With an aging population and continuing rise of chronic conditions, the integration of formal and informal home care with traditional healthcare services is crucial for the overall sustainability of Ontario’s healthcare system. However, systemic deficiencies in the communication of patient health information within circles of care must be addressed to ensure informed, well-coordinated, patient-centred care. James will share his experience of successfully creating a patient-centered solution to support access to and sharing of health records from all healthcare providers across North America. He will explore the challenges of accessing health data as a private company external to the healthcare system. Finally, James will share his experience on founding MedChart while he was in his PhD at the University of Toronto and discuss serial entrepreneurship, his experience trying to find the right idea and the right team, and leveraging the rich University of Toronto and Toronto start-up scene to launch his idea.
BIOGRAPHY
James is a leader, life-long-learner, and is passionate about entrepreneurship. His journey started when he co-founded a family business with his father in 2003 and earned his Red Seal license in carpentry. He owned and operated the company until 2009 when he decided to pursue Engineering Science Majoring in Engineering Physics at the University of Toronto. During his studies, he performed research on MRI at Sunnybrook Research Institute, quantum computing at the Institute for Quantum Computing and Steinberg Lab, and nanoelectronics devices at the Centre for Advanced Nanotechnology with publications in Physical Review Letters and APS Physics. In 2013, James graduated with honours and a certificate in Engineering Business while also serving on the University of Toronto Governing Council and its sub-committees. In early 2016 he graduated a M.A.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering and was awarded the NSERC PGS-D scholarship to pursue his Ph.D. at the U of T. He has since taken leave from his Ph.D. to pursue MedChart full-time. James’ pursuit of entrepreneurship has led him to found and co-found three companies during his time at the University of Toronto. Covalent Construction (2009), Devra Sports (2010) and MedChart in 2015 with Derrick Chow. He was motivated to found MedChart after experiencing the pain of trying to get medical records to assist with coordinating care for a dying family member in 2013. As CEO, he has successfully led MedChart to win top prizes from the Entrepreneurship Hatchery and Start@UTIAS accelerators in 2015 to launch his start-up. James believes that there is a true demand for easy access to personal medical records and approaches each day with an entrepreneurial spirit seeking “problems” to be solved.