What the Future: Wellness

How tech-enabled care is taking pressure off the system – and putting power in patients’ hands

Daniel Shearer has built his career tackling complex brand and business challenges, and today he serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of one of Canada’s most transformative health care companies. Maple is the country’s largest provider of healthcare by volume, shaping how Canadians access care: virtually, rapidly, and proactively. In this conversation, Daniel unpacks what’s broken in the current system, where technology can make the biggest difference, and why the public-versus-private debate may be missing the point.

Daniel Shearer, Chief Marketing Officer, Maple

The Disconnect: Canada's AI health revolution is happening without Canadians

The Canadian government and Canadian businesses are betting billions on AI to save health care — but the plan may be doomed to fail if they don't bring Canadians along for the ride. In this article, Paul Acerbi, who leads the Canadian AI Adoption Team, helps us understand where the disconnect is.

Paul Acerbi, SVP, Ipsos Canada

How AI, gaming, and real-time data are shaping the future of youth mental health

Katherine Hay and her team are leading Kids Help Phone’s transformation into a fast-moving digital platform, delivering always-on mental health support to millions of Canadian young people each year. She shares how AI, gaming, and real-time data are shaping their future — and why connection matters as much as care.

Katherine Hay, President & CEO of Kids Help Phone

Your biology holds the blueprint for aging well. How tech is finally decoding it.

Sameer Dhar’s mission is deeply personal — born from an experience that gave him a profound perspective on the end of life: living for 12 months in nursing homes to inform his first start-up. That journey sparked a desire to help people live healthier for longer. Today, as founder and CEO of NiaHealth, a startup using advanced diagnostics, longevity-trained clinicians, and personal health data, he is helping shape the future of health in Canada and beyond — a future centered on prevention, personal empowerment, and scalable, tech-enabled care.

Sameer Dhar, Founder & CEO, NiaHealth

From waiting rooms to early warnings: the cultural shift toward prevention

Prevention is replacing treatment as the priority in Canadian health care. As Rama Zuniga explains, from virtual consults and home monitoring to genetic testing and wellness incentives, proactive care is becoming the norm. This shift is redefining expectations of care — and reshaping the health system itself.

Rama Zuñiga, Senior Engagement Lead, Ipsos Strategy3

How the best companies are putting care at the core of productivity

As the boundary between work and life continues to blur, and as health risks grow more complex, employers are facing a new mandate: care for the whole person. Paula Allen has spent her career tracking that evolution — from clinical mental health to corporate wellbeing to global research. In this conversation, she shares why benefits as we used to know them are losing relevance, what’s driving the next wave of innovation, and how AI and mental health will redefine what it means to care for employees in the years ahead.

Paula Allen, Global Leader of Research, Insights & Strategic Communications, TELUS Health

Why the menopause revolution matters

Menopause, when women stop having a full period for a full year because their ovaries stop making estrogen, has vaulted from taboo to hot topic. It’s sparking widespread discussions and celebrity-endorsed products that could create a $600 billion market by 2030. Dr. Monica Christmas welcomes this shift as an opportunity to advance women’s health care by addressing misinformation and developing personalized care.

Dr. Monica Christmas, Associate Medical Director for The Menopause Society

In case you missed it… you’re already in the wellness business

Wellness is no longer confined to gyms, spas, or supplements — it now extends to banks, department stores, and tech companies alike. From creating in-store relaxation spaces to designing financial tools that ease anxiety, brands across unexpected sectors are waking up to a powerful reality. Karen Tilley shares insights on how brands across unexpected sectors should be thinking about wellness.

Karen Tilley, SVP, Senior Client Officer, Ipsos Canada

From sleep to sanctuary: How home is becoming the new wellness destination

Danyal Syed Ali is in his fourth year leading the Consumer and Customer Insights team at IKEA Canada, with a broad mandate: fill any gaps in the organization's understanding of the consumer, spanning from the online shopper experience to the evolving role of customer support. In this conversation, he explores IKEA's commitment to democratic design, its growing focus on sleep, and how the company is approaching health and well-being - both in Canadians' homes and within its own walls.

Danyal Syed Ali, Head of Consumer & Customer Insights, IKEA Canada

If wellness is a place, could Canada be where the world comes to find it

Susan Dong joined Destination Canada in May 2022, just as the world — and the tourism industry — was emerging from the pandemic. Her mandate: help re-establish Canada’s role in the world, defining how the country shows up as a global tourism brand. In this conversation, Susan shares how the organization’s new brand platform, Canada Naturally, reflects on Canada’s “openness” and how that ethos is shaping the evolution of wellness travel and the rise of regenerative tourism that helps travellers and communities thrive together.

Susan Dong, Executive Director of Brand, Destination Canada

Is food the frontline of future wellness?

Over the next decade, nutrition will become more personalized, more functional, and more inclusive — reshaping how consumers, brands, and retailers define value. Read more about the six trends we’re watching.

Diane Ridgway-Cross, leads Ipsos Strategy3’s Canadian practice and is the managing editor for What the Future Canada