Ottawa Businesses Leading the Health-Tech Revolution: Season 11 of Invested in Our New Reality 

Jun 22, 2023

Good health takes a lot more than an apple a day.  

Luckily, entrepreneurs worldwide are committing their intellect, resources, and time to revolutionize the healthcare sector, bringing much-needed innovation to how we care for ourselves and others, inside the hospital and out.  

Even better? A lot of this exciting work is being done right here in the National Capital Region. Ottawa is home to a thriving health-tech and life-sciences sector, paving the way for change in everything from patient care, training, and testing, to communications and data storage.  

Keen to know more, we dedicated Season 11 of the Invest Ottawa podcast, Invested in Our New Reality, to health tech: what it is, why it matters, and who is leading the industry. Over the course of eight episodes, listeners heard directly from industry leaders who are effectively merging good science and smart business. 

We welcomed national health journalist Avis Favaro as host for this season. With four decades of experience covering every kind of health issue impacting Canadians, from HIV/AIDS to COVID-19, she expertly guided each interview.  

“I was in awe of the courage and patience embodied by our guests,” she said. “They also taught me about the important role of business incubators like Invest Ottawa in coaching and supporting startups. New ventures may be exciting, but they are very hard work.”

“My biggest takeaway is that there are so many inspiring stories fueling future changes in health care, like the ones featured in season 11,” she added. “They need to be shared to encourage other Canadians to step forward with their ideas. Whether they are scribbled on a paper napkin or born in a virtual game, ideas can become a reality.”  

This season shows how local companies are tackling the most pressing problems in the health sector – and succeeding. Listen now!  

INVESTED IN OUR NEW REALITY – SEASON 11 EPISODE GUIDE   

• EPISODE 1 | Virtual reality is more than just fun and games, according to Justin Sutherland, the CEO of  Realize Medical, a local start-up with a bright future supporting real-world physicians and their patients. Listen here.
• EPISODE 2 | Evoke Health is an Ottawa-based med-tech company led by CEO & Co-Founder Varsha Chaugai. Its innovative heath-tech platform supports residents in long-term care, their caregivers, and families with the tools they need to communicate. Listen here.
• EPISODE 3 | Trualta is shining a light on caregiving. CEO & Founder Jonathan Davis shares how their platform is helping people get the training they need to become confident caregivers capable of managing the care of a loved one living at home. Listen here.
• EPISODE 4 | For elders living in senior-living facilities, not fitting in can greatly impact their quality of life. Enter Welbi, an innovative software that captures the information staff need to provide better person-centred services, developed by CEO & Founder Elizabeth Audette-Bourdeau.  Listen here.
• EPISODE 5 | Love ‘em or hate ‘em, those COVID-19 at-home tests were a medical marvel, years in the making, with roots right here in Ottawa. Rafal Iwasiow, Vice President of Innovations & Technology at DNA Genotek, shares the whole story. Listen here. 
• EPISODE 6 | Meet Kelly Gregoire, Vice President of Operations at TryCycle, a local company providing health professionals and their patients with technology-based tools to provide ongoing support for mental health and substance use care. Listen here.
• EPISODE 7 | A global leader in nuclear medicine, BWXT Medical Ltd maintains Canada’s nuclear medical supply and Rachel Pickering, Vice President of Operations, joins the podcast to explain how they do it – and why it matters. Listen here.
• EPISODE 8 | What do you do with your data? Audrey Bond is the Founder & CEO of Vaultt, an ultra-secure and collaborative healthcare tool that stores vital health information where it belongs – in a vault.  Listen here.

Thank you to our guests for making our long-running podcast possible. Thanks also to host Avis Favaro whose experience and skill were the backbone of this season’s episodes.

Finally, thank you to our listeners for supporting Invested in Our New Reality – until next time. 

Stay tuned for Season 12, launching in Summer 2023.  

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