Martha Porado

Editor, Canadian Healthcare Network

Author Profile

Martha Porado is a Toronto-based award-winning reporter and editor specializing in healthcare, science, business and political journalism. She is the editor of the Canadian Healthcare Network, prior to which she was the managing editor of the Medical Post and Pharmacy Practice + Business.

Her previous roles include associate editor of Benefits Canada magazine, where she specialized in institutional investment news. Her byline can also be found in many other Canadian publications, including Advisor’s Edge, Investment Executive, the Canadian Investment Review, Canadian Insurance Top Broker, Canadian Grocer, Now Magazine and the now defunct Vice. Prior to focusing on print and digital publishing, she worked at BNN Bloomberg’s downtown Toronto newsroom as a broadcast associate and production coordinator for live news broadcasts. She fondly remembers screening call-in questions for its popular Market Call program.

When she is not editing copy on new clinical research or putting together tomorrow’s Doctor Daily newsletter, she can be found watering her ceiling-scraping houseplants, driving around with antique furniture peeking out of her hatchback, or bragging about how she’s definitely seen more movies than you have.

ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR

1/22/2026
No evidence of mystery brain disease in New Brunswick, says government report
Dr. Yves Léger’s final report on the illness, which has baffled experts for years, says most patients did not have elevated levels of herbicides or metals like arsenic in their systems that could have made them sick.

Martha Porado
1/22/2026
‘A legacy of failure’: Nanaimo doctor speaks out on patient tower plan and cath lab
Dr. David Forrest, infectious disease and critical care specialist and Chair of the Nanaimo Medical Staff Engagement Society, says the province’s healthcare plan for Central and North Island is short-sighted.

Martha Porado
1/21/2026
Adding metal detectors? Saskatchewan orders review of hospital security amid increasing safety concerns
A 36-year-old patient died after an altercation with security at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.

Martha Porado
1/21/2026
Ontario newly approves access to six cancer treatments through FAST pilot
Focusing on treatments already approved through Project Orbis, the FAST pilot is an ongoing three-year program.

Martha Porado
1/21/2026
Sterile water or local anesthetic? ISMP Canada highlights another packaging look-alike
Two plastic ampoules that might not be twins—but could most definitely be sisters.

Martha Porado
1/21/2026
More concern than optimism: As AI proliferates, what do Canadians want the government to do?
AI is everywhere—very much including healthcare. But do upcoming government strategies do enough to protect Canadians where complex issues like mental health, deepfakes and labour rights are concerned?

Martha Porado
1/20/2026
POLL: What about a Monday newsletter?
We've got so much news, we're bursting at the seams! Would a Monday newsletter be helpful or overwhelming? Let us know!

Martha Porado
1/20/2026
What’s bringing the mood down? Canadians are getting more pessimistic about aging: survey
One geriatrician discusses how the health and other factors can overlap.

Martha Porado
1/20/2026
Union calls on Manitoba to address shortage of respiratory therapists in hospitals
‘What it boils down to is they are not even at this point meeting their baseline staffing requirements.’

Martha Porado
1/19/2026
This Toronto hospital is set to double its housing program—but how much has it reduced ER visits?
Those leading the program say it not only reduced ER visits significantly, but also lowered the length of those that did occur.

Martha Porado
1/19/2026
Reports of ‘AI psychosis’ are emerging—here’s what a psychiatric clinician has to say
Large language models and chatbots are widely accessible, and often framed as supportive, empathic or even therapeutic. For most users, these systems are helpful or, at worst, benign.

Martha Porado
1/19/2026
NDP leader calls for centralized command structure to be returned to Alta. health system
Hospitals Minister Matt Jones has said the province doesn’t need to declare an emergency because it has the necessary tools, and its agencies are working to address hospital pressures.

Martha Porado