BC Business
CEO and Co-founder
AGE: 29
COMPANY: InputHealth Systems Inc.
The story: Damon Ramsey has always been a high achiever: a Microsoft-certified systems engineer at age 12, Ramsey transferred out of UBC’s cognitive systems program at 18 and was accepted into McMaster’s medical school at 19. “I’ve always had a sense that I need to move very, very fast,” he says. “I felt I had a bigger responsibility–I needed to do more than my parents could because I started from a very privileged position.” Ramsey’s father, a trained engineer, had been jailed in Tehran in the wake of the Iranian revolution; after he was set free, he moved his family to Canada, where Damon was born. While in medical school, Damon Ramsey came up with the idea for InputHealth as a way to deal with the frustrations presented by medical paperwork. InputHealth offers two products: an online software platform for physicians to run their clinics, and an enterprise model focused on larger healthcare institutions and hospitals interested in health outcomes data collection. Meanwhile, Ramsey (who, after taking time to launch InputHealth, completed his degree in 2009) continues to practise family medicine in Vancouver with active privileges at St. Paul’s Hospital.
Markers of success: Despite working in the slow-moving world of healthcare IT, with its long sales cycles, Input Health has landed contracts with the Mayo Clinic and UBC’s Student Health Services. The company counts 14 employees and annual revenues are continuing to grow.
PHOTO: ADAM BLASBERG