Appointments

New Associate Editor for Healthcare Quarterly

G. Ross Baker has been appointed Healthcare Quarterly's Associate Editor. He will work with Dr. Leatt and others on the editorial team to ensure the journal remains current and relevant.

Ross is a professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Along with Dr. Peter Norton of the University of Calgary, he led the Canadian Adverse Events study which was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2004. Baker and Norton were awarded the Health Services Research Advancement Award for their work on patient safety and quality improvement by CHSRF in May 2009.

Ross co-chairs a working group on methods and measures for patient safety for the World Health Organization and chairs the Advisory Committee on Research and Evaluation for the Canadian Patient Safety Institute. He is a member of the Board of the Health Quality Council of Saskatchewan, the Board of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Canada, and the Clinical Standards, Guidelines and Quality Committee of Cancer Care Ontario

In October 2008 he published a book, High Performing Healthcare Systems that analyzes seven health care systems that have been successful in using improvement tools and knowledge to transform outcomes. Other recent research projects include a study of effective governance practices in improving quality and patient safety. In 2007 Ross was awarded the Filerman Prize for Innovation in Health Management Education by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA).

Ross has also edited four issues of Patient Safety Papers, a special edition of Healthcare Quarterly.

CHIMA Board of Directors Announces New Directors

The Canadian Health Information Management Association (CHIMA) is pleased to announce three new board directors: Bonnie Adamson, Adalsteinn Brown and André Lalonde. These new directors bring a wealth of experience from different facets of the Canadian healthcare sector and will provide unique perspectives as CHIMA refines the health information management profession in the evolving electronic health record (EHR) environment.

Bonnie Adamson, RN, BScN, MScN (Admin), CHE, FCCHSE, FACHE Bonnie Adamson has been the president and chief executive officer (CEO)of North York General Hospital, a multi-site community teaching hospital in North Toronto, since August 2002. During her tenure, she has achieved fiscal stability in the organization and has led a successfully strategy-driven cultural/leadership transformation at the hospital. Prior to this appointment, Adamson was president and CEO of the Huron Perth Hospitals Partnership, an eight-hospital network in Southwestern Ontario.

Adalsteinn Brown, DPhil Adalsteinn (Steini) D. Brown was appointed as the assistant deputy minister, Health System Strategy Division, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC ) in March 2006 with the goal to establish overall strategic directions and provincial priorities for the health system. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto. Brown received his DPhil degree from the University of Oxford and was a Rhodes Scholar. He was named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 in 2003.

André Lalonde is executive director of corporate planning and quality management at the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). He is currently responsible for integrating the strategic, operational and tactical planning of the organization, and providing secretariat support to the CIHI Board of Directors. In addition to these functions, he is responsible for providing an overall direction and oversight to CIHI's corporate data quality program, as well as activities carried out in the Classifications, Case Mix and Methodology departments. Since joining CIHI, Lalonde has been involved in a number of strategic corporate initiatives, ranging from business development to managing largescale projects, including the development of the Canadian Classification of Health Interventions. He has held a number of progressively senior positions at CIHI and holds a master's degree in health administration.

Dr. Alex Jadad Appointed as Chair of the CAPCH Academic Research Collaborative

Dr. Vaughan Glover, CEO of the Canadian Association for People-Centred Health (CAPCH), announced the appointment of Dr. Alejandro (Alex) Jadad as chair of the CAPCH Academic Research Collaborative. CAPCH is a national, non-partisan, independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting the evolution to people-centred health. The Academic Research Collaborative, a program of CAPCH, brings together Canada's leading health and information technology researchers to conduct research into and advance the principles of people-centred e-health innovation.

Currently, Dr. Jadad is affiliated with the University of Toronto and the University Health Network, where he holds a number of key positions: chief innovator and founder, Centre for Global eHealth Innovation; Rose Family chair in supportive care and Canada research chair in e-health innovation; professor in the Departments of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and of Anesthesia, and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Bill Tholl Appointed as Executive Director of CHLNet

The Canadian Health Leadership Network (CHLNet) Board of Directors is very pleased to announce the appointment of Bill Tholl as the inaugural executive director of CHLNet. The network was founded in 2007 with the objective of uniting organizations and individuals committed to doing a better job of identifying, developing, supporting and celebrating excellence in health leadership in Canada.

