Speakers

Dr. G. Ross Baker is a professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto where he teaches and carries out research on patient safety, quality improvement strategies and leadership and organizational change.

Dr. Baker, together with Dr. Peter Norton of the University of Calgary, led the Canadian Adverse Events study which was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2004. Drs. Baker and Norton were awarded the Health Services Research Advancement Award for their work on patient safety and quality improvement by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation in May 2009.

In October 2008 Dr. Baker published a book, High Performing Healthcare Systems: Quality By Design, that analyzes leadership and organizational strategies in seven health care systems that have been successful in using improvement tools and knowledge to transform outcomes.

Dr. Baker led a study of effective governance practices in improving quality and patient safety in 2009. Results from this study have been published in Healthcare Quarterly and this report served as the basis for the Governance Toolkit (Effective Governance in Quality and Patient Safety) and a course for trustees.

Dr. Baker chaired an Advisory Panel on Avoidable Hospitalizations for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care whose report was released by the Ministry in November 2011. He also served as a member of the King’s Fund (London, UK) Commission on Leadership and Management in the NHS in 2010-2011.

Dr Philippe Couillard graduated from the University of Montreal's faculty of medicine in 1979 and received his Royal College certificate in neurosurgery in 1985. He practiced neurosurgery in Canada and in the Middle East ( Saudi Aramco Medical Services Organisation, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia) between 1985 and 1996, then at the Université de Sherbrooke until 2003. In 2003, Dr Couillard was chairman of the department of surgery of this institution and member of the council of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Elected at Quebec's national assembly in 2003 and 2007, he was Quebec's minister of health and social services between 2003 and June 2008. During his term, he directed major reforms and strategies of Quebec's health care system : Population based integration and university health networks in particular. Since leaving politics, Dr Couillard shares his time between consultation on health care systems and policy ( in Canada and abroad), directorships of biotechnology companies and Persistence Capital Partners, a private equity fund focusing on health care services in Canada. Dr Couillard chairs the Health Research Foundation of Canada, a non profit organisation supported by Canada's pharmaceutical industry.. Since June 2010, he is a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. Dr Couillard is also a director of Royal College of Canada International.

Paul Dolan is Professor in the Department of Social Policy at the LSE. He has previously held academic posts at York, Newcastle, Sheffield and Imperial, and has been a visiting scholar at Princeton. There are two main themes to Paul's work. The first focuses on developing measures of happiness subjective well-being that can be used in policy, particularly in the valuation of non-market goods and in 'joining up' the impact of changes in health, crime, the environment etc. The second considers ways in which the lessons from behavioural economics can be used to understand and change individual behaviour. This work is focussing on the important role that situational factors play in influencing our behaviour. For both areas, Paul is interested in how field experiments can be used to provide us with robust evidence for policy appraisal. Paul has published in top economics, psychology, health and social science journals and has won research grants from a range of funding bodies, including the ESRC, AHRC and the British Academy. He was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize in Economics in 2002 for his contribution to health economics. Paul has been on many expert panels across government and he has advised various departments, including Defra, DH, DCLG and the Home Office. He was recently a seconded member of the Behavioural Insights Team in the Cabinet Office, and he is currently chief academic adviser on economic appraisal for the Government Economic Service.

Dr. Cam Donaldson holds the Yunus Chair in Social Business & Health at Glasgow Caledonian University. From 2002-2010, he held the Health Foundation Chair in Health Economics at Newcastle University, where he was founding Director of the Institute of Health & Society and professor in the Newcastle University Business School. He held the Svare Chair in Health Economics at the University of Calgary from 1998-2002, having first become a professor of health economics in 1996 whilst at the Health Economics Research Unit at the University of Aberdeen.
Over the past 25 years, Dr. Donaldson has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in economics, medical, health policy and health management journals and has co-authored or edited several books on various aspects of health economics and public service delivery. His latest offering Credit Crunch Health Care was published by Policy press earlier this year.

Dr. Donaldson’s major research interests have been in measuring the benefits of health care and using economics in health care priority setting. Cam is currently a member of the Medical Research Council’s Methodology Panel and is on the Advisory Board of the Relate Institute. He is on the editorial board of Health Policy and is Assistant Editor to a new journal called Social Business.

On taking up the Yunus Chair in May 2010, Dr. Donaldson’s research interests will now focus on development and application of evaluation frameworks to assess microcredit and other forms of social business as interventions to improve health and well-being.

Dr. Jennifer Gibson is Director of Partnerships & Strategy and Senior Research Associate at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB) and Assistant Professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management, & Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Dr. Gibson has broad research, consulting, and policy experience in health care priority setting, organizational ethics, and ethics program development. She has worked with clinicians, managers and board members across Canada to address common priority setting challenges. Dr. Gibson has also advised government and other health sector agencies on a range of health policy issues.

Currently, Dr. Gibson leads the JCB's organizational ethics research platform, co-leads the Public Engagement & Societal Values program stream of the Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC), and sits on the Advisory Committee for the Ontario Citizen's Council. Dr. Gibson has published several peer-reviewed articles and conducted over 100 presentations locally, nationally and internationally on health care priority setting and organizational ethics. Her current research interests include: public engagement in cancer control, ethics and values in health system integration, and values-based decision-making in health care resource allocation.

Mr. Horne was elected to his first term as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Edmonton-
Rutherford on March 3, 2008 and was sworn in as the Minister of Health and Wellness on October 12, 2011. Previous appointments include Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister Health and Wellness, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Seniors and Community Supports, Chair of the Standing Committee on Health, and Deputy Chair of the Premier’s Council on the
Status of Persons with Disabilities.

