New Deputy Minister Appointments at MOHLTC

Ontario's premier Dalton McGuinty has announced new deputy minister appointments, including Saäd Rafi as the deputy minister and David Hallett as the associate deputy minister of health and long-term care.

Saäd Rafi was previously the deputy minister of energy and infrastructure. He brings extensive senior executive public and private sector experience to the challenges and opportunities at the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). Rafi's previous experience in the Ontario Public Service includes roles as deputy minister of transportation and deputy minister of community safety. He has also held several senior economic portfolio roles in the Ontario SuperBuild Corporation, Cabinet Office and Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. Prior to returning to the Ontario Public Service in September 2008, Rafi was a partner and national leader of infrastructure advisory and project finance with Deloitte and Touche Canada LLP. Rafi holds a bachelor of arts degree in psychology, an honours bachelor of arts degree in law and criminology and a master's degree in public administration from Carleton University.

David Hallett is a results-oriented senior level executive with extensive transformational experience acquired over a period of 15 years working in the private sector and 10 years in the public sector. Prior to assuming the position of associate deputy minister with MOHLTC, Hallett was associate deputy minister of Ontario Shared Services at the Ministry of Government Services from July 2004 to December 2009. Most recently, Hallett joined eHealth Ontario in June 2009 as chief operating officer on an interim basis. Over a seven-month period, he worked with the board, two interim chief executive officers (CEOs) and a new executive management team to effectively address a very difficult and challenging business environment facing the agency. David holds a master's of business administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and an honours degree in business administration from Algonquin College, in Ottawa, Ontario.

PRHC Board Announces Hospital's New President and CEO

The Board of Directors of the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) is pleased to announce that Ken Tremblay will be the hospital's next president and CEO, effective February 1, 2010. Tremblay comes to PRHC from the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance where he has been president and CEO since 2003. Previously, he headed an executive search practice for physicians and healthcare executives and was also president and CEO of St Joseph's Hospital, Brantford; York Central Hospital, Richmond Hill; and St. Boniface General Hospital, a teaching hospital in Winnipeg.

Rick Hansen Institute: CEO Announcement

The Rick Hansen Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Bill Barrable as CEO. Barrable was co-founder of Natalus Life Science Capital (VCC) Ltd and entrepreneur-in-residence at Simon Fraser University. He was the chief executive of British Columbia Transplant from 1994 to 2009, during which time it received the Canada Award for Excellence from the National Quality Institute. Barrable is the founding chair of the Board of Directors of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Queen's University and a master's degree in health science from the University of Toronto.

Dr. Robert Peterson Appointed Executive Director of CIHR's Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network

Dr. Alain Beaudet, president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Robert Peterson, clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia, as executive director of the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network (DSEN) effective January 4, 2010. DSEN will respond to decision-makers' drug safety and effectiveness information needs and increase capacity within Canada to undertake high-quality research in this area. New evidence generated via DSEN will inform decision-making about the regulation, public reimbursement and safe and optimal prescribing and use of drugs within the Canadian healthcare system.

Dr. Peterson received an MD degree and a PhD in pharmacology from Yale University in 1974. He completed a master's degree in public health at Harvard University's School of Public Health in 1996. Over the course of his career, Dr. Peterson has been director of the Section of Paediatric Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Colorado, professor of pediatrics and pharmacology and chairman of the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, and director of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute.

CIHI's New Appointments

The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is pleased to announce two new appointments: John Wright has joined the organization as its new president and CEO and Jeremy Veillard will be joining CIHI in the Toronto office May 1 as vice-president of research and analysis.

John Wright has more than 30 years of public sector experience, including being deputy minister of health and deputy minister of finance for the government of Saskatchewan. He also served as president and CEO of several crown agencies including SaskPower, Crown Investments Corporation and Saskatchewan Government Insurance.

Jeremy Veillard has extensive professional experience in the health industry in Europe and in Canada. Veillard is currently the regional adviser for health policy and equity at the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe and is the lead for health system performance assessment. Previously, he worked at the Ontario MOHLTC as the lead of the Health Results Team for Information Management – with the measuring performance for change strategy component – and with WHO as policy adviser in charge of hospital reforms, WHO Regional Office for Europe. He also has experience in hospital management in France, where he was vice-president of human resources and quality improvement.

St. Mary's Hospital and McGill Give Family Medicine in Quebec a Boost

St. Mary's Hospital Center (SMHC) strengthens its proficiency and its reputation of excellence in family medicine by welcoming the first McGill chair in family and community medicine research. The chairholder is Dr. Jeannie Haggerty, an international expert in the evaluation of healthcare services; she took up her new position at SMHC on January 4, 2010. Dr. Haggerty is also an associate professor of family medicine at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine.

This new research chair will build on the existing expertise at SMHC, which has been recognized as one of Quebec's leaders in community-oriented care for more than 30 years. It will also improve the quality of the services offered by suggesting innovative solutions to help multidisciplinary teams work more efficiently, and to increase accessibility and delivery of care to ethnic minorities, for example.

Baycrest Announces New Vice-President of Clinical and Residential Programs and Chief Nursing Executive

Dr. Karima Velji will join Baycrest on April 5, 2010. She is currently vice-president of patient care and chief nursing executive at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (Toronto Rehab). This new role is a combination of two previous positions (vice-president of quality, safety and risk management and chief nursing executive and vice-president of clinical programs and collaborative practice). Dr. Velji will partner with the vice-president of medical services and chief of staff to advance patient care to the next level of excellence through a strong interdisciplinary approach and within a culture committed to scholarship.