Tholl participated in the creation of CHLN et and has extensive experience as a senior leader in Canada's health system. Most recently, he served as secretary general of the Canadian Medical Association (2001–2008) and as national executive director of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (1995–2001).

CBR and UBC Announce New Chair

The Centre for Blood Research (CBR) and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC) announced the appointment of physician-scientist Edward Conway, MD, PhD, MBA, as its first-ever CSL Behring–Canada research chair in endothelial cell biology. Over the next five years, CBR and CSL Behring Canada, the biopharmaceutical company co-funding the chair program, will collaborate on the research and development of new therapies for patients with bleeding and immune system disorders.

Dr. Conway is trained as a hematologist-oncologist at the University of Toronto and at Harvard University and has been a staff physician-scientist in Toronto and more recently at the University of Leuven in Belgium, where he received his PhD. His scientific interests involve studies of the vasculo-protective properties of the endothelium and its interactions with multiple biological systems. Dr. Conway has wide expertise in the fields of coagulation, vascular biology, angiogenesis, inflammation and innate immunity.

New OAHPP Appointments

The Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (OAHPP) is pleased to announce the names of new experts joining OAHPP. Drs. Colin Lee, Shelley Deeks and Jean Longtin will be providing expert advice to OAHPP staff, Ontario ministries, public health units, healthcare facilities and front-line healthcare providers in their respective areas of specialty.

Dr. Colin Lee joined the Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control group on a part-time basis, where he contributes to program development, research and education activities in the area of infectious disease prevention and control, and engages in the development and management of infectious diseases surveillance projects. He comes to OAHPP from Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, where he continues part-time as associate medical officer of health and medical lead in communicable diseases infection prevention and control and sexual health.

Dr. Shelley Deeks joined the Surveillance and Epidemiology group as a physician specializing in vaccine-preventable diseases. She is working with Dr. Natasha Crowcroft's team in providing expert advice in the area of vaccine-preventable diseases and control, which involves managing outbreaks and responding to queries from health units. Prior to joining OAHPP, Dr. Deeks worked in Sydney, Australia, were she was deputy director of surveillance at the National Centre for Immunization Research and Surveillance.

Dr. Jean Longtin joined OAHPP as an associate medical microbiologist. She will primarily be involved in the Division of Serodiagnostics at the OAHPP laboratory in Toronto, participating in quality assurance programs and providing advice regarding the interpretation of diagnostic test results, interpretation of results of testing for healthcare providers and supervision of virus isolation in regional laboratories. Dr. Longtin will also spend part of his time on teaching, research and administrative activities. He comes to us from Laval University Medical Center, Quebec Cardiology Institute, where he has been a medical microbiology and adult infectious diseases specialist since 2008.

New Chair of Ontario Hospital Association Board

Dr. Kevin Smith, president and CEO of St. Joseph's Health System, has been named chair of the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) Board of Directors. Dr. Smith has been a member of the OHA Board of Directors since 2002. He has also had a lengthy and successful career in the Ontario health system, which has included his role as president and CEO of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, and working on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care as a hospital supervisor, investigator and coach. He currently is co-chair of the ministry's Emergency Room-Alternate Levels of Care Expert Panel. Earlier this year, Dr. Smith was named president and CEO of the St. Joseph's Health System, the first fully integrated continuum of care in Canada. St. Joseph's Health System includes St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, St. Joseph's Home Care in Hamilton, St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener, St. Joseph's Hospital in Guelph, St. Joseph's Villa in Dundas and St. Joseph's Lifecare Centre in Brantford.

Sudbury Regional Hospital Appoints New CEO

Dr. Denis-Richard Roy has been selected as the new president and CEO of Sudbury Regional Hospital (HRSRH). He will begin his new duties on January 11, 2010.

