Rachel Bartholomew has been involved in the Canadian start up community for the past 10 years working in various roles in small businesses, venture capital, innovation labs and ecosystem partners. She currently working on her second business, Hyivy Health, created from her own battle with cervical cancer in 2019. Her last start up, The Mod Market, worked with large corporate clients, such as eBay and Canadian Tire, to create augmented reality, e-commerce experiences for the aftermarket automotive industry.

She is a graduate of the Masters of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program at the University of Waterloo and Bachelors of Commerce at York University. After graduation, she became an entrepreneurial advisor to over 250 formation stage businesses in the University of Waterloo undergraduate and graduate programs.

She gives lectures in entrepreneurship to graduate, PhD and postdoctoral students in Business, Engineering, and Quantum Computing. She has worked as an Analyst for venture capital firm CyberNorth Ventures, an Innovation Manager at Meridian Credit Union, Program Coordinator for Wilfrid Laurier University’s incubator program LaunchPad, a Business Development Manager for a clean tech startup and is the Chapter Lead for Waterloo Regions Hacking Health Global Initiative. Her involvement and dedication to the health care community came from her recent cancer diagnosis and her passion and motivation to help improve the health care industry for patients and practitioners alike.

Julianna is the Systems Engineering Manager at Hyivy. I’m a graduate of the Biomedical Engineering program at the University of Waterloo (BASc ’21), where I developed my engineering experience through co-ops and schooling. I’ve worked in a wide array of fields such as automotive, robotics, augmented, autonomous robotics, and medical devices. I’ve had the opportunity to have multiple different roles in these field, including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software app development, and mechatronics engineering. At Hyivy, I’m considered the bridge between the mechanical and electrical engineering teams, focusing on the integration of the two for the device.  

Susan Stover is a Marketing and Branding specialist working in the FemTech industry. With over 10 years of experience working as a marketing and sales professional, Susan has worked across numerous verticals including biometrics, mobile identification, finance, and health care. Susan is a passionate member of the FemTech community with her blog What the FemTech?!, she has been featured in publications like FemTech Insider and FemTech.Live, and is the co-host of the monthly FemTech Focus Book Club facilitating thought-provoking conversation with FemTech entrepreneurs, innovators, authors, and thought leaders. Susan lives in Toronto, Ontario with her cat Mister Pickles.

Amy is a graduate of McMaster University, where she completed her Master of Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization (MBDC) in 2023. During her studies, she gained a comprehensive understanding of the pharmaceutical and medical device commercialization process. She has also gained experience in various facets and roles within the life sciences industry, including consulting, working for start-ups, creating commercialization strategies for innovative technologies, and conducting laboratory research. Amy initially joined Hyivy as a Quality intern, and she is enthusiastic about contributing to the success of Hyivy while continuing her professional development with the talented team there. 

Annabelle is a dynamic leader with extensive experience in bringing medical devices to market. She is passionate about creating safe and effective healthcare solutions that positively impact patient outcomes and their quality of life. She has successfully led the delivery of multiple complex medical devices through design & development, manufacturing, to launch across multiple international markets (USA, Canada, and Europe); while implementing compliant Quality Management Systems. With a decade of experience, her portfolio includes a neuro-planning software, a neuro-navigation device, a medical imaging informatics system, surgical tools, a cryogen-free 0.5T MRI, and a soft-tissue localization device. Her expertise spans standalone hardware, software, and integrated systems. She has held roles in systems engineering, quality and design assurance, regulatory affairs, testing, and project management - giving her a uniquely holistic perspective on medical device development.

Annabelle has a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University in New York, has a Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto, and is a Professional Engineer. Outside of work she enjoys travel, discovering new food, cooking, and baking.

Christie Eby brings over 20 years of experience in the Health IT field, as a leader in the areas of: Medical Device Regulatory, Quality Systems, Innovation and Change Management, Process Improvement, Facilitation, Software Development and HR for scaling operations. For the last 15 years she has been part of a management team at three start-ups: Client Outlook Inc, Intellijoint Surgical and HyIvy. In all organizations Christie was leading QMS compliance in:  ISO 13485:2016, MDSAP, CE Mark, TGA, ISO 62304, Health Canada, ISO 14971. In addition, she ensured compliance for Iterative Development with respect to Agile and Scrum methodologies.

Prior to Client Outlook, she was an Operations team member for the Global Informatics Business Unit at Agfa HealthCare, and a member of the Quality Management team for international software development sites involved in Medical Devices.

Christie is passionate about Healthcare innovation and a member of the Board for Waterloo MedTech as well as on the Board of Directors for WCT Waterloo. She is currently writing her dissertation paper for her MBA specializing in ‘Managing Innovation and Change.’