Kathy Steegstra

Kathy has long held senior leadership and executive level positions in the realm of virtual health. She pioneered the planning and development of the Eastern Ontario Telemedicine Network (EOTN) in the early 2000s. In 2006, as leader of EOTN, Kathy worked closely with leaders of the other regional telehealth networks and the Ontario Ministry of Health to create the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), which included developing the business model, budget, organizational structure, functions and governance structure. 

In 2016 Kathy was asked to define, enable and lead the virtual health initiative for Provincial Health Services Authority ​in British Columbia. In her role as Chief Virtual Health Officer, Kathy has built the Office of Virtual Health (OVH), a team that provides strategic and clinical leadership, project and change management support to all clinical programs that have a need to integrate virtual health into their service offerings. Kathy’s team has built models and processes for integrating virtual health that have been shared across Canada.

Kathy lives with her husband in Vancouver and loves to spend time (safely) with her children and grandchildren. An avid long-distance runner, Kathy has run marathons in many countries around the world but for now sticks to the Stanley Park sea wall and city trails.