Commercial Virtual Healthcare Services in Canada: Digital Trails, De-identified Data and Privacy Implications

Speakers: Dr. Spithoff, Dr. McPhail, Lesley Vesley

Dr. Sheryl Spithoff is a clinician investigator at Women’s College Hospital (WCH) and an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She has an appointment as a Scientist at WCH Research Institute and is a Fellow at the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre (WHO CC) for Governance, Accountability, and Transparency in the Pharmaceutical Sector. She has a New Investigator Research Award from the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at the University of Toronto. Dr. Spithoff currently leads research projects funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to examine the commercialization of primary care health data and to understand the nature and extent of enterprise commercial virtual care in Canada. She also has a grant from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to assess the privacy implications of commercial virtual care platforms.

Dr. Brenda McPhail is the Director of the Privacy, Technology and Surveillance Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Her work focuses on litigation, advocacy and public education relating to the ways in which privacy rights are at risk in contemporary society, particularly in relation to emerging technologies, and the impacts of surveillance that expand beyond privacy to affect other rights including equality, free expression, and peaceful assembly. Brenda has often served as an expert witness before parliamentary, senate, and legislative committees on legal reforms related to privacy. Her research and public education activities currently concentrate on the social implications of technology, including, most recently, health information sharing, digital surveillance including facial recognition, and AI and human rights.

Leslie Vesely is a research coordinator at Women’s College Hospital (WCH) and a Registered Psychotherapy (Qualifying). Her research interests lie in the intersections of professional regulation, identity, and practices. She published works exploring practitioners’ reactions to the Psychotherapy Act, gender dynamics in couple’s therapy, and media portrayals of binational couples. She is currently working with Dr. Sheryl Spithoff to explore the commercialization of primary care health data in Canada.

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