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Health Research
Health research aims to find better ways to treat, prevent and cure disease.
This vital component of healthcare can take multiple forms and present a variety of risks and opportunities. Whether it is a clinical trial, secondary data research, research ethics board protocol review, or a material transfer agreement, we keep the aims of the study top of mind while advising researchers, funders, and health care organizations. We also advise on deidentification of data for research purposes, and questions of research versus quality.
Our services include:
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Agreements - Material transfer, clinical trial, data sharing, basic science
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Research ethics board advice
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Research misconduct
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Protocol reviews
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Informed consents
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Deidentified data
Connect with our team
Mary Jane Dykeman
Samara Starkman
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Our People
Meet the dedicated team behind INQ.
LLM, LLB, BCom
PARTNER
Steven Tam
Contact
Steven has over 16 years of experience in healthcare legal, privacy and data governance roles in which he focused on supporting healthcare innovation and improvement through strategic and practical advice on managing legal and privacy risks. He served as General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) for over 12 years where he helped the health authority develop its privacy program from the ground up. He also led the development of the General Health Information Sharing Agreement (GHISA), a unified, overarching agreement signed in 2013 between the BC Ministry of Health and all BC health authorities, which governs almost all sharing of health information across the province for provision of care, research, quality improvement and healthcare planning.
He was also appointed as VCH’s first Chief Data Governance Officer, a role in which he developed an enterprise data governance model to transform how data is strategically governed and managed so that higher quality data is made accessible more quickly to clinicians, researchers and administrators to deliver better care and improve our healthcare system, while enhancing data security, privacy and ethical use of health data.
Steven is a frequent speaker on healthcare privacy and data governance ranging from guest lecturing at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC to presenting at conferences, such as CityAge Data Effect, Reboot Annual Healthcare Summit & the Public Sector Network Roadshow.
Insights & Recognition
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Author: Reboot Health Matters Bulletin, “Data Trusts: A Paradigm Shift to Accelerate AI Research and Innovation” (2023)
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Panel Member: Globe and Mail Webcast on Cybersecurity and Canadian Health Care: Where do vulnerabilities lie? (2023)
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Featured: Vanguard Magazine, “Pushing the Innovation Envelope” (2020)
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Finalist in Western Canada General Counsel Awards, Tomorrow’s Leader Category (2011)