of Toronto and Sunnybrook Research Institute.

Yolande Dufresne
Counsel, Torys LLP

Yolande is a Toronto based lawyer with the firm, Torys LLP. She advises clients with regulated products in the biotechnology, drug and medical device industries. She has in-depth knowledge across a broad range of areas, including research and design, market access, supply chain management, product licensing, labelling and advertising, as well as privacy matters. In addition to her regulatory experience, Yolande advises on intellectual property and related transactions, including the acquisition, enforcement and exploitation of patents, trademarks, copyrights and industrial designs. She regularly helps clients manage the risks related to their intellectual property assets and has extensive experience drafting, filing and prosecuting patent and trademark applications, as well as advising on the validity, patentability and infringement of intellectual property rights. Yolande is also engaged in dynamic and complex matters involving the intersection of artificial intelligence, medical technologies and intellectual property.

Cancellations and Refunds

RAPS reserves the right to cancel this program at its sole discretion. RAPS will not be responsible for travel or other costs incurred due to cancellation. All cancellation requests must be submitted in writing to support@raps.org. Cancellations will receive a full refund minus a 20% administrative fee. RAPS is unable to accept cancellations by phone.

Substitutions

Paid registration substitutions may be accepted with written approval from RAPS for requests received before the start of the event. To transfer a registration, email support@raps.org with the event title, name of the original registrant and the contact information for the new attendee.

Proof of Attendance

A certificate of attendance can be downloaded from the RAPS Learning Portal following the event.

Questions

Contact the RAPS Support Center:
Call +1 301 770 2920, ext. 200 (8:30 am–5:30 pm EST, Monday–Friday) or email support@raps.org.