The Institute for Better Health (IBH) at Trillium Health Partners is proud to share that Dr. Shelley Vanderhout, Scientist at IBH, has been awarded a Fellowship in Compassion and AI through AMS Healthcare. This prestigious Fellowship supports researchers advancing the integration of AI into health care while ensuring compassion remains at the core.
As part of the 2025 cohort, Dr. Vanderhout will explore how AI can be used to enhance patient and provider experiences with MyChart, the electronic health record patient portal at Trillium Health Partners (THP). Building on her earlier work studying the initial rollout of MyChart in 2023, this new project will focus on how patients receive test results through the platform.
“Patients sometimes receive results in MyChart before they’ve had the chance to discuss them with their health care provider. Without context, this can be confusing or even distressing,” says Dr. Vanderhout. “Through this study, we’ll explore whether AI can help simplify medical language and provide personalized context, while ensuring compassion is part of the experience.”
The study will engage patients and providers in interviews and focus groups to better understand their perspectives on AI-generated explanations of health results. The project will focus on perceptions, expectations, and comfort with new technologies, ensuring that future innovation in this space reflects the needs of the people who use it.
This work is closely aligned with Dr. Vanderhout’s broader research portfolio that explores digital health tools and patient experience. At IBH, she works with patients, families and care teams to build more compassionate, human-centred and digitally connected systems of care.
In addition to the research component, the AMS Fellowship provides Dr. Vanderhout with mentorship, training, and collaboration opportunities alongside health care leaders and other researchers across Canada. These professional development opportunities will help her deepen her expertise in digital health and compassionate health care, while fostering new collaborations that extend IBH’s impact nationally.
“This Fellowship is an exciting opportunity to better understand how technology and compassion can coexist in patient care,” says Dr. Vanderhout. “By bringing patient voices into conversations about AI, we can help ensure health care continues to advance in ways that are both innovative and human-centred.”