A physician with a specialty in nephrology, Dr. Roy was CEO of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) from 2002 to 2008. Over the past 20 years, he has held numerous leadership positions with McGill University Health Centre, Royal Victoria Hospital, the Montreal Thoracic Institute and the Centre hospitalier régional de l'Outaouais. He is currently consulting manager at CHUM. Dr. Roy holds a master's degree in business administration and his postdoctoral education includes an MRC research fellow, renal physiology, from Stanford University in the United States. Dr. Roy replaces Vickie Kaminski, who resigned as president and CEO of the hospital in June to assume new duties as CEO of Eastern Health in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Dr. Marc Ouellette Appointed Scientific Director of CIHR's Institute of Infection and Immunity

Dr. Alain Beaudet, president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the CIHR Governing Council are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Marc Ouellette as scientific director of CIHR's Institute of Infection and Immunity. This appointment takes effect on January 1, 2010, when Dr. Ouellette will replace Dr. Bhagirath Singh, the institute's founding scientific director. Dr. Ouellette is currently a full professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval and a researcher at the Infectious Disease Research Centre of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université Laval (CHUL) in Quebec City. He holds a Canada research chair in antimicrobial resistance.

Alberta Emergency Physician Chosen as Royal College President-Elect

Louis Hugo Francescutti, MD, PhD, MPH, FRCPC, will become the 41st president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC ) next fall. RCPSC is a national, not-for-profit organization of more than 42,000 members in 87 countries. Dr. Francescutti, a University of Alberta professor, emergency room/preventative medicine physician and crusader for public safety, was elected at a council meeting held in Ottawa.

Dr. Francescutti has experienced healthcare settings countrywide, working as an emergency medical technician in the Canadian Arctic, a blood bank technologist at the Montreal General Hospital and a researcher, clinician and educator in Edmonton, Alberta. He holds degrees from Concordia University, the University of Alberta and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He has lectured internationally and helped develop several award-winning injury control programs. His two-year presidency officially begins in the fall of 2010.

Awards

Recent Awards from Canadian Society of Internal Medicine

The Canadian Society of Internal Medicine (CSIM) is pleased to announce the names of the recipients of its annual awards. CSIM celebrated its 25th anniversary during the Eighth Annual Scientific Meeting held in Ottawa in October. CSIM is the non-profit professional society that represents the interests of specialists in general internal medicine in Canada.

Dr. Mahesh Raja, a noted medical educator and clinician and assistant dean of medical education, New Brunswick, is this year's recipient of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Sir William Osler Lecture. His presentation highlighted the higher qualities of William Osler's philosophy of medicine. Dr. Raja was also the 2002 recipient of the Sir William Osler Award for excellence in the field of internal medicine.

The 2009 Dr. David Sackett Senior Investigator Award was presented to Dr. Donald Andrew Redelmeier, whose keynote address was titled "How to Destroy Your Career in Academic Medicine." The 2009 Young Investigator Award was presented to Dr. Stella Styliani Daskalopoulou from Montreal.

Dr. Nathan Degenhart from the University of Saskatchewan earned first place in the highly competitive 2009 CSIM Award for Excellence in Research presentations.

Dr. Bianca Cot, Mount Sinai Hospital, was the first-place winner of the Ted Giles Clinical Vignettes.

Government of Canada Pays Tribute to the Country's Top Health Researchers

A pioneering biochemist, a renowned child health specialist and a brilliant young cancer researcher are among those being honoured with Canada's most prestigious health and pharmaceutical research awards. The Canadian Health Research Awards are presented annually by Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The following scientists are being recognized this year.

Dr. Nahum Sonenberg, James McGill professor in biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, was awarded Researcher of the Year for Biomedical and Clinical Research for his pioneering study and analysis of translation control mechanisms, the process by which the genetic information stored in our deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is turned into proteins. His research has opened the door to new treatments for diseases such as cancer and human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS).

Dr. Michael Boyle, who holds the Canada research chair in the social determinants of child health at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, was awarded Researcher of the Year for Health Services and Systems and Population Health Research for his tireless efforts to untangle the complex relationship between children's health and their environment, and for his work to improve research techniques and methodology in this area.

