Katherine Benjamin

Katherine Benjamin is an Adjunct Professor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Canada. She has extensive experience in public sector digital transformation, including roles as Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Digital Services at the New York City Mayor’s Office of the CTO and Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Digital Officer at the Government of Canada. She previously co-led curriculum development in government and healthcare service design, taught undergraduate classes, and served as an external examiner for master’s students.

• Education: MSc in Health, Community and Development (London School of Economics and Political Science); BA in Human Kinetics (University of British Columbia).

Her research interests focus on leveraging design thinking to improve digital health systems and public sector innovation. Katherine has been instrumental in launching rapid prototyping and user research labs for the Ontario Digital Service and contributed to the NHS.UK Alpha inception team. She bridges cross-sector expertise in service design, healthcare technology, and policy implementation.

Previously, she served as Vice President of Service Design at Ayogo, a globally recognized leader in digital health innovation. Her work emphasizes practical applications of design methodologies to solve complex societal challenges.

At Emily Carr University, she teaches courses like PROF 311 S032 Professional Practice - Design, linking academic training with industry needs.