Health Data Dialogues is a knowledge mobilization and outreach initiative designed to support thought leadership among individuals working across the ecosystem of digital health data collection and use.
The covid-19 pandemic has sparked concerns around the ethics of digital surveillance and the collection and use of health data through contact tracing applications, drones, mobile phone tracking, and a plethora of other strategies implemented in Canada and across the globe. Given the rapid acceleration in the digital health agenda both nationally and globally, there is an urgent need for critical reflection on equitable and ethical health data use.
In our consultations with industry advisors from hospitals, tech start-ups, research, and government ecosystems across healthcare, one of the biggest challenges raised was a lack of shared language and understanding of health data and its use as well as a lack of opportunity to engage with these topics. These Health Data Dialogues will provide such opportunities and invite people across multiple sectors to learn, reflect on, and co-create knowledge regarding the ethical and equitable collection and use of health data. This space will provide the structures and supports necessary to foster the growth of leaders in the stewardship of health data.
Our overlapping objectives are to translate the knowledge produced through our research in ways that are relevant and accessible to people across the ecosystem, and to further co-create knowledge with a community of thinkers who come together to consider questions of health data collection, use, and the intended and unintended consequences of digital health surveillance and health data use. The outcomes of these conversations will be crucial as Canada and other countries grapple with the accelerated pace of health data collection, integration, and use.
Read more about the research that underpins this work here.
Learn more about our first learning series and join us via our events page.