Making it Personal: How AI and Knowledge Management Can Transform Canadian Healthcare

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What if your doctor knew everything about you—not just your medical history, but your genetics, lifestyle, environment, and social circumstances? Abbas Zavar, a physician and digital health leader with over 20 years of experience, believes this comprehensive approach is the key to fixing Canada's broken healthcare system.

Our conversation dives deep into the crisis facing Canadian healthcare: overcrowded emergency rooms, months-long wait times, physician shortages, and a system that waits for people to get sick instead of preventing illness. Dr. Zavar challenges this reactive model, proposing a revolutionary shift toward personalized, proactive medicine powered by artificial intelligence and knowledge management.

The vision is compelling: imagine AI systems that can gather comprehensive health data across five domains—medical records, genetic information, lifestyle factors, environmental exposures, and social determinants—then transform this information into actionable knowledge for physicians. These systems wouldn't replace doctors but would augment their capabilities, handling administrative burdens that currently consume up to 20 extra hours per week while providing critical insights at the point of care.

We explore real-world applications already emerging, like systems that can analyze a patient's genetic profile to determine which medications will be most effective for their unique biology. We also discuss the barriers to implementation, from data silos and interoperability challenges to the slow pace of policy development in the face of rapidly advancing technology.

Throughout our discussion,Abbas Zavar emphasizes that the goal isn't to remove humanity from healthcare but to enhance it—freeing physicians from administrative tasks so they can focus on providing compassionate care. As he puts it, "AI won't replace physicians, but physicians who use AI will replace those who don't."

Join us for this fascinating glimpse into the future of healthcare, where medicine isn't based on statistics but tailored specifically to you as an individual. Subscribe now to hear more conversations about how technology and innovation are reshaping our world.

The music for this episode, Out There, is performed by our current artist in residence,#TracyJones from his album #LuckyTime

You can find out more about Tracy by visiting the Blog Post for his episode

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