Kelly Foss

Amin Taheri, a programmer/consultant in the Office of Professional and Educational Development (OPED), has won first place in a provincial health innovation competition for a project that aims to improve senior health and safety in rural and remote communities.

Titled AI-driven Home Exercise Platform for Senior Fall Prevention, the proposal took top honours and received $12,500 in the Community/Rural Medicine track at the 6^th annual Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS) Innovation Summit, hosted by NLHS from Nov. 3–6, 2025.

“I have a thirst for innovation and I’m entrepreneurial,” said Mr. Taheri. “I saw an opportunity for innovation, and I sent the proposal the same night I saw the call.”

An AI engineer and data scientist, Mr. Taheri specializes in cloud-native AI systems, machine learning pipeline automation and generative AI mentoring. He holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from Memorial University, and his professional experience includes startups, fintech and bioinformatics, with a focus on developing practical, production-ready AI solutions.

Through the Innovation Summit, Mr. Taheri was paired with Catherine Babstock, senior friendly manager (Eastern-Urban Zone) with NLHS. They combined his expertise and her background in physiotherapy to develop a platform concept designed to help seniors in rural and remote communities exercise effectively.

“The general exercise goal for adults in Newfoundland and Labrador is to achieve at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic physical activity per week, but only about 30 per cent of adults aged 65 and over report doing physical activities, which is significantly lower than the national Canadian average,” he said. “We can fix this with virtual care, specifically, with AI-enabled virtual care that can be accessed without the internet.”

Participants in the summit’s innovation challenge were given several months to refine their proposals before presenting to judges and attendees. Winners were ultimately selected through a live voting process following the final presentations.

Mr. Taheri says the recognition was both surprising and meaningful, and he plans to continue developing the project with Ms. Babstock, with hopes of incorporating the initiative provincially or federally.

“The best way to tackle a problem is to have a problem-owner and a problem-solver paired up together,” he said. Catherine is the problem owner. She knows the problem inside and out. I’m a problem solver, given the specifics of a problem I can devise a solution that best fits it.”