Design is the discipline of conception. Design pushes us to look not only at the beauty and functionality of objects, but more importantly at the intelligence that underlies solutions.

Because technologies and physical spaces influence how health care providers deliver care and how individuals and communities evolve and remain healthy or not, design offers a unique and very broad perspective on ways to improve population health.

We have addressed new technological breakthroughs, but also innovative health care processes and health care places, including, for instance, hospitals wherein health care providers interact with patients, home settings wherein elderly persons seek to maintain their quality of life, and the various settings wherein adults work and children play and grow.

In each of these domains, we talked about both “small” and “big” innovations, examining how they may influence health significantly.

Montreal, Quebec
Canada

Jocelyn Faubert

The Head of the NSERC-Essilor Research Chair on Presbyopia and Visual Perception, Jocelyn Faubert is a Professor at the School of Optometry, University of Montreal. He is an internationally renowned expert on issues concerning visual perception, vision of the elderly, and neuropsychology. He was awarded the Science Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and holds international and American patents for an instrument known as Online spectroreflectometry oxygneation measurement in the eye (OSOME). The instrument is used to measure blood-oxygen levels by simply examining the retina. He also acts as expert for the editorial committees of scientific reviews such as Nature, Vision Research, Optical Society of America and the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Philip Breedon

Philip is a professor at the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment at Nottingham Trent University (UK) and is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered IT Professional. His research interests evolve around technical textiles/smart fabrics, wearable technologies, biomimetics, swarm robotics and the utilisation of ‘smart materials’ for medical applications. He also leads a smart packaging research and technical innovation pool development initiative with PepsiCo Europe.

Pascale Lehoux

Your host for this TEDx events

Marwan Abboud

Founder and President of a BizDev International focusing on the innovation of medical devices, has held a number of leadership positions in the development of cardiovascular therapeutics and diagnostics systems. Recently he served a critical position of Vice President of Advanced Research and Intellectual Property of AF Solutions at Medtronic. In 1995, Marwan Abboud joined the driving forces that lead to the creation of CryoCath Technologies Inc. He held critical leadership R&D position. Marwan is an inventor on more than 100 US patents and patent applications. over 20 years of successful senior engineering management experience.

David Seidel

David has a background in epidemiology and recently finished his Ph.D. in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. His project investigated the potential impact of design changes on the ability of older people to live independently by extending the usability of products and services.

Stefanie Blain

Stefanie recently received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and Rehabilitation Sciences from the University of Toronto. Her doctoral work investigated the potential for autonomic physiological signals to enhance person-environment interaction in children with profound disabilities. She is currently completing a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan developing practical brain-computer interfaces for in-home use by people with limited ability to move and to speak. Influenced by her musical training, her research interests also include arts-based interventions in healthcare settings and technologies for the communication of expression and emotion.

David Theodore

Trudeau Scholar and SSHRC Fellow, David is a doctoral student in the departments of the History of Science and of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Harvard University. He is a mentor in the Health Care, Technology and Place CIHR training and research initiative at the University of Toronto. An active design journalist and critic, he is a regional correspondent for Canadian Architect, a contributing editor at Azure, and a contributor to The Phaidon Atlas of 21st-Century World Architecture.

Daniel Fuller

Daniel is a Ph.D. Candidate in the department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montreal. His background is in psychology and his research interests include active transportation, built environments and epidemiology of physical activity. His thesis examines the impact of BIXI - Montreal’s new public bike system – on population health

Sophie Paquin

Sophie is an urban planner and scientific consultant in the Public Health Division, Montreal Regional Health and Social Services Agency. She develops a research program on healthy cities for decision-makers and community groups. She is also Professor in the Department of Urban studies in the School of Management, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

Sampsa Hyysalo

Sampsa is a Fellow at the Collegium for Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki. He holds a Docentship in information systems, specialising in user-centered design. His research focuses on user involvement in innovation and the co-evolution of technologies, practices and organizations. He is the author of “Health Technology development and use: From practice-bound imagination to evolving impacts” and a guidebook for practitioners and students “Users in product development: Knowledge, Research and Methods” which is, to date, only available in Finnish.

Lauren Tan

Lauren is a Ph.D. candidate completing a research programme co-sponsored by the School of Design at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) and the Design Council in London (UK). Her thesis explores the different roles of the designer in designing for services and social issues. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Design Honors degree from the University of Technology Sydney and a Master of Business from the University of Sydney (Australia).She has worked in graphic and communication design, landscape architecture and management consulting.

Jorge Silva

Jorge is a researcher with the Inclusive Design Research Centre at OCAD University , a volunteer with the Tetra Society of North America, and the co-founder of Komodo OpenLab, an independent R&D lab specializing in the creation, adaptation and support of open assistive technologies. Jorge is always looking for ways to remove the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from implementing their own solutions to the issues they face on a daily basis. Jorge's work has been featured in media outlets like CBC and the Discovery Channel.