Fatima Zaidi and Lauren Arnold, Co-Chairs of #Tech+Biz4SickKids, are at the forefront of a unique initiative combining technology and philanthropy to support SickKids Hospital. With backgrounds as CEO of Quill Podcasting & CoHost (Fatima) and Co-founder of Category Communications (Lauren), they bring their passion for innovation into healthcare. Their work with #Tech+Biz4SickKids focuses on raising funds for initiatives like the development of new AI-driven healthcare tools and the reimagining of the SickKids campus to provide state-of-the-art care.
Describe your charity/non-profit/volunteer work in a few sentences.
#Tech+Biz4SickKids is a group of individuals who are passionate about technology and how it can improve lives in a tangible way. SickKids Hospital has always been at the forefront of innovation, and now they need community support to make sure it stays that way. Our last campaign, Tech4SickKids, raised about $8M through various community initiatives. Since we had so much success, we came back with #Tech+Biz4SickKids where we’d like to continue to engage corporations of all sizes and industries to rally behind sickkids and their mission. A few of the projects we are raising for include: 1) The development of new tools led by the first Chair of Biomedical Informatics and Artificial Intelligence in Canada. Our vision is to improve the way healthcare is delivered through big data analytics and 2) Reimagining the SickKids campus to accommodate new, state-of-the-art emergency care, diagnostics, therapies, and cures.
What problem does it aim to solve?
SickKids will harness in-house expertise and advanced technologies to gather data from diverse sources, uncover new knowledge about childhood diseases, and find creative solutions to problems of diagnosis, treatment, and care. Over the next 10 years, SickKids will transition from the current model of care based on the “average” child to precision healthcare, so that a child’s unique health signature informs their diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring to predict and prevent any change for the worse. Its implementation will consider our ethnically diverse patient population and will respect different perspectives and values. So in a way, each child is getting very tailored treatment that is unique to their DNA. This requires a lot of funding and ensures that we can be more proactive than reacting with child healthcare.
When did you start/join it?
Fatima started volunteering with SickKids in 2018 and Lauren joined the team in 2020. Ever since then, we’ve played various roles with the main mission of galvanizing the technology, innovation and corporate communities to support SickKids fundraising needs.
What made you want to get involved?
Our vision has always been to continue to inspire and engage the technology and innovation sector and their networks to support cutting-edge care, education and research at SickKids. A lot of the organizations we work with feel closer to their business when they feel that they can give back to their community. We’ve really banked philanthropy into the DNA of the organizations who are our donors, and this has helped to create a great work culture contributing to well-rounded employees. Whether we have children or not, we are so lucky to have such a world-class hospital right in our backyards and we need to think of this as a community project if we want to keep the hospital at the standard it is today.
What was the situation like when you started? How has it changed since? What more needs to be done?
SickKids is constantly innovating and working on new ways to deliver better, more precise care to families. This requires consistent support and donations. The focus right now is fuelling donations for Precision Child Health so SickKids can predict better, diagnose faster and treat smarter – the hospital needs a lot of support to continue to be the leader when it comes to children’s health and reach these ambitious goals.
How can our readers help?
SickKids is almost entirely funded by public donations and government funding, so it’s thanks to the donors we work with that have helped keep this hospital to get to where it is today. SickKids is currently ranked the #1 children’s hospital in the world. In 2021, SickKids beat out Boston Children’s Hospital for the top place, and our donor companies and their employees have been a huge part of getting us here.
We’d love for Canadian companies to join our cause by supporting us. There’s many ways to get involved: sponsoring events, corporate and personal donations, and pledging your equity to SickKids hospital, so we can continue to benefit from this world-class hospital and healthcare research centre.
Where can we follow you?
PAY IT FORWARD: What is an awesome local charity that you love?
Fatima, our Co-Chair, is also a board member of Save the Children Canada (Save). Through my work as a Board Member of Save the Children Canada, I’ve seen many donors in my network support our fundraisers for Save Canada. Becoming a monthly donor for any dollar amount can make a big difference. I have always been aligned with Save’s core values and I am constantly in awe of the incredible work they are doing on the ground to champion children’s rights around the globe. What makes me passionate about Save the Children Canada is their dual-focused approach. They are oftentimes the first responders to humanitarian disasters like the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, or floods in Pakistan, but they also prioritize foundational programs globally focusing on projects like gender equity, nutrition in children, and reproductive programs. You can become a monthly donor here, or reach out directly to learn more about the incredible work they are doing.
