Programming

Edmonton is the first stop of the multi-city Biome CVD Summit, and this is the beginning of your Summit journey, a full day of ideation and co-creation designed to accelerate life-changing advances in cardiovascular healthcare through high-level, cross-sector collaboration.

With a first-mile mindset, good health can begin well before someone walks into a doctor’s office, yet so many resources are dedicated to the last mile — caring for patients who are already sick. First Mile Health is a progressive initiative proposed by IDEO to create systems-level change across healthcare. It brings individuals, businesses, healthcare professionals and policymakers together under one collaborative umbrella to drive the well-being of communities. Rather than focusing efforts on care when people are already sick, the emphasis is on prevention much further “upstream,” when people are healthy, in order to have a compounding effect.

Knowledge is power, and questioning the foundations of one’s knowledge while being open to different ideas builds the intellectual muscle needed to stay curious and propel change. What can be learned from the deep knowledge and diverse perspectives of your peers across industries, as well as the collaborative energy of the Biome, to tackle long-standing cardiovascular healthcare challenges in new ways?

While regional disparities in access to healthcare have long been a problem, the pandemic has laid bare just how wide these gaps are. This panel will reveal the tangible and intangible costs associated with health system inequalities and ways that the public and private sectors can collaborate to ensure equal care for all, no matter where they live.

The Summit’s highly anticipated Innovation Challenge sees eight specially selected startups from the healthcare, pharmaceutical and technology industries vying for a top spot in this solution-driven competition. Each startup will tackle one of four CVD burning questions (E.g., How can we bring access to CV care to remote and disadvantaged communities?) and a jury will choose the three most innovative answers. Summit attendees will also have a chance to participate by selecting one startup for the Community Choice Award. The three winning startups will be mentored by the Novartis Team before going on to present their solutions at the hybrid in-person/virtual Summit in Montreal.

Recap the highlights and bold solutions produced by the Summit’s many engaging, in-depth conversations, and begin to explore the key takeaways that emerged. As the first stop in the multi-city Biome CVD Summit, the Edmonton Summit laid the foundation for innovative CVD solutions. Now the conversation moves to Toronto and Montreal on the way to the creation of a transformational blueprint for change.