Celebrating health informatics alum on International Women's Day

Happy International Women’s Day! In Human and Social Development, we are privileged to work with many people dedicated to improving equity, diversity and inclusion for women, trans-women, gender non-conforming and non-binary folks here and around the world. 

The United Nations’ theme for International Women’s Day this year focuses on innovation and technology for gender equality, and so we’d like to take this opportunity to recognize Health Information Science alumni. Women make up less than 25 per cent of people employed in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers in Canada and just 34 per cent of Canadians with a STEM degree are women.

It is worth celebrating, then, that some 60 per cent of Health Information Science students are women, and that many of these graduates go onto become leaders in their field. Meet some of our outstanding alumni.

Shannon Malovec

Executive vice president,
Provincial Digital Health and Information Services,
MSc, Health Information Science

“A proud accomplishment over the recent years was leading our provincial COVID-19 digital response efforts. Our team worked tirelessly to provide citizens with a provincial vaccine booking solution and our health system partners with a vaccine management solution. This initiative was implemented within record speed and has been recognized as one of the most successful digital vaccine deployments globally.” 

“What drew me to [health informatics] was the intersection of learning about the health system and supporting wellness for people, learning about business and management approaches, and learning about technology and how it can drive transformation. I’ve been in the field since 2000, have done both an undergraduate and a master’s in the field, and continue to love learning more every day."

Amy Williams

Director of clinical informatics at Island Health,
MSc, Health Information Science

“I am proud of the clinical informatics team I have been able to build at Island Health. The team has grown from nine staff to over 50 since being in a leadership role. They have been integral in helping nursing, medical, and allied health staff learn and integrate the tools into their practice on a daily basis.

“Our organization was just embarking on an implementation of a fully digital health information system [when I joined]. Having worked in critical care for over a decade I knew how important technology was in the care of our patients and I was eager to see our work evolve. Having data easily at our fingertips is so important in making clinical decisions. Once I joined the clinical informatics team I never looked back! I loved that I could use my clinical knowledge to help design our systems, improve usability and most importantly help other clinicians through their transition."

Sonia Pagliaroli

Executive nursing officer, Oracle Cerner Canada,
MSc, Health Information Science

"As a nurse, my internal motivator is to help people. I was exposed to informatics early in my nursing career in labour and delivery. The hospital I was working at was implementing a new electronic health record and being the new nurse, I was volunteered to help design documentation for our unit. From there, I was hooked. I've been working in informatics for 25 years. This journey has supported my desire for continuous learning and in 2016 I obtained my MSc in Informatics at UVic.

"Since working in informatics, I am most proud of my ability to lead, advise and influence how technology can positively improve nursing practice. Advocacy is important. Informatics has the ability to positively improve clinician and patient experiences in health care delivery. This profession requires the leadership to ensure the voice of clinicians and patients is heard to ensure technologies are addressing real problems rather than creating barriers."

Vanessa Kinch

Regional manager, clinical informatics, Northern Health Authority,
Master of Nursing and MSc in Health Informatics

UVic alumna Vanessa Kinch, described as a “clinical informatics rock star in rural healthcare,” was recognized last year with a 2022 Women Leaders in Digital Health Award.

Kinch holds a dual master’s from UVic in Nursing and Informatics. She began her career as a Registered Nurse and moved to informatics as a UVic co-op student in the Northern Health IT department.

Kinch is currently regional manager, clinical informatics, at the Northern Health Authority. She lives in Prince George, part of the Northern Health region, which serves roughly 300,000 people

She joins three other female graduates of UVic’s HINF program in recently receiving the award. The annual Women Leaders in Digital Health Award recognizes visionaries who are harnessing the power of IT to transform Canadian health and healthcare.