Danina Kapetanovic is Vice President, Innovation and AI Strategy at Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) and Chief Health Innovation Officer (CHIO) through a joint appointment with the University of Waterloo. She leads WRHN's enterprise innovation and AI strategy, advancing the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence, strengthening innovation capability, and developing the partnerships, governance, and infrastructure needed to transform care delivery and improve health system performance.
Danina is the founding leader of CareNext, a regional health innovation coalition established through an equal partnership between WRHN and the University of Waterloo. CareNext brings together healthcare organizations, academia, industry, government, and community partners to co-design, evaluate, and scale innovations that improve patient care, accelerate research translation, and strengthen the region's learning health system. Before joining WRHN, Danina served as Chief Innovation Officer at CIUSSS West-Central Montreal, where she founded OROT, Canada's first hospital-based connected health innovation hub. She also served as Executive Director of Hacking Health, a global organization advancing digital health innovation through multidisciplinary collaboration. Earlier in her career, she spent nearly two decades with the United Nations, leading international initiatives focused on innovation, public-private partnerships, and cross-sector collaboration to improve health outcomes and address complex humanitarian challenges. Danina holds a Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY), and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Neurolinguistics from McGill University.
