Will Falk Joins FirstHx Board of Directors

“When Chris told me about FirstHx, I was excited at the potential to improve the patient experience and begin the process of directly incorporating patient stories into today’s EHR systems. This will have far-reaching impacts on the process of care delivery, health care system data and system efficiency.” – Will Falk

Dr. Chris O’Connor, CEO of FirstHx, today announced the appointment of Will Falk as a member of the FirstHx Board of Directors. Mr. Falk is a retired partner with PwC. He has spent 30 years as a strategist and management consultant in New York and Toronto advising top academic centres, governments, and innovative companies in healthcare. 

“Will is a remarkable individual with a breadth of expertise and experience. He has worked to shape health system policy at senior levels but has also rolled his sleeves up to work with start ups in early-stage technology innovation”, says O’Connor.  “I’ve seen the impact that he has had working with teams on the ground. He is always able to keep a vision for how innovation can be a foundation for an excellent public health system.” 

Falk states, “When Chris told me about FirstHx, I was excited at the potential to improve the patient experience and begin the process of directly incorporating patient stories into today’s EHR systems. This will have far-reaching impacts on the process of care delivery, health care system data and system efficiency.”  

First History is a knowledge-based artificial intelligence application that patients use on their smart phone to record their unique medical histories before seeing their health care provider. Once recorded the history can then be shared with the health care team.  FirstHx was founded by two physicians Mark Benaroia and Roman Ellison and Ziv Kenet who lead technology development and operations.  They created FirstHx when they saw an opportunity for technology to improve the often difficult and time-consuming process of patients telling their medical stories to the health care team.  Now with over 7 years of development work and clinical trials FirstHx is being used in both primary care and urgent care settings.   

Mr. Falk is an Adjunct Professor and Executive Fellow at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.  He is a Senior Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute and an Innovation Fellow at the Women’s College Hospital Institute for Health Sustainability and Virtual Care. He has served on the Boards of several health care start-ups during their early years including: Strata Health, Verto Health, Alayacare, and Medseek. 

Will is an active community volunteer. He currently sits on two Boards: The AMS Foundation and West Neighbourhood House He was on the Boards of ICES, the William Osler Health System, and the Children’s Aid Foundation. He has had several formal and informal roles with federal and provincial governments of various stripes. These have included fee negotiations, first minister’s meetings, expert panels, and several policy reviews. 

He received his B.Sc. from the University of Toronto (Trinity College) and an M.P.P.M. from Yale University’s School of Management where he was later a Visiting Research Fellow.