An Insider’s Toronto: Impact Health-Tech Marketer Jannine Krish

Jannine Krish cares about health and wellness. The tech marketing leader joined BlueDot, a Toronto-founded infectious disease intelligence provider, in 2022.

“I’ve been in tech for several years, but I was compelled to get into the impact health innovation space coming out of the pandemic,” she shares.

She’s now the driving force behind the marketing team working to get BlueDot to a global audience. The company uses artificial intelligence to empower public and private sector clients to identify, anticipate, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.

“Toronto is a thriving innovation eco-system with many incubators focused on health sciences and technology.”

– Jannine Krish, Vice-President of Marketing, BlueDot

“We were able to tell clients about an emerging unusual respiratory illness in Wuhan, China (later identified as COVID-19) nearly a week before the World Health Organization alerted the rest of the world,” Jannine says about BlueDot, founded in Toronto in 2013. “We also do this for other infectious disease threats like avian influenza, dengue fever, and Mpox.”

Toronto is a leading global tech hub

Jannine says Toronto has a very keen entrepreneurial spirit. The city is well-known as the third-largest tech hub in North America thanks in part to its incubators, such as MaRS Discovery District and DMZ, which provide resources and support for start-ups, and NEXT Canada—an organization for which Jannine is a mentor—that gives access to education, mentorship, venture funding and more. “There are different incubators that help at different stages in a company’s growth,” she says.

And when Collision, North America’s fastest-growing tech conference, started coming to Toronto, Jannine says it put the city on the map. “It’s an affordable way for start-ups to gain exposure,” she says. “This gathering brings together innovators, decision-makers and government ministers, policymakers and educational institutions, plus young people looking for new jobs.”

And in health tech specifically, Jannine says Toronto is also leading the way due to the many research institutions here that are anchored to some of the world’s best universities and hospitals. “The city has excellent hospitals and strong connections between universities and these healthcare institutions, creating an ideal avenue for innovation,” Jannine says. “BlueDot was founded at a research lab at St Michael’s Hospital.

While Jannine spends her days marketing BlueDot’s infectious disease platform, her love of health and wellness permeates her evenings and weekends, too, when she’s exploring Toronto’s different neighbourhoods. Here are her favourite ways to spend time in Canada’s biggest innovation hub.

“The city has excellent hospitals and strong connections between universities and these healthcare institutions, creating an ideal avenue for innovation. BlueDot was founded at a research lab at St Michael’s Hospital.”

Explore the best of Leslieville’s gyms, restaurants and breweries

Everyone who visits Toronto says that its cool neighbourhoods make the city so unique. “They’re all so different from one another,” Jannine says. “I’ve lived in quite a few different parts of town, but Leslieville was one of my favourite places to live. They call it a ‘downtown suburb.’ So many great spots have opened up over the past few years.” 

For fitness, Jannine recommends One Academy, an industrial-style gym on Eastern Avenue that focuses on a community-oriented experience, where goals are shared and a group atmosphere is encouraged.

For a break or a snack, Jannine suggests Dineen Coffee for their cookies and croissants, Chula Taberna for the authentic Mexican vibe and Descendants for the pizza. “[They] create pizzas you would never find anywhere else,” she says. (They serve one with kothu roti, jerk chicken and mango chutney.)  

For kicking back, Jannine says that Leslieville is also well-known for its breweries. “Two of my favourites are Left Field and Radical Road.”

Run—and then eat—your way around the Entertainment District

Jannine says that she is always energized with a run by the waterfront. “I think a lot of tech entrepreneurs exercise regularly because life can get extremely chaotic trying to balance work, family, and other competing demands… you need to have your release and prioritize your health and wellness, which is the foundation on which everything else lies.”

After a workout, it’s time to eat. Within the Harbourfront milieu and throughout the Entertainment District, the calibre of the food surprises and delights visitors and locals alike. Two of Jannine’s favourites are Pai and Sukhothai owned by celebrity chef Nuit Regular and her husband Jeff.

Jannine is also partial to Chotto Matte on Bay Street, an upscale Japanese-Peruvian restaurant just outside Union Station. Nearby, WVRST is another of Jannine’s favourites. “Have the Calabrese spicy sausage with a cold, crisp beer.”

Make time for self-care along Ossington and Queen West

Jannine used to teach yoga and barre in Toronto at Yoga Mamas and appreciates the environments of both Yogaspace on College Street where she completed her yoga teacher training and Downward Dog on Ossington Avenue.

After yoga, shopping on the Queen Street West strip is the quintessential Toronto experience. “I love the Anthropologie at Queen and Tecumseth,” Jannine says. “It’s in an old church, an iconic building turned into a store.” She also loves Gravity Pope and Heel Boy for shoes and Stylegarage for hand-crafted Canadian-made furniture. If she’s shopping for her partner, she heads to Filson, which has a “cool lumberjack kind of vibe,” or Klaxon Howl, a menswear designer.

A fun day of shopping always calls for a bit of relaxation and libation afterward. “On Ossington, I sometimes grab a drink at Sweaty Betty’s,” Jannine says. She also likes Foxley, a walk-in-only spot serving Asian and Latin cuisine, And/Ore, a restaurant known for its shared-plates menu, and Prequel & Co. Apothecary for their fun cocktails and Art Nouveau décor.