Dr. Kamran Khan appointed inaugural Temerty Health Nexus Chair in Health Innovation and Technology
The Department of Medicine is proud to announce that Dr. Kamran Khan has been appointed as one of two inaugural Temerty Health Nexus Chairs in Health Innovation and Technology within the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. The Temerty Health Nexus Chair emerges out of the transformational gift made to U of T in 2020 from the Temerty Foundation with the specific priority to champion the successful outcome of health innovation.
As Temerty Health Nexus Chair, Dr. Khan will support the emergence and growth of new healthcare technologies that will develop out of the Temerty Faculty’s ecosystem. From machine learning to digital health, Dr. Khan will support innovations that have the potential for significant impact, with a particular emphasis on scalability, better quality of life and reducing health inequities.
“We have an amazing diversity and depth of talent in medicine and health sciences at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine,” says Dr. Khan. “I’m excited to be part of a cultural movement that encourages and fosters greater entrepreneurship in academic medicine to deliver scalable health technologies that can impact the world.”
Dr. Khan is a Professor in the Department of Medicine and an infectious disease physician trained in public health and preventive medicine. Based at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital, he is also the founder and CEO of BlueDot, an epidemic intelligence company that helps governments and private enterprises build resilience to the growing number of disruptive outbreaks appearing in the world. BlueDot made waves early in 2020 when its “digital warning system” was among the first to detect COVID-19. Dr. Khan’s research interests focus on human migration, international travel, and the impacts of globalization on newly emerging and reemerging infectious diseases.
“Dr. Kamran Khan is an incredible pick for the Temerty Health Nexus Chair,” says Dr. Gillian Hawker, Sir John and Lady Eaton Professor and Chair of Medicine. “His appointment will only further the innovation he has spearheaded in the areas of big data, machine learning and infectious diseases.”
As Chair, Dr. Khan will be a mentor at the Health Innovation Hub (H2i), a campus-linked accelerator within the Temerty Faculty of Medicine whose mission is to educate, enable, partner and facilitate early-stage entrepreneurs in the commercialization of health matters.
Dr. Aled Edwards in the Department of Molecular Genetics has also been appointed as Temerty Health Nexus Chair.
