Today, we are razor-focused on somebody who lives by this saying:

“Some people see things as they are and ask why. I see things that never were and say, “Why not?”

We are here to explore the professional and philosophical ideologies of Dr Daniel Andreae, Dan, a visionary who wears many hats in his professional life. From being an executive director of many health organizations, a board member and patron of several organizations with a social cause, to being an award-winning academic at reputed universities, he is a living inspiration to many dreaming of pursuing a career in healthcare. Parsing through his professional journey, we reckon he served as the pioneer and first member of meaningful organizations. We at CIO Global are proud to name Daniel Andreae as the Impactful Voice of Healthcare, 2025.

He has also been a passionate teacher for over 25 years, diving deep into over 45 different subjects, ranging from humanities, bioethics to philosophy. His spectrum of knowledge is far and wide, and he has been imparting it to students with a mission of “when the head meets the heart”. His simple yet meaningful motto has been to make every student feel listened to and appreciated without being lost in the periphery.

A career graph worth anybody’s wonder

He co-founded the National Eating Disorder Information Center (NEDIC) at the University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto. This hospital has been imparting health and education for 40 years and is recognized as the third-best hospital by Newsweek Magazine. The institution is instrumental in treating patients diagnosed with eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating.

He served as the first executive director of the Alzheimer Society, Toronto, with a handful of staff who took the pioneering steps of educating people about Alzheimer’s disease. Over 51000 people in Toronto alone are affected by dementia, Alzheimer’s being one of its most common forms. The mission of Alzheimer Society Toronto is to counsel, educate, and support people who are affected by Alzheimer’s. Collectively, they envision a world without Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. It takes pride in being the first body to initiate wandering Alzheimer’s patients.

At a time when social workers were not given their due in Ontario, Dan took the onus to secure the rightful respect and legislation so that social work would be recognized as a profession. He is the longest-serving president of the Ontario Association of Social Work (OASW). He championed a 10-year campaign for the rights of social workers, working with various government officials, and now all that focus and effort has borne its fruits with groundbreaking legislation. The body is creating a great impact by helping aspiring professionals access the latest social work postings, grooming them for career development, and steering their career path the right way with a social cause.

Dr Andreae, with his sister Trish Holt Hornsby, founded the first robotic training academy in Canada and serves on the board of governors of the Michener Institute at the UHN. He also created the Dr Dan Andreae Chair of Transformative Health Education to guide health care and medical students in health care delivery. His tryst with Robotics in Healthcare began when he was amused by its potential, and he invested in a Davinci Robot. With its many advantages, robotics in tandem with AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, like smaller incisions, less blood loss, quicker recovery time, etc al.

A long and rewarding  teaching career

Dan has been into teaching for over 25 years, diving deep into 45 subjects for students. As a professor, he loves to be called a “Pracademic”. The dictionary meaning of pracademic, derived from “practical academic,” is someone who is not only adept at theory but also has a hands-on application of the knowledge to solve everyday problems. A true knowledge broker, Dan has not only mastered concepts across a wide spectrum of subjects but, being a professional, he has leveraged practical methods to enrich his academic research.

Favourite subject and some deep healthcare insights

Dan clearly expresses his love for psychology as a deep subject that has answers to many of the lurking problems to health challenges that humanity at large faces. He has a special affinity for a course called Optimal Health, which inspires students to take a holistic approach to health.

He affirms that Mental health and Physical health are not two separate and exclusive entities; rather, they work in tandem and complement one another. His goal is to establish the importance of the six pillars of lifestyle medicine, namely, exercise, nutrition, sleep, and social connection. Any health outcome is rooted in emotional, psychological and social conditions, and these factors collectively must be addressed to uproot long-term health issues.

He further introspects that 75-80% chronic health issues are ascribed to lack of nutrition, chronic stress, lack of meaningful social connection, sleep and excessive alcohol and tobacco use. Of course, genetic predisposition adds fuel to the fire of many conditions, but neglecting the other lifestyle-induced factors is not wise.

He explains the domino effect of lack of adequate sleep on our health. Lack of sleep causes an imbalance of two important hormones that control our appetite: ghrelin, responsible for hunger cognition and leptin, responsible for the feeling of satiation. Lack of sleep leads to lowered levels of leptin, and people end up eating more. It also causes more stress and irritability, spiking our cortisol levels. So increased blood pressure, cholesterol and cortisol lead to a variety of health issues. Cortisol causes abdominal fat storage that gives rise to further health complications. The brain also eliminates accumulated toxins at night during deep sleep, and the lack of sleep can hamper that process, affecting our cognitive functions in the long run.

Through his insights, one can gauge his passion as a healthcare faculty member.

Healthcare: The glitches & the opportunities

In many ways, what exists now is a ‘sick care system.’

He expresses his concern over healthcare costs that are rising consistently, and preventive measures are lacking. The question remains, is the world prepared for another pandemic like a bird flu? We need a multiple-pronged approach to healthcare to prevent upcoming health issues through vigilant research and analysis.

The goal must be to make healthcare available to all promptly.

The need to increase the number of micro specialties arises from the huge pressure on the existing medical system, consisting of doctors, nurses and social workers.

This is where Artificial Intelligence takes centre stage: to make healthcare accessible to one and all.

AI can expedite many things in the healthcare vertical, from research to training professionals to deal with unprecedented occurrences.

With AI advancement, career opportunities in the healthcare industry are getting more exciting.

Technology is expediting accurate diagnoses, drug discoveries, reducing human errors, automating repetitive and mundane official tasks like appointment setting and billing, and more. This leaves room for healthcare professionals to focus on providing top-notch services and care to patients.

He is also excited about the advancement in regenerative medicine in the areas of stem cell science, whereby stem cells can be transformed into any other cell in the body. A pluripotent stem cell can be developed into a heart or kidney cell with further research, offering hope to certain biological conditions.

A word of advice for the young aspirants

He is crystal clear about this!

For the youth dreaming of pursuing a career in the healthcare niche, he recommends looking at an area they are interested in, coupled with the necessary skills to ace that speciality. He reflects that focusing on a particular speciality is an advantage in today’s times. The key is to seek that mentor who can willfully mould your young mind and prepare it for the future. You must also build a reliable network of like-minded individuals. Whoever said this, “If you want to walk fast, walk alone, but if you want to walk far, walk together,” resonated exactly with Dan’s philosophy of life.

You will be a lifelong learner as new knowledge and information are accelerating exponentially, and what you learn today may be out of date or obsolete in a few years. Think about the concept of Brain plasticity.

-Says the man with decades of experience, achievements and recognition blending science, psychology and philosophy into a power-packed tete-e-tete.