Danina Kapetanovic is vice president of innovation and chief health innovation officer at Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN), jointly appointed with the University of Waterloo. She leads WRHN’s innovation strategy, shaping the conditions for bold ideas, new technologies, and transformative models of care to take root and thrive.
Danina is the founding leader of CareNext, a regional health innovation coalition anchored at WRHN and developed in equal partnership with the University of Waterloo. Bringing together health systems, academia, industry, and community organizations, CareNext co-develops and scales solutions that strengthen care and drive system transformation. Prior to joining WRHN, Danina served as chief innovation officer at CIUSSS West-Central Montreal, where she launched OROT, Canada’s first hospital-based connected health innovation hub. She was also executive director of Hacking Health, a global network advancing digital health innovation, and spent nearly two decades with the United Nations leading international efforts focused on innovation and public-private collaboration to advance human health and alleviate suffering. Danina holds a master of science in communication sciences and disorders from Hunter College (CUNY), a B.A. honours in neurolinguistics from McGill University, and certificates in healthcare innovation from Duke University and life sciences entrepreneurship from Concordia University.
