Launch Report or Download PDF

 

 

As this inaugural annual report for the Centre was being compiled, one could not be more impressed with the long list of accomplishments for such a nascent group of nearly seventy researchers, staff and students.

 

But is it enough to list the millions of dollars in funding that the Centre attracts, the changes in health policy that its research garners, or the training of dozens of graduate students? Or perhaps mention that the Centre now hosts the top journal in health informatics internationally? What is more impressive for us looking back is how we have not strayed from our roots, our main principles that established the Centre—to remain people-focused.

 

When it was first established and when we first swung our doors open in 2004, it appeared so obvious and natural that we were to be all about technology, the latest and greatest in gadgetry for healthcare. The opposite was to be true. We were to become technology’s biggest critic. To evaluate, iterate, and hold it accountable. To constantly remind ourselves why we are here and why we choose to devote our careers to the pursuit of a better system. All for the people; patients or currently healthy individuals who want to stay that way.

 

It is so gratifying to see as you flip through these pages how we have not strayed over the years, in pursuit of more fashionable, topical, or lucrative pursuits. Despite the challenges in sustaining an active and vibrant agenda at the Centre, we remained focused on the plight of people in the health system, whomever they are.

 

What unites all of us at the Centre is this clear vision of technology that is designed and applied solely for the benefit of the users and those who care for them. So, as we continue moving forward, we remain committed to our focus on people, and let the accolades follow as they may.

 

Joseph Cafazzo, PhD PEng 
Lead, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation 
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto

 

Tony Easty, PhD PEng CCE

Chair, Management Committee, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation
Associate Professor, University of Toronto