Dr. Leigh Chapman
Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Health Canada
Leigh Chapman RN, PhD, was named in 2023 as one of Maclean’s top 10 health care innovators and as one of the 50 most influential Torontonians, Dr. Leigh Chapman is a leader within the field of nursing and healthcare. Leigh is a registered nurse (RN) with over 20 years of experience. Over the course of her career, Leigh has gained a deep understanding of nursing through her work in both frontline and clinical leadership capacities. Her professional experience spans various settings including clinical care, education, research, professional practice, administration, policy, and advocacy.
After obtaining her BScN degree, Leigh completed a Master in Clinical Health Sciences from the Nursing Graduate Program at McMaster University. Leigh then completed her doctoral work in 2019 at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto. Her research provided key insights into ways in which the regulation of health professionals intersects with organizational priorities in acute care settings.
As Chief Nursing Officer, Leigh recognizes the important contributions of nurses at the federal level and aims to ensure their integration into decisions impacting the profession. Within her role Leigh provides strategic advice from a nursing perspective on priority policy and program areas. She plays a convening role with provincial/territorial governments, federal departments, regulatory bodies/colleges, educators and others on key nursing issues. Additionally, Leigh represents the Government of Canada at public forums, both within and outside of Canada. Leigh is committed to advancing the nursing profession in Canada to ensure equitable access to safe, quality care for all.
Dr. Maxim (Max) Topaz
Elizabeth Standish Gill Associate Professor of Nursing, Columbia University and Senior Research Scientist, VNS Health
Maxim (Max) Topaz, PhD, RN, MA, FAAN, FIAHSI, FACMI, is the Elizabeth Standish Gill Associate Professor of Nursing at Columbia University and Senior Research Scientist at VNS Health. A pioneer of artificial intelligence in nursing, he created some of the field's first natural language processing tools for nurses' notes and led development of PREVENT, among the first AI-driven clinical decision support tools in home healthcare. He has authored more than 250 articles and secured over $25 million in research funding, including five NIH R01 awards. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the American College of Medical Informatics, and the International Academy of Health Science Informatics.