Faculty & School/Dept.
Faculty of Health - School of Health Policy & Management
Degrees
PhD Biomedical Engineering - 1997
Compiègne University of Technology
France
MSc Biomedical Engineering - 1993
Compiègne University of Technology
France
BSc (Hon.) Computer Science - 1988
Lebanese University
Lebanon
BA Theology - 2013
Saint Serge Institute of Theology
France
Biography
Dr. Christo El Morr is a Professor of Health Informatics, the Director of the Center for Feminist Research (CFR), the Health Informatics Certificate Coordinator and a former Graduate Program Director and Undergraduate Program Director at the School of Health Policy and Management at York University; he is also a Research Scientist at North York General Hospital, Toronto.
His research aligns with an Equity Informatics perspective, covering areas such as Equity AI (e.g., patient readmission, disability advocacy), Patient-Centered Virtual Care (e.g., chronic disease management, mental health), Global Health Promotion for equity (e.g., equitable health promotion), and Human Rights Monitoring (e.g., disability rights, Gender-Based Violence).
As a theologian and a poet, his wider intellectual contribution to Social Justice subscribes to a defence of the human person against alienation, whether in the form of infringement of human freedom or dignity in the face of irrational powers and exploitation. His intellectual work encompasses work of freedom from oppression (e.g., analysis of exclusive identities, communion and solidarity, freedom, liberation of reason), freedom from exploitation (e.g., analysis of illusions of freedom, political and religious exploitation), and freedom to celebrate life (e.g., poetry).
He has received research funding from the Ontario Center of Excellence (OCE), the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and served as an Expert Reviewer for provincial, federal, and international funding agencies. He received recognition as York University Research Leader.
He serves as an Editor of Telos Magazine, an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Extreme Automation and Connectivity in Healthcare (IJEACH), an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Computers in Human Behavior Reports and the International Journal of Mental Health (IJMH). He serves as a Scientific Committee Member in several health informatics conferences.
He has published books, chapters, and articles in these areas, including Canada's "first of its kind" Health Informatics book. His two upcoming books include a co-authored textbook on “Machine Learning for Practical Decision Making” (Springer) and an edited book on “AI and Society: Tensions and Opportunities” (CRC Press Taylor & Francis).
Dr. El Morr is the founding president of the Canadian Lebanese Academic Forum (CLAF), which utilizes academic knowledge and capacities to facilitate social justice and transformation.
Selected Publications
Christo El Morr on ResearchGate
Awards
York University Research Leader - 2016
Supervision
Currently available to supervise graduate students: Not Indicated
Currently taking on work-study students, Graduate Assistants or Volunteers: Not Indicated
Available to supervise undergraduate thesis projects: Not Indicated
Current Research
- AI and Disability
- AI and Equity
- Health Virtual Communities
- Human Rights Monitoring
- Mental Health
- Chronic Diseases Management
Research Projects
Disability Wikibase: Modelling and Implementing an Intelligent Bilingual Knowledge Network, through Mapping Disability Advocacy Data Needs Scaled to Local, National, and International Policy Interven
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $67,994
Year Funded: 2020
Duration: 3
Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Adjunct Strategies Impact on the Self-Management Skills and Health Care Outcomes for Persons Living with Mid to Late Stage Heart Failure
Role: Collaborator
Amount funded: $7,500
Year Funded: 2017
Duration: 2
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: North York General Hospital Exploration Fund
Analyzing Readmission Patterns: Assessment of the LACE Tool Impact
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $7,475
Year Funded: 2014
Duration: 2
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: North York General Hospital
Employing eHealth to Enhance Equity in Access to and Quality of Chronic Care Services in Primary Health Care in Lebanon
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $400,800
Year Funded: 2013
Duration: 3
Funded by: International Development Research Centre
Equity Artificial Intelligence (AI): towards a framework to address AI Bias.
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $49,996
Year Funded: 2024
Duration: 2
Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Leveraging Patient Access to Electronic Health Records: Supporting Transitions in Care
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $3,000
Year Funded: 2019
Duration: 2
Funded by: York University
OADA Collaborative Mapping (OCM)- Reporting Accessibility Issues Collaborative Mapping (CM)
Accessibility monitoring
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $24,000
Year Funded: 2019
Duration: 1
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: MITACS - Globalink Research
Shaping the AI Landscape: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Technology, Society, and the Future
This two-day workshop offers a unique multidisciplinary exploration of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Gain technical insights into AI, examine its social impacts, and investigate the philosophy behind our relationship with technology. Experts from engineering, social sciences, and the humanities will guide you toward responsible AI development and governance for a better future.
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $5000
Year Funded: 2024
Duration: 1
Funded by: York University
Strengthening Lebanon's pandemic surveillance system through AI-driven automation of laboratory data.
The objective of the research project is to enhance Lebanon’s pandemic preparedness by harnessing AI-driven tools directly linked to laboratory data. The aim is to enable swift detection of early trends in high-risk communicable diseases and provide automated interpretation and analysis of disease outbreaks, encompassing Acute Flaccid Paralysis, Cholera, Hepatitis, Hemorrhagic fevers, Food poisoning, Meningitis, COVID-19, and extensively drug-resistant organisms. During the initial phase, the focus will be on collaborating with a university hospital laboratory to develop and validate a prototype of such a system, adhering to the standards set by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). This endeavor will involve a diverse panel of experts from various fields, including laboratory medicine, microbiology, internal medicine/infectious diseases, medical informatics, and epidemiology. International collaboration will be sought, and an MoPH expert will also be integrated to ensure the evaluation of this solution’s suitability for national implementation.
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $360,497
Year Funded: 2023
Duration: 3
Funded by: International Development Research Centre
Students Mental Health: Virtual Support on Campus
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $410,733
Year Funded: 2015
Duration: 8
Funded by: Canadian Institutes of Health Research
The Design, Development, Testing and Validation of ForaHealthyMe.com's Patient Education, Self-management and Data Capture Modules among Chronic Disease Patients
Role: Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $23,134
Year Funded: 2013
Duration: 1
Funded by: Ontario Centres of Excellence
Training an AI to detect medical bias and unmet health needs through critical race and disability theory and community-generated data.
This project focuses on unmet health needs and negative healthcare experiences of marginalized
communities, including women, racialized communities, people with disabilities, people living in
poverty, 2SLGBTQI communities, and people without citizenship or permanent resident status.
We propose a novel interdisciplinary method to explore racist, ableist, and gendered medical
interactions. Using critical theory and community-based health narratives, we will develop an Artificial
Intelligence (AI) algorithm and train it to detect medical bias and unmet healthcare needs in a large
set of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs).
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
Amount funded: $241,424
Year Funded: 2023
Duration: 3
Funded by: Other...
Other funding: New Frontiers in Research Fund - Exploration