Health Innovation Roundup
March 18, 2026

Headlines

• BioAlberta published a recap of its annual Policy Forum. The March 5 event brought together life sciences leaders, policy influencers, and health agency partners to discuss AI-assisted human capacity, U.S. trade policy impacts on Alberta's health sector, and mobile lung screening equity for rural communities, among other topics.
• Startup TNT has been recognized as Canada's most active private venture capital firm in the 2025 CVCA Venture Capital Report. It is calling for a community-driven approach to early-stage investing to counter the concentration of Canadian venture funding in a small number of large deals. Applications are open until March 30 for the next Edmonton investment summit.
• Nutrition researcher Carla Prado of the University of Alberta has received a $160,000 Dorothy Killam Fellowship to investigate the specific protein requirements needed to help prevent muscle loss in women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. "A lot of patients experience profound losses of muscle mass during chemotherapy, and when they lose muscle if affects their recovery, their independence, and their overall health," Prado told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active.
• The Stollery Children's Hospital has received international recognition for its ECMO program, which keeps children alive long enough to heal when their heart and lungs have failed. The Stollery is the only pediatric hospital in Canada to earn a platinum award from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization for its ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) program, which is supported by donor funding through the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation.
• Gerontologist Haidong Liang, the leader of the Westend Seniors Activity Centre and WE Seniors Strathcona County, discussed why meaningful activity and social connection are critical in dementia care and healthy aging on an episode of blueBell Village's The Dementia Collective.
• Hematologist-oncologist Nathalie Daaboul discussed the role of specialized rehabilitation in helping lung cancer survivors address neuropathy, lymphedema, and chronic fatigue on The Life Shouldn't Hurt podcast.
• Former motorcycle mechanic Jordan Davis shared how he found his passion for helping people recover from injuries after his own experience with physiotherapy. He has earned a kinesiology degree from the University of Alberta and is now pursuing a master's degree in physiotherapy. "I find it interesting that the human body isn't far off from a mechanical machine, with different systems," he told Folio.
• Kristopher Marks, the CEO of VĪV Mental Health, discussed his journey from trauma and homelessness to becoming a mental health advocate focused on workplace psychological safety on The Business Development Podcast.
• University of Alberta professor Valerie Carson discussed PLAYshop, a program that helps parents impart physical literacy to their children.
• Vimy Pharma CEO David Suchon told CBC's Edmonton AM about plans to manufacture a generic GLP-1 drug at Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation's Critical Medicines Production Centre. More than a million adults in Canada take GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro.
• Future Fields is hiring a biotech quality control technician, a biotech quality control lead, and a protein purification PD specialist.

Social innovation

• New research from the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights highlights the realities of mutual aid work in Alberta, including growing concerns about rising hostility toward workers. Lead researcher Renée Vaugeois said frontline volunteers and workers in fields such as harm reduction are vulnerable to harassment. "Mutual aid folks are folks that are often filling the gaps that no systems are filling," Vaugeois told CBC Edmonton's Radio Active.
• The federal government, alongside the City of Edmonton, Jasper Place Wellness Centre, and Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation, announced $7.5 million for the Parkdale2 project. It will create 24 new affordable transitional homes and expand the Bridge Healing Care Model, providing wrap-around services for unhoused people discharged from hospitals to offer stability and reduce repeat hospital visits.
• A funding boost last year helped iHuman Youth Society to connect with more vulnerable youth. Because of a one-time allocation of $1 million from the City of Edmonton, shared with The Mustard Seed and Boyle Street Community Services, iHuman opened more daytime shelter spaces and extended its hours until 9pm.
• The Alberta government will end funding for the Housing First program run by Boyle Street Community Services on April 1 and plans to find a new provider through a request for proposals. The province said the program was not achieving the same results as others and had overlapping services, though funding for housing resources overall will continue. The organization said it is working to transfer clients to other agencies, while some worry vulnerable people could fall through the cracks during the transition. Hear more on Episode 347 of Speaking Municipally.
• Shani Gwin of pipikwan pêhtâkwan and wâsikan kisewâtisiwin is among the women cited by Abi Awomosu in a piece on women who are building sound and responsible AI. "The dominant industry built AI by fathering it — directing it, shaping it, deploying it — before mothering it. Before the foundational work of attunement, reciprocity, and genuine care for the being being brought into the world," Awomosu wrote. "Shani built the mothering first."
• Zachary Weeks, a disability issues advocate, saluted Edmonton city council's decision to ask the province to pause the rollout of the Alberta Disability Assistance Program, noting municipalities such as Claresholm, Camrose, and Lethbridge have also raised concerns about the transition from AISH to ADAP.
• University of Alberta researchers explored how governments can better support Indigenous people during wildfire evacuations, noting that 42% across Canada over the past four decades have involved Indigenous communities.

More health news

• Acute Care Alberta released 16 recommendations following a review into the death of Prashant Sreekumar in the Grey Nuns Community Hospital emergency room in Edmonton on Dec. 22, 2025. The report advises hospitals to prevent emergency room backlogs by not capping ward admissions and implementing triage doctors, specifically prioritizing the Edmonton region. The report did not satisfy Sreekumar's widow. The province previously announced triage liaison physicians for major Edmonton hospitals, but they are not yet in place.
• Provincial changes to compensation for surgical hospitalists, who attend to patients after surgery to free up surgeons, may result in "immediate, unavoidable surgical cancellations" at Edmonton hospitals by mid-March, CBC reported.
• Rayanne Boychuk, who has Graves' disease and recently developed a rare gastrointestinal disorder, is one of 1.4 million Canadians waiting to see a specialist. "It makes you feel helpless, knowing that you need help and you just cannot access it in a normal amount of time," she told Global News in a report about a Fraser Institute study on the cost of medical wait times.
• The City of Edmonton has seen a 15% increase in Workers' Compensation Board claims filed by city employees since 2021, including 4,613 physical injuries and 613 mental health cases. City officials say Edmonton is considered high risk compared with other municipalities, prompting concerns about workplace safety and potential budget pressures. Mayor Andrew Knack said the issue will be addressed during the budgeting process.
• Alberta Health Services has launched a pilot project adding three non-urgent response vehicles to Edmonton's emergency health services fleet — with three more in Calgary — to free up ambulances for serious emergencies.

Happenings

Here are some events coming up over the next seven days:

• March 18: Climate x Health Exchange starting at 6:30pm at Campio Ritchie
• March 19: Edmonton Region Research and Commercialization Day starting at 8:30pm at Edmonton Unlimited
• March 19: Entrepreneur Forum For Newcomers in Alberta starting at 11am at Edmonton Convention Centre
• March 19: Prototyping and Product Development starting at 5pm at University of Alberta ICE Engineering Incubator
• March 19: Perfecting Your Pitch starting at 5:30pm online
• March 20: Evening with Cam Tait starting at 5pm at Chrysalis
• March 20: CASA Carnival starting at 5:30pm at Edmonton Convention Centre
• March 21: Healthy Aligned Living Springs into Spring starting at 1pm at Edmonton Seniors Centre
• March 24: Beyond the hospital walls: Scaling Canadian health tech in the new NHS starting at 10am online

And here are some upcoming events to keep in mind:

• March 30: Community Sound Healing & Meditation Event at Delwood Community Hall
• April 15-16: Alberta Health & Safety Conference at Edmonton Convention Centre
• April 17-18: Inclusion Alberta Family Conference at Fantasyland Hotel

Visit the Taproot Edmonton Calendar for many more events in the Edmonton region.