HHS team members (left to right) Francesca D’Angelo, Stephanie Rintoul and Hiya Shah played leadership roles at January’s Driving the Future of Digital Health conference. This national, virtual conference organized by Digital Health Canada focused on helping people launch and grow careers in the digital health field.
Two early-career Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) staff members and a McMaster University master’s student with the hospital’s innovation portfolio presented at January’s Driving the Future of Digital Health conference.
“They are all emerging leaders who have collectively contributed a great deal to their community of practice, and this was a wonderful opportunity for them to inspire, as well as learn from, other future leaders.” — Dr. Ted Scott, HHS chief innovation officer
This national, virtual conference organized by Digital Health Canada focused on helping people launch and grow careers in the digital health field. Conference goers included students, new professionals, and people already working in digital health who wanted to learn more about growing their careers. Sessions covered topics including career planning, finding work in health informatics, networking, and learning from others’ experiences.
“It’s exciting to see these HHS team members given leadership roles in this national event,” says Dr. Ted Scott, chief innovation officer for HHS. “They are all emerging leaders who have collectively contributed a great deal to their community of practice, and this was a wonderful opportunity for them to inspire, as well as learn from, other future leaders.”
Stephanie Rintoul, HHS clinical innovation coordinator
Rintoul presented in the breakout session called From learning to leading, with a focus on career-building tips from emerging health professionals. Her participation included sharing lessons learned, strategies that helped her progress in her role at HHS, and advice for succeeding in a rapidly evolving field.
Rintoul project manages the evaluation of health technologies within HHS’ hospital network, and identifies new project opportunities. Her project experience includes a remote patient monitoring program, and most recently, an imaging device for early detection of pressure injuries.
Rintoul has been involved in numerous Digital Health Canada initiatives, including serving as an event speaker, participating in the inaugural mentorship program and contributing as a member of the Emerging Professionals Working Group to a recently released, first-of-its-kind environmental scan of AI-driven clinical initiatives across Canada.
Francesca D’Angelo, HHS clinical innovation coordinator
D’Angelo was part of the conference panel Digital Health Canada: Opening doors and shaping careers. Her contributions included sharing how her involvement with Digital Health Canada supported her career growth, helped expand her network and created new opportunities in the digital health space.
D’Angelo’s work at HHS includes leading the planning and implementation of digital health projects. She interacts with a range of clinical departments across HHS to gain insights into the challenges and barriers faced by patients and health-care professionals, driving the integration of digital health solutions into practice to improve quality of care and patient outcomes. Her project portfolio includes an AI-enabled tool, developed by FluidAI Medical, which detects early signs of life-threatening complications in patients recovering from gastrointestinal surgery.
This collaboration with FluidAI led to a second initiative to develop an AI-driven tool that streamlines data abstraction to support research in gastrointestinal surgeries. D’Angelo has also been instrumental in supporting Breast Cancer Learning Health System work with renowned HHS breast cancer physician and researcher, Dr. Andrea Eisen. She will share this work at the eHealth 2026 conference this June.
Hiya Shah, Masters of Sciences, e-Health
Shah was one of five students leading a presentation titled Fuelling the future: Lightning talks from emerging innovators. The students shared bold ideas, breakthrough projects, and transformative insights that are shaping the future of digital health. Shah presented on point-of-care imaging for early and equitable pressure injury detection, a project Rintoul helps lead at HHS.
Their contributions supported the conference’s main goal of helping bridge the gap between academic studies and working life in Canada’s digital health ecosystem, with participants receiving practical advice and ideas on how to succeed in fields related to digital health and health information technology.
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