Co-Chairs

Tom Chau, O.C., Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital

Tom Chau, O.C., O.Ont., Ph.D., P.Eng., is a Senior Scientist and Raymond Chang Foundation Chair in Access Innovations at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, and a Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomedical Engineering. His research explores novel access pathways to facilitate communication for children and youth with severe physical impairments. Dr. Chau’s lab has developed numerous access innovations that are being used by children and youth locally and abroad. These include the Virtual Music Instrument, a computer vision-based software tool that allows children of all abilities to play music, and the Hummingbird, a device that enables communication through humming. His lab has also created various brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that translate mental activity into communication and control. These innovations led to the launch of the pediatric BCI clinic at Holland Bloorview in 2019.

Kris Shah, B.A.Sc., P.Eng.
Co-Executive Chair
Baylis Medical Technologies

Kris Shah, B.A.Sc., P.Eng., is Co-Executive Chair of the Board at Baylis Medical Technologies, a leader in the development and commercialization of innovative medical devices in the fields of radiology and neurosurgery. Headquartered in Canada, the company also provides contract manufacturing services to some of the world’s leading medical device companies. Shah joined Baylis Medical Company in 1989 as a co-founder and served as President from 2015 until the company was acquired by Boston Scientific in 2022 for $1.75B USD. The company had previously divested its interventional pain management business to Kimberly Clark (now Avanos) in 2009, and its bone tumour ablation business (OsteoCool) to Medtronic in 2016. Shah also co-founded the consulting business OME Group in 1991, which was sold to Ernst and Young in 2011. Shah is an active board member for AdvaMed Accel and Profound Medical. In the past he has served on the boards of Venture Lab, Intellijoint Surgical, MEDEC and the Business Advisory Committee of HTX and Conavi Medical. His list of accomplishments includes numerous patents, the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Award for Healthcare in Quebec (2011) and the University of Waterloo Alumni Achievement Award (2014). Shah and his family established Shah Family Foundation in 2022. Some notable contributions include: Trillium Health Partners, to establish Ontario’s first Women’s and Children’s Hospital, the Shah Family Hospital for Women and Children; SickKids Foundation, to inaugurate a cardiology fellowship in perpetuity for candidates from developing countries; and Sai Dham Food Bank, to establish the Children’s Healthy Breakfast Program.