Arrhythmia Care: Disruption, Innovation, Transformation – 2017 ASC Recap

The Cardiac Arrhythmia Network of Canada (CANet) was pleased to host its 2017 Annual Scientific Conference in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia on September 14-15, 2017.
This year’s conference, titled Arrhythmia Care: Disruption, Innovation, Transformation, provided our network with a detailed update on CANet’s progress and also presented members with valuable ideas and tools in hopes of inspiring them in their quests to transform arrhythmia care in Canada.
Prior to the opening of the conference, CANet hosted a Public Forum on the evening of September 13. Members of the community were invited to join CANet Network Investigators, local arrhythmia care support providers and patients to learn about arrhythmia care and innovations and advancements in its treatment and management.
To read additional details, visit: https://canetinc.ca/news/2017-public-forum-recap
Over 160 attendees filled the Commonwealth Ballroom at the Westin Nova Scotian, as we kicked off the conference with the keynote speaker, Richard Alvarez, former President and CEO of Canada Health Infoway. Mr. Alvarez gave a compelling and insightful look into the power of digital innovation to modernize and sustain Canada’s health care system.
One such digital innovation—and one of the CANet’s greatest accomplishments so far—is the development of VIRTUES, a virtual integrated reliable transformative user-driven e-health system. Dr. Allan Skanes, CANet’s Atrial Fibrillation Track Captain, led the audience through a live demonstration showcasing how the VIRTUES platform functions in real-time. During a live video call, the audience witnessed “Patty”, a patient located in London, Ontario, electronically sync data from her wearable biosensor device with the cloud-based VIRTUES platform. Using a tablet device, Dr. Skanes showed the audience how he was able to immediately collect the synced data and analyze the information, and instantly assess her needs. Patients and practitioners alike are excited to realize the time savings and peace of mind to be gained when VIRTUES is implemented across Canada.

Our invited speaker Dr. Joseph Cafazzo, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation and Healthcare Human Factors, presented The Use of Consumer Health Applications And Wearables For The Management of Chronic Illness.

The power of the network as a research data provider was highlighted in the second live demonstration that followed. Dr. George Wells, CANet’s Associate Scientific Director, and Dr. Dimitri Popolov, CANet’s Research Data and Systems Manager, walked everyone through looking at data in Heart-SIGN. Heart-SIGN is CANet’s informatics platform that uses IBM’s Watson Analytics to manage, monitor, store and correlate data generated from all CANet research projects. The audience audibly gasped during the demonstration, when Dr. Popolov easily selected different data sets, and Heart-SIGN simultaneously updated and analyzed the information. Heart-SIGN’s impact on research projects was collectively realized amongst the audience.
The remainder of the first day focused on CANet’s three research tracks, Atrial Fibrillation, Syncope, and Sudden Cardiac Death. After providing updates to everyone on the progress being made, attendees participated in various breakout sessions to discuss each of the tracks’ plans and goals in greater detail. There was also a very productive and well-attended breakout session on Research Coordination, led by Patricia Theoret-Patrick, a Project Manager at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
The first day closed with a gala dinner including live entertainment from a local 5 piece band called Big Fish, CHAT Discovery Competition presentations, and an awards ceremony. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!
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CHAT Discovery

Christopher Cheung – $25,000
Nigel Tan – $15,000
Lisa Cotie – $15,000
Ihab Elsokkari – $10,000
Clinical Poster Awards
Julio Garcia-Flores – $300
Shannon Kelly – $200
Zardasht Oqab – $100
Basic Science Poster Award
Patricia Johnson – $300
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General Interest Poster Award
Karen Giddens – $300
Soo-Min Kim – $200
Patient Poster Award
Soo-Min Kim – $300
Kevin Um – $200
William McIntyre – $100
Publication Awards
Katherine Allan – $100
Daniel Ramirez – $100
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Day Two kicked off with an energetic, entertaining and engaging presentation by Dr. Samuel Sears, a world-renowned expert on psychology and cardiac arrhythmias. His talk, Beyond the Device: Care of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Patients, inspired everyone to focus on caring for the patient as a whole, not just their heart.
Rounding out the conference was a workshop from the Alan Alda Centre for Communicating Science. The session, Distilling Your Message, by Radha Ganesan, had everyone up on their feet and interacting with one another, as they used new tools and approaches to effectively and clearly communicate the stories of their work.
CANet would like to thank everyone for attending the 2017 Annual Scientific Conference. Mark your calendars—we look forward to seeing you at our next exciting and inspiring conference in Ottawa, ON on September 13-14, 2018 at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel.
For photos of the 2017 conference, visit:
CHAT Trainee Day / Public Forum
https://photos.app.goo.gl/XM2coAdIUaBstHvq1
ASC Day 01
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ddkAQ3twPTBwqVR82
ASC Day 02
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zKqzoPrzQ96QWwjy1
Note: Please feel free to share/use photos from links above with referencing/including a link to www.canetinc.ca.