Advotech Health Solutions

Advotech Health Solutions Inc. was created to address major public health challenges through community driven advocacy and disruptive technologies*. Combining his experiences as a frontline clinician, an academic infectious disease consultant, a community-based researcher, and a public health administrator, Dr. Mark Tyndall has an international reputation as a leader who takes on difficult issues and produces results. His work has always been grounded in compassion, human rights, and health equity.

Dr. Tyndall’s public health journey began in Kenya during the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the early 1990’s. While treating patients and conducting research at an inner-city clinic in Nairobi, he saw first-hand the devastating impact of the HIV epidemic that was sweeping through sub-Saharan Africa. In an environment of profound suffering, stigma and fear, Dr. Tyndall established Owen House, a community-based initiative that provided education, support and medical care for people infected with HIV.

During the explosive transmission of HIV among people using drugs in Vancouver’s infamous Downtown Eastside, Dr. Tyndall led a number of community-initiated harm reduction interventions to prevent HIV and Hepatitis C transmission and increase access to treatment. This included the evaluation of North America’s first government sanctioned supervised injection site, InSite, which has become the gold standard for community-led harm reduction innovation.

Beginning in 2015, Canada experienced a rapid increase in drug poisoning deaths due to the introduction of fentanyl and other potent and toxic substances into the illegal drug market. Dr. Mark Tyndall has been a leading advocate for access to a safer drug supply in order to prevent overdoses. In collaboration with Dispension Industries Inc., he founded MySafe to provide a technological solution to advance safe supply programs. MySafe is a biometric kiosk that dispenses hydromorphone tablets to people who are dependent on opioids and at risk of overdose. This technology has a number of potential applications to enhance access and security when dispensing controlled substances.

With the introduction of e-cigarettes/vaping as a much safer alternative to the serious adverse health impacts of smoking, Dr. Mark Tyndall has become a leading advocate for the promotion of this technology to replace cigarettes (truly a disruptive technology). Amidst media hysteria, moral panic, and confusing messaging from public health authorities, Dr. Tyndall continues to advocate for the rights of tobacco smokers to improve their health through vaping. This work is of particular importance to people who are socially and economically disadvantaged and suffer from high rates of smoking related sickness and death.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused sweeping changes to the way we live, work and relate with others. While standard public health responses have been instituted to reduce viral transmission including physical distancing, masking, hand hygiene and contact tracing, this has not been enough to stop community transmission. Rapid COVID-19 Antigen testing is a critical tool to prevent transmission by identifying infections in people with minimal or no COVID symptoms and has the potential to open up a range of business and social venues. Using expertise in infection control, public health and evaluation, Dr. Tyndall is leading a project to help re-open and increase public access to businesses and workspaces using comprehensive programs based on point-of-care testing.

The critical role of public health policy and practice on the well-being of people from all walks of life has become front and centre during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we have seen with other threats to public health, too often we fall back on traditional thinking and “safe” responses to address novel and serious public health challenges. As innovation, by definition, requires a level of risk-taking, we are usually slow to adapt and reluctant to see disruption as part of the solution. Under Dr. Tyndall’s leadership, Advotech Health Solutions Inc. is committed to promoting real change through community-informed advocacy and technological innovation that can improve the health of our communities.

*Disruptive technology is an innovation that significantly alters the way that consumers, industries, or businesses operate. A disruptive technology sweeps away the systems or habits it replaces because it has attributes that are recognizably superior.