- Hamed Shahbazi, Founder, Chairman and CEO of WELL Health Technologies has been appointed Chairman of HEALWELL AI, a global leader in AI powered preventative care.
- Mr. Shahbazi’s appointment is strategically important for shareholders of both WELL and HEALWELL given the shared objective between the companies to create the most advanced and easy to use AI inspired tools that can equip care providers with various ‘Co-Pilots’ that can help them improve diagnosis of rare and chronic diseases, improve efficiency of their practice, and improve patient health outcomes.
- WELL is currently the largest shareholder of HEALWELL with ownership of 20.7% of the company’s issued and outstanding voting securities. WELL also has an option to acquire approximately 30 million multi-voting shares that would give WELL a controlling position in HEALWELL, as defined on an IFRS financial reporting basis.
WELL Health Technologies Corp. (“WELL”) (TSX: WELL, OTCQX: WHTCF), a digital healthcare company focused on positively impacting health outcomes by leveraging technology to empower healthcare providers and their patients globally, and HEALWELL AI Inc. (“HEALWELL”) (TSX: AIDX, OTCQX: HWAIF), a healthcare technology company focused on AI and data science for preventative care, are pleased to announce the appointment of Hamed Shahbazi as Chairman of the Board of HEALWELL. Mr. Hamed Shahbazi is currently the Chairman and CEO of WELL, Canada’s largest owner operator of outpatient medical clinics and leading digital health service providing software and services to more than one third of all Canadian physicians. Mr. Shahbazi has served on the Board of HEALWELL since its launch on October 1, 2023. Mr. Shahbazi’s appointment to Chairman of HEALWELL is strategically important for shareholders of both WELL and HEALWELL given WELL’s equity ownership of HEALWELL, its option to become a controlling shareholder based on an option to acquire multi-voting shares (see details below) and the shared objective between the companies to leverage AI and other leading-edge technologies to support healthcare providers.
Hamed Shahbazi, Founder and CEO of WELL commented on his appointment, “As a co-founder of HEALWELL, I am personally very proud and excited to take on the role of Chairman for HEALWELL AI given the enormous importance of the shared mission and objective we have between WELL and HEALWELL. WELL exists to tech enable health care providers and there isn’t a more important objective in our company and industry right now than to support our healthcare providers given the enormous burdens they currently face without adequate tools or assistance. Our objective together with HEALWELL is to create the most advanced and easy to use AI inspired tools that can equip providers with various co-pilots that can help diagnose rare and chronic diseases, improve efficiency of their practice, and help improve patient health outcomes.”
Mr. Shahbazi continued, “WELL has already invested significantly in HEALWELL and we will continue to invest more time, resources and support for the long-term to ensure that HEALWELL is a world class company and leader in delivering AI-powered preventative care to millions of patients.”
Mr. Shahbazi is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of WELL and has over 25 years of experience as a technology focused operator and executive. Over the past six years, Mr. Shahbazi has led WELL to become the leading digital healthcare company in Canada, profitably approaching one billion dollars in annual revenue and having a significant positive impact on the industry. Previously, he founded TIO Networks a multichannel payment solution provider, specializing in bill payment and other financial services, which was acquired by PayPal in July 2017. Over his career, Mr. Shahbazi has gained extensive experience in strategic mergers & acquisitions, both as an operator and board member with more than 80 successful transactions worth more than $2 billion.
Concurrent to Mr. Shahbazi’s appointment, Mr. Kingsley Ward will be stepping down from HEALWELL’s Chairman position but will continue to serve as an Independent Director on HEALWELL’s board.
Dr. Alexander Dobranowski, Co-founder, and CEO of HEALWELL commented, “I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Kingsley for his contributions and invaluable leadership as Chairman, especially through the months preceding the debut of HEALWELL. As we continue this exciting journey of building a leading healthcare artificial intelligence company, we are excited to welcome Hamed into the role as Chairman. Hamed’s experience as one of the most significant capital allocators in the Canadian corporate landscape and his growing success in building one of the most important health care companies in Canada make him exceptionally well-suited for this role.”
On October 1, 2023, HEALWELL announced a strategic alliance agreement with WELL to accelerate the growth and development of its AI-enabled healthcare technologies and to leverage those technologies for the benefit of the care providers in WELL’s expansive network which not only includes WELL’s own network of outpatient clinics which ranks as the largest in the country but also its provider-centric digital platform which touches more than a third of all care providers in Canada. Subsequent to this announcement, WELL launched its own clinical decision support product branded as “WELL AI Decision Support”. This product leverages artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to help providers enable the earlier diagnosis, treatment, and improved quality of life for patients. The technologies behind WELL AI Decision Support are exclusively developed and supplied by HEALWELL and have been meticulously developed in close collaboration with dedicated physicians, leading researchers, data privacy professionals, pharmaceutical companies, and other domain experts. For more information on WELL AI Decision support, please visit: https://decisionsupport.wellhealth.ai.
WELL is currently the largest shareholder of HEALWELL with an option that would give WELL a control position in HEALWELL, as defined on an IFRS financial reporting basis. WELL currently holds 22.7 million shares of HEALWELL, thereby representing 20.7% of the issued and outstanding voting securities of HEALWELL. WELL’s call option gives WELL the right to acquire up to an additional approximately 30 million Class A Subordinate Voting Shares and the same number of Class B Multiple Voting Shares of the Company. The call option is available to WELL on October 1, 2025, and is exercisable until October 1, 2026, unless HEALWELL meets specific performance milestones designed to demonstrate improvements in financial performance, in which case WELL may exercise its option earlier.
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