In 2009-10, Mr. Horne served as Co-Chair of the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Health. The Committee’s final report, A Foundation for Alberta’s Health System¸ was released in January 2010. Recommendations included a new principles-based legislative framework for Alberta’s health system (the Alberta Health Act), establishment of an independent entity to support evidence-based decision-making in the province, and a commitment by government to ongoing engagement with Albertans with respect to priority-setting and changes to legislation,
regulation and policy.

Upon government’s acceptance of the recommendations, Mr. Horne was subsequently appointed to lead a province-wide consultation on their implementation. His report, Putting People First, was submitted and released in September 2010 and included 15 recommendations which were accepted by government. The report provided the foundation for the Alberta Health Act, recently passed by the Alberta Legislature. This legislation formalizes guiding principles for decisionmaking, mandates a Health Charter for Albertans (now in development), establishes a Health Advocate for Alberta, and sets out requirements for public notice and public consultation with respect to future changes. Future reviews of Alberta’s health statues and regulations will be guided by the framework set out in the Alberta Health Act.

Prior to his election to the Legislative Assembly, Mr. Horne worked as a health policy consultant for over 25 years. He has led many initiatives to improve access and quality in Canadian public health care and has worked extensively with organizations such as the Conference Board of Canada, the Alberta government, and Mayo Clinic.

Mr. Horne holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Royal Roads University and post-graduate certification in Dispute Resolution from York University. An avid volunteer, he has served on numerous boards including the Alberta Mental Health Board, Athabasca University, the Mediation and Restorative Justice Centre of Edmonton and the Canadian Student Debating Federation.

Mr. Horne is a former debater and coached Team Canada at the World Schools Debating Championships. For his continued contributions to the development of debate and speech programs, Mr. Horne received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Mr. Horne and his wife, Jennifer, moved to Edmonton in 1992.

Professor Theodore R. Marmor is Professor Emeritus of Yale University in three units: the Schools of Management and Law and the Department of Political Science. From 2008 he has been an Adjunct Professor in Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The former Director—from 1992 to 2003 — of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s post-doctoral program in health policy, Professor Marmor was educated at both Harvard University and Wadham College, Oxford.

Professor Marmor is primarily a scholar of the modern welfare state, with special emphasis on health and pension issues. The author (or co-author) of eleven books, he has published over 150 articles in a wide range of scholarly journals. His opinion essays have appeared in major US newspapers—including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles and Boston Globe. The second edition of The Politics of Medicare appeared in 2000; the first edition of this book became something of a political science classic and launched his career in health politics, policy and law. His best known other works include Understanding Health Care Reform (Yale Press, 1994), Why Are Some People Healthy and Others Not? (Aldine de Gruyter, 1994), and America’s Misunderstood Welfare State (Basic Books, 1992) co-authored with Yale colleagues Jerry Mashaw and Philip Harvey. A collection of his recent articles appeared in 2007: Fads Fallacies and Foolishness in Medical Management and Policy (World Scientific Publishing), 2007. In 2005, the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis chose his jointly authored article “Comparative Perspectives and Policy Learning in the World of Health Care,” with Richard Freeman and Kieke Okma, as its best article in 2005.

Ms. Diane McArthur is Assistant Deputy Minister and Executive Officer of Ontario Public Drug Programs for the Province of Ontario. Prior to her appointment in June 2010, Ms. McArthur was the Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for seniors’ issues within the Government of Ontario. The Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat supports Ontario’s Minister Responsible for Seniors in his advocacy role on behalf of Ontario seniors across all provincial government activities. The Secretariat undertakes policy initiatives that improve the quality of life of Ontario seniors, and supports public education efforts for and about older Ontarians.

Prior to assuming this role, Ms. McArthur was the Executive Coordinator of Health and Social Policy in the Cabinet Office of the Government of Ontario where she supported the policy decision-making processes of the Cabinet committee that deals with health, social services, health promotion, francophone, women’s and seniors’ issues, and was responsible for broader public sector labour relations.

Ms. McArthur has held progressively more senior positions in several ministries since joining the Government of Ontario as a Management Intern in 1989. She has extensive experience in health human resource policy and planning for health provider training, education, supply and distribution initiatives, data and health information planning and analysis, health care provider negotiations, rural health policy, labour relations, and service delivery restructuring.

Ms. McArthur has a Bachelor of Public Relations from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Ottawa.

Cathy Ulrich became president and chief executive officer of Northern Health on June 15 2007.

Ms. Ulrich brings a wide range of experience and strong academic qualifications to the CEO’s position. She has spent the majority of her career in rural and northern locations where she gained a solid understanding of the nature of rural and northern communities, their health needs and concerns, and the unique approaches required to meet these needs.

As Northern Health's vice-president of clinical services and chief nursing officer from 2002 until her appointment as CEO in 2007, Ms. Ulrich successfully garnered and engaged resources for rural and northern health initiatives. She's been actively engaged in health services research, teaching and graduate student support.

Mr. Howard Waldner is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Vancouver Island Health Authority, one of six Regional Health Authorities in British Columbia, based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He is responsible for providing the continuum of health services to the population of Vancouver Island and a portion of the British Columbia mainland. VIHA has an annual budget of $2 billion and employs 18,000 staff and works with 2,000 physician partners

Mr. Waldner joined the Vancouver Island Health Authority as President and Chief Executive Officer in October 2004.Prior to this appointment, Mr. Waldner was the former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Calgary Health Region - a post he held for five years.

Preceding the move to Canada in 1999, Mr. Waldner held several Chief Executive Officer and Senior Executive positions within the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Waldner received his MBA from the University of Glasgow, Scotland and is an active member of the Canadian College of Health Leaders. He is also a Fellow of the UK Institute of Health Care Management and an Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.