Research and Development Team
Don Copeman
Founder & Director, Harrison Healthcare Mr. Copeman is an experienced health care and information technology executive with over 40 years of parallel experience in each field. In 2005 he created Copeman Healthcare, the first private family healthcare organization in Canada. It grew to become the largest in the country, with 4 major clinics in Western Canada, and began earning recognition by Deloitte Canada as a “Best Managed Company” in 2013.
In 2011, Mr. Copeman designed and directed the engineering of Carebooktm , one of the world’s first universal personal health records for patient self-management and inter-professional collaboration, which became an important cornerstone in Copeman Healthcare’s vision to bring important health data and technology to patients to assist them with therapeutic lifestyle change.
In 2002 Mr. Copeman was the CEO and principal of Motivus Software Inc, a developer of enterprise software for secure communications, which was sold to Citrix Systems in June 2004. Before his work with Motivus, he was Vice-President of Oracle Corporation Canada Inc., responsible for business applications and corporate market development for a $150 million business. Prior to that engagement he was founder and CEO of Canada’s leading supplier of health care information systems for finance and logistics, Ormed Information Systems Ltd.
Dr. Boaz Saffer
Chief Scientific Officer, Harrison Healthcare Dr. Boaz Y. Saffer earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2021 from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and completed his pre-doctoral residency at Vancouver Coastal Health. An accomplished scientist, he was ranked among the top 5% of PhD health researchers in Canada and has secured funding from notable organizations, such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Killam Foundation, UBC, and the US Department of Defense. His research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences.
Formerly the Director of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Skillsetter.com, Dr. Saffer applied his extensive knowledge of psychological research and expertise in statistics and AI to create multimodal deep learning models that helped psychotherapists enhance their clinical and interpersonal skills. Earlier in his career, he developed an automated neuropsychological assessment scoring system and later significantly advanced the disease prediction algorithms for Carebooktm, an advanced health management system technology.
Julia Blumkaitis-Bosankic
Primary Researcher Julia’s profound commitment to healthcare is rooted in her desire to make a tangible difference in people’s lives. With her expertise in leveraging data for informed decision-making, she constantly seeks new opportunities to enhance health outcomes. Grounded in her trust that research and data analysis are crucial for providing transformative insights, Julia meticulously examines health data to collaborate effectively with our care teams. Her goal is to translate these findings into actionable strategies for the direct benefit of clients.
Julia completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Sport Science from Lindenwood University in the United States. During this time, she conducted extensive research with athletes and the general population in biomechanics, sports performance, recovery tools, and sports nutrition, laying the groundwork for her PhD. She continues to develop holistic monitoring tools for recreational endurance athletes and youth elite soccer teams, and is currently working on her PhD remotely through the University of Salzburg. Julia’s experience also includes working as an exercise physiologist in a multidisciplinary cardiac health clinic following her move to Canada, where she played a pivotal role in supporting clients as they make healthy lifestyle changes.
Dr. Kevin Kjernisted
Consulting Psychiatrist Dr Kjernisted received his Medical Degree from the University of Manitoba in 1983. He worked as a general practitioner for 5 years before completing his psychiatry residency at the University of Manitoba. He became the Medical Director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and the Director of Research at St. Boniface General Hospital in the Department of Psychiatry, a position he held from 1994 to 2005. Dr. Kjernisted moved to British Columbia in 2005 where he became Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, teaching residents and medical students.
Dr Kjernisted has acted as principal investigator in over 60 clinical trials investigating medications for mood and anxiety disorders, cognitive impairment, Alzeimer’s disease, and ADHD. He has held grants to study the causes and treatment of social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and bipolar disorder, and has published on these topics as well as PTSD, panic disorder, hypochondriasis, and depression. He is also co-author of the Canadian Anxiety Disorder Guidelines.
Dr Kjernisted is an internationally active speaker on the topics of mood and anxiety disorders, ADHD, the “mind-body connection”, psychoneuroimmunology, neurobiology, chromic insomnia and psychopharmacology.
Dr. Kjneristed is a key player on Harrison’s MHAT (Mental Health Assessment Technology) development team, helping validate its findings with “gold standard” measures that he has employed in his many years of clinical practice. His contributions to the concept of “Diagnostics Proximity” and its potential to add meaningful mental health risk factors to Careplicity’s overall disease risk calculator has been instrumental in integrating the important aspect of mental health into physical disease prediction.
Andy Summers
Chief Technology Officer Mr. Summers holds a master’s degree in engineering & design from the Far Eastern University of Technology in Russia and is an experienced technology executive. In his 33 years as a software engineer, analyst, systems architect, project manager, and Chief Technology Officer, he has contributed to several complex development projects, including work with Heath industry clients in Canada, the U.S.A. and Australia.
As the Chief Technology Officer for Copeman Healthcare, and later for Carebook Applied Research Limited Partnership, Mr. Summers led the technology group and helped reengineer the company’s internal medical record systems and the internet-based health management system, Carebooktm. He therefore brings invaluable practical knowledge and continuity in design thinking to the Careplicity technology.
Vera Gladkikh
Medical Technology Analyst Vera earned her bachelor’s degree at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, British Columbia, and has had continued with advanced technical training at BCIT. She started her career in software testing at PolyOptimum, an international healthcare scheduling company, and more recently was the product manager and live operations manager for Carebooktm, an online health management tool that was an early concept that inspired Harrison Healthcare’s Careplicity technology.
Vera loves to problem solve and is committed to the development of healthcare technology as a scalable and sustainable way to improve overall health outcomes in our society.