NSB Logo Dr. Joseph Cafazzo Dr. Joseph Cafazzo

Dr. Joseph Cafazzo

Speaker Exclusive

Ontario, Canada

Digital Health Care Transformer & Biomedical Engineer

Dr. Cafazzo is a biomedical engineer who has spent his entire career in a hospital and healthcare setting. By observing healthcare delivery from the inside, he works on ways to keep people out of hospital by creating technologies that allow for self-care at home. At the same time, Joe and his team are the biggest critics of poorly designed health technologies and their ineffectiveness. He surrounds himself with whip-smart, passionate engineers and designers who are creating technologies that are spirited, modern and people-focused.

Keynote Speeches

Virtual Keynotes & Webinars
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Frontline Innovation: Patient Health Care and the Future of Health Care Delivery

Providing a patient manifesto in the pursuit of a sustainable, responsive and high-quality health system, Dr. Joseph Cafazzo sets the stage for what promises to be provocative, insightful and transformative program on Frontline Innovation. Dr. Cafazzo lets the genie out of the bottle – the eHealth Consumer, and makes a compelling case for why the consumer is the critical ingredient in a high-performing health system. Learn about what this means for the delivery of health care and what you can do to position your organization to collaborate and partner with a more informed, empowered and savvy eHealth consumer.

Audience reviews:

  • Joseph was a big hit, client is very happy, audience was very receptive.

    - Bayley Group

Speaker Biography

” …patients have this immense capacity to care for themselves.  They can do incredible things given the opportunity.“- Dr. Joseph Cafazzo

Dr. Joe Cafazzo is helping transform health care. Call him Doctor App, a modern biomedical engineer. Or simply say that he empowers patients, allowing them to stay out of hospital.

Over time he has built an intricate network of clinicians, designers, engineers, and researchers that challenge the norms of healthcare and enable patients and their families. Together they push the boundaries of what’s possible, which has led to the creation of technologies that act to facilitate patient self-care of complex chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, end-stage renal disease and congestive heart failure.

Dr. Joseph Cafazzo is the inaugural Wolfond Chair in Digital Health and Lead at Healthcare Human Factors and eHealth Innovation at the University Health Network. As a biomedical engineer, Dr. Cafazzo observes healthcare delivery from the inside-out and works on ways to keep people out of hospital by creating technologies that allow for self-care at home.

Over time he has built an intricate network of clinicians, designers, engineers, and researchers that challenge the norms of healthcare and enable patients and their families. Together they push the boundaries of what’s possible, which has led to the creation of technologies that act to facilitate patient self-care of complex chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, end-stage renal disease and congestive heart failure.

His roles have also included that as senior director at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, a modern facility housing a multi-disciplinary team of more than 60 faculty, associates and students at Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN). His team of doctors, nurses, top software engineers and designers develop ways to keep people out of hospital by creating technologies allowing for self-care at home for those with chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, end-stage renal disease and congestive heart failure.

These strategies are aimed at helping people before their conditions become acute and medical intervention is required. An example of their innovation is “Bant,” an iPhone app developed by the UHN team which simplifies diabetes management. It connects via Bluetooth to a LifeScan glucometer. Diabetic teenagers find this cool because they are rewarded with iTunes store credits every time they use their glucometer. Dr. Cafazzo has advised and conducted research for public sector policy makers and private sector medical technology companies on the design and safety of technology in healthcare.

He delivers presentations of this often-complex subject in a clear, straightforward manner. He is also an associate professor at the University of Toronto and a recipient of the Career Scientist Award presented by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.