Summer 2022 (Volume 32, Number 2)
Bright New Ideas to Help People
with Arthritis:
Arthritis Society Selects
Inaugural Ideator Awards Recipients
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Winners of the inaugural Arthritis Society Ideator Awards. From left to right:
Michelle Laflamme and Alex Fuentes of Emovi; Matthew Rosato of PROVA
Innovations; Lianna Genovese of Guided Hands; and Dr. Linda Li of OPERAS.
Pitches were made, the judges deliberated,
and four Canadian innovators
were honoured at the Arthritis Society’s
inaugural Arthritis Ideator Awards
in April.
The $50,000 grant awarded to each
winner will help them bring to life their solutions
for fighting the fire of arthritis.
OPERAS was selected as the winner of
the Olga Munari Arthritis Ideator Award.
It’s an app-based program that empowers
active self-care for people with rheumatoid
arthritis, capturing information on the go,
and providing trends on symptoms, disease
activity and treatments.
“With OPERAS, people with arthritis can
monitor their disease, keep track of medications,
create action plans, and collect and
display physical activity data through an integrated
physical activity tracker. It gives a
detailed picture to help users lead healthier,
pain-free lives,” says creator Dr. Linda Li.
Part of the grant will be used to get the
word out about the app (please tell your patients
about it) and to expand it to people with osteoarthritis.
“Arthritis is a huge challenge looking for bold solutions
and we want to support bright minds as they create those
solutions,” says Trish Barbato, President and CEO of the
Arthritis Society. “We are embracing innovation like never
before, because we believe it is key to changing the lives of
the six million Canadians living with arthritis.”
The other recipients of Arthritis Society Ideator Awards were:
KneeKG: A dynamic tool, developed by Michelle Laflamme and Alex Fuentes, for diagnosing knee osteoarthritis
by examining biomechanical markers while the knee is in motion, enabling custom treatment plans.
PROVA Innovations: “Smart” in-soles, developed by Matthew Rosato, that aid in gait rehabilitation for people
with early- and mid-stage knee and hip osteoarthritis.
Guided Hands: An assistive device, developed by Lianna Genovese, that guides hand movements to enable
people with limited hand mobility to write, draw and access technology.
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For more information about the winning innovations the Arthritis Society is investing in, visit arthritis.ca/ideatorprogram.
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