Code blue! Can behavioral science resuscitate our failing healthcare system?

John Breen is the Executive Director of Health Strategy at kyu, a creative collective that includes IDEO, SYPartners and BEworks. In his role John drives kyu’s efforts to imaginatively explore, define and address the big questions that will shape the future of healthcare by harnessing the talent and experience of the kyu health community. Our goal is to unlock new thinking, innovate unique offerings and catalyze systemic change. 

Jeff Fayer brings to our panel over twenty years of Patient and Consumer Marketing experience in the pharmaceutical and CPG industries, spanning a diverse set of therapeutic areas. Throughout his career, Jeff has been committed to helping brands succeed while advancing health outcomes, with a passion for supporting Health Equity while ensuring the Patient Voice is integrated across promotional activities. Jeff currently serves as Consumer Director, DTC Lead at Pfizer, supporting the Cardiovascular and Metabolic category.

Maura Cass works as an Executive Portfolio Director at IDEO and Co-Leads the North American Leadership Team focused whose purpose is to use design to solve some of the most complex challenges in health & wellbeing in service of bringing equity, dignity, and joy to all. Maura's expertise lies in leading multidisciplinary teams, conducting qualitative user research, simplifying the complex and building actionable design strategies. She uses her background in anthropology and her analytical mind to help make sense of new environments, cultures, communities, organizations and people. 

Jia Hu is a family physician and public health and preventive medicine specialist. He is currently the CEO of 19 To Zero - a not-for-profit he founded during the pandemic focused on health behavior change. He is also the Chief Medical Officer of Aceso Medical and a physician with Cleveland Clinic Canada where he is the corporate medical director for the Canadian Pension Plan. He has varied health and business experiences - previously he was a medical officer of health with AHS, worked at McKinsey, and has worked for various health and government organizations like PHAC, WHO, and the Chinese and Qatari governments.

Theresa Tang is the co-chair, co-founder, and operational lead for 19 To Zero. Her previous role helped establish Alberta Medical Association’s first population health portfolio, which included leading the province’s primary care response to the opioid crisis and developing community partnerships to screen and reduce the impacts of individuals living in poverty. She also launched Alberta’s first Primary Care Integration Network at Alberta Health Services focused on transitions of care between the hospital and community. 

She is a passionate health leader who believes in building emerging leaders to pursue an understanding of unmet needs in their communities, consider the future, and engage in activities to foster innovative and sustainable solutions to social and health challenges.

Ada is a seasoned expert in behavior change. She uses an understanding of the human mind to solve complex organizational challenges and to bring a different way of thinking. At BEworks, Ada oversees engagements primarily in healthcare. Her broad sector expertise and strategic oversight gives her a unique perspective into how organizations can more deeply and accurately understand consumer needs. 

Erick Roat is an advisor at BEworks and a clinical psychologist whose work focuses on developing solutions that would solve psychological and behavioral challenges that patients and physicians face within healthcare. Throughout his career, Erick has been interested in translating research in psychology to achieve concrete positive changes, and has worked with hospitals, community health agencies and private organizations to develop programs and policies that support mental health and wellness.