At Toronto Rehab, Dr. Velji supervised the operations for seven clinical programs and services in five geographical sites in the Greater Toronto Area. She is the senior leader for patient safety, clinical ethics, education (including inter-professional education) and best practice, and leads the professional practice of all clinical disciplines at Toronto Rehab. She has a PhD from the University of Toronto's Faculty of Nursing and is cross-appointed to the University of Toronto's Faculty of Nursing and McMaster University.

Osler Announces New President and CEO

The Board of Directors of William Osler Health System is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Matthew Anderson to the position of president and CEO of William Osler Health System. Anderson will commence his employment with the organization April 5, 2010.

Anderson has had an impressive management career in the health sector. He is currently the CEO at the Toronto Central Local Health Integrated Network (LHIN), where he has served for the past two years. Prior to joining the Toronto Central LHIN, Anderson was at the University Health Network for 10 years, where he held the positions of senior vice-president of performance and technology, vice-president and chief information officer. Anderson has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of New Brunswick as well as a master's degree in health science (administration) from the University of Toronto.

Awards

Groundbreaking Research in London Attracts National Recognition

Dr. Paul Adams, scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson) and physician at London Health Sciences Centre, has been awarded the 2010 Canadian Liver Foundation Gold Medal for excellence – a remarkable and well-deserved achievement. Dedicating his professional career to the diagnosis and treatment of hemochromatosis/iron overload disease, Dr. Adams has established himself as a respected international expert on this chronic disease. Hemochromatosis is a genetic disease that is a significant problem throughout the world. The disease affects one in every 227 Canadian people of Northern European ancestry, making the disease 10 times more common than cystic fibrosis. Dr. Adams is recognized for the breadth of his work, which encompasses fundamental genetic determinants and epidemiology, effective new treatments and management of the disease, including liver transplantation.

The Canadian Liver Foundation Gold Medal is given annually in collaboration with the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver. Past recipients include Dame Sheila Sherlock, a pioneer in liver diseases and the first woman in Britain to become a professor of medicine, and B.S. Blumberg, winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Order of Canada's Healthcare Recipients

The 2009 officers of the Order of Canada for healthcare are Shrawan Kumar, from Fort Worth, Texas, and Edmonton, Alberta; Jonathan Lomas, from Ottawa, Ontario; James Orbinski, from Toronto, Ontario; and Carol L. Richards from Quebec City, Quebec. The 2009 members of the Order of Canada for healthcare are John C. Godel from Vancouver, British Columbia; S. Larry Goldenberg, also from Vancouver; Bernard S. Goldman, from Toronto, Ontario; Patrick J. Gullane, also from Toronto; Louise Lévesque, from Hudson, Quebec; Jeffrey C. Lozon, from Toronto; and Réjean Thomas, from Calgary, Alberta.

Headwaters Health Care Centre's Dr. Allen Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Headwaters Health Care Centre announced that Dr. Lynn Allen of Headwaters' Laboratory Services has received the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ontario Society of Clinical Chemistry. Dr. Allen, laboratory director at Headwaters, played a key role in the hospital receiving laboratory accreditation for compliance with the Ontario Laboratory Accreditation quality management system requirements of the Quality Management Program – Laboratory Services (QMP-LS). QMP-LS is a division of the Ontario Medical Association and serves as an agent of MOHLTC in providing quality management services including accreditation and education for licensed medical laboratories in Ontario.

CNA and CMA Announce Recipients of 2010 Media Awards for Health Reporting

The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) announced the recipients of the 2010 Media Awards for Health Reporting, Canada's premier health journalism awards. The CNA and CMA Media Awards honour outstanding Canadian journalism that enhances the understanding of health, the healthcare system and the role of health professionals. Independent panels of individuals with backgrounds in journalism, nursing, medicine and healthcare evaluate the entries. This year, they selected winners in eight categories out of a total of 141 submissions. Entries were evaluated based on fairness and balance, timeliness, insight, impact and quality of writing and production. For the complete list of this year's Media Awards, please visit the CNA's website at https://www.cna-aiic.ca/CNA/news/releases/public_release_e.aspx?id=256.

Health Council of Canada Announces Inaugural Health Innovation Award Winners

In the fall of 2009, the Health Council of Canada challenged Canadian college and university students with the question, "What do you propose to help renew and sustain Canadian healthcare, and why?" Submissions flowed in from across the country, and panellist judges from the council executive have rendered their decision. The winners of the inaugural Health Innovation Award were announced January 26, 2010, by the Health Council of Canada. Kathryn Nicholson from the University of Western Ontario won first place in the individual category, while Samantha Rivers, Erica Siba, Davy Tawadrous and Sylvia Zhou, also from the University of Western Ontario, received first place in the group category. For the complete list of winners, please visit the council's website at https://healthcouncilcanada.ca/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=229&Itemid=22. The winning submissions will be featured at HealthCouncilCanada.ca and in a nationally distributed Health Council of Canada e-newsletter.

We are happy to announce your successes. Please send information about awards, appointments and other transitions to Susan Hale at shale@longwoods.com.

Comments

Be the first to comment on this!