Dr. Lynne-Marie Postovit, assistant professor in cell biology at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario, receives Canada's Premier Young Researcher Award for her remarkable research into how oxygen levels and other microenvironmental signals influence the behaviour and development of normal and cancer stem cells. Her work has yielded over 20 publications to date, and she has been invited to give several lectures at international conferences.

Dr. Donald Weaver, holder of the Canada research chair in clinical neuroscience at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is receiving the Prix Galien Research Award for his efforts to design novel drug therapies to treat chronic neurological disorders such as epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease.

CIHR-CMAJ Top Canadian Achievements in Health Research Awards Recipients

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) honoured eight outstanding Canadian individuals and teams with the first-ever CIHR-CMAJ Top Canadian Achievements in Health Research Awards, which recognize and celebrate Canadian health research and innovation excellence. The winners were selected by a peer-review panel of Canadian and international experts, who looked for the discoveries and innovations that had the biggest impact on the health of people in this country and around the world. Here are the winners:

• Drs. Paul Armstrong, Robert Welsh and Padmaja Kaul, of the University of Alberta, who trained ambulance crews to liaise with doctors and begin treatment of heart attack victims about one hour earlier, on average, dramatically improving chances of a full recovery
• Dr. Adolfo de Bold, of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, for the revolutionary discovery of hormone secretion by the human heart; this knowledge now allows physicians to control water and salt levels in the body, reducing hypertension and helping the heart recover after heart attacks
• Drs. Geoffrey Fong, Mary Thompson and David Hammond, of the University of Waterloo, for their outstanding work with the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project in assessing the effectiveness of various programs to reduce smoking around the world
• Dr. Bob Litchfield, of the University of Western Ontario, for a ground-breaking study of patients with arthritic knees, proving that knee surgery provides no extra value over physiotherapy and patient education
• Dr. Michel LeMay, of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, who developed a new way to handle heart attacks that empowers paramedics to read electrocardiograms and identify patients with blocked heart arteries who need to be fast-tracked for angioplasty surgery – reducing mortality by 50%
• Dr. Nizar Mahomed, of the University Health Network in Toronto, who led a team involving some 35 hospitals that introduced new procedures for hip and knee surgery; these procedures reduced wait times, cut rehabilitation stays and dramatically improved patient outcomes
• Dr. Stephen Moses, of the University of Manitoba, who demonstrated the effectiveness of male circumcision in reducing the transmission of HIV in Africa
• Dr. Fred Possmayer, of the University of Western Ontario, who developed a technique to purify and sterilize lung surfactant – a substance that allows lungs to expand and breathe – so that it could be used in premature babies to greatly improve their chances of survival

COACH Awards Salute Health Informatics Excellence in Emerging Professionals to National Leaders and Companies

Celebrating the outstanding achievements and excellence in the Canadian health informatics industry, the Canada's Health Informatics Association (COAC H) Gala recognizes and honours the contributions of individuals and companies in the efficient use of information technology to improve the health of all Canadians. The 2009 COAC H Gala honoured leaders and innovators in the following categories: leadership in the field of health informatics, innovation in the adoption of health informatics, emerging leader in health informatics, community-based physician leader/innovator and Steven Huesing scholarship.

The Company of the Year Award went to McKesson Canada. Dennis Rankin, an independent health industry consultant, was the recipient of the Leadership in the Field of Health Informatics Award. The Innovation in the Adoption of Health Informatics Award went to Telehomecare Phase One Program, Ontario Telemedicine Network. Two Corporate Citizenship Awards, presented by Healthcare Information Management and Communications Canada, went to Agfa Healthcare (multinational) and to DeltaWare Systems Inc. (small to medium enterprise). The Community-Based Physician Leader/Innovator Award went to Dr. James Lane from the Georgian Bay Family Health Team. Cancer Care Ontario's project ColonCancerCheck was the recipient of the Project Implementation Team of the Year Award. Mr. Ian Cummins from eHealth Ontario was awarded the Emerging Leader in Health Informatics. The Healthcare Transformation Award went to TELUS Health Solutions, through their work with the Grand-Littoral Health and Services Centre. Mu-Hsing (Alex) Kuo from School of Health Information Science at University of Victoria was the recipient of the Steven Huesing Scholarship.

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