IHE Innovation Forum XVII - Building a Community-Based Health System
Building a Community-Based Health System: Key People
Speaker Biographies
Keynote Speakers
Mr. Nigel Edwards
CEO, Nuffield Trust
Nigel Edwards is Chief Executive at the Nuffield Trust. Prior to becoming Chief Executive in 2014, Nigel was an expert advisor with KPMG’s Global Centre of Excellence for Health and Life Sciences and a Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund. Nigel was Policy Director of the NHS Confederation for 11 years and has a wealth of experience in health and social care. He joined the organisation from his former role as Director of the London Health Economics Consortium at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where he remains an honorary visiting professor. Nigel has a strong interest in new models of service delivery and a practical focus on what is happening at the front line as well as a wealth of experience in wider health care policy in the UK and internationally. Nigel is a well-known media commentator, often in the spotlight debating key policy issues. Nigel is currently working with the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies on developments in health care provision in Europe.
Dr. Muhamad Elrashidi
Kern Centre Population Health Scholar, Mayo Clinic
Muhamad Elrashidi is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and internist in the Division of Primary Care Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. He is currently one of six Kern Center Population Health Scholars with a focus on integrated community specialty care delivery. Dr. Elrashidi graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BSc in biochemistry in 2001, followed by a Masters of Healthcare Administration in 2004. He completed internships at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates in Boston and a fellowship at Fairview Health Services in Minnesota. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 2009, and completed an internal medicine residency at the Mayo Clinic in 2012, followed by a chief medicine residency year and a Primary Care Internal Medicine Research Fellowship from the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.
Speakers
Dr. Carl Amrhein
Deputy Minister, Alberta Health
Carl Amrhein was appointed Deputy Minister, Alberta Health on August 4, 2015. Prior to this, he was the Official Administrator for Alberta Health Services. Dr. Amrhein holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geography from Pennsylvania State University (1978) and a PhD in Geography from State University of New York at Buffalo (1984) with research interest in economic geography, labour markets, decision theory, migration, and quantitative methods. Dr. Amrhein currently is a member of Fulbright Canada: Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America; and a Fellow, Royal Canadian Geographic Society. Dr. Amrhein served as Provost and Vice-President (Academic) at the University of Alberta from 2003 to 2014. Dr. Amrhein came to the University of Alberta following his 17 years at the University of Toronto. He has also served as Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, Haidian, Beijing, China, during October, 2012. For 2013-2015 he served as Special Executive Advisor to the Conference Board of Canada. Dr. Amrhein was awarded the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany in 2011. He received an Eagle Feather to honour his contributions in advancing the role of Traditional Knowledge of the First Nations in university programming in 2014. Also, in 2014, he was awarded the Alberta Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration.
Dr. Brad Bahler
Physician, Sylvan Family Health Centre and Wolf Creek PCN
Dr. Brad Bahler is a practicing physician in Sylvan Lake Alberta for the past 12 years. He continues to practice comprehensive family medicine including obstetrics, hospital care, geriatrics, and palliative care while working with the health care team at the Sylvan Family Health Centre. Dr. Bahler initially developed an interest in quality improvement and practice redesign at a local level. Since that time, he has been involved in provincial work around quality improvement, education, and access working with Alberta AIM, Mark Murray and Associates, Towards Optimized Practice, and the Alberta College of Family Physicians. His most recent role is as Medical Director for Primary Care Network Evolution working with Primary Care Networks, Alberta Health Services, and Alberta Health on multiple initiatives designed to improve the way the system can support the citizens of Alberta. He has also worked closely with primary care teams, specialty programs, and Primary Care Networks around issues of redesign and improvement across the province. His belief is that the measurement, relevant data, physician engagement, integration, and practice facilitation are vehicles to achieve the goal of a Patient's Medical Home for all Albertans.
Dr. Richard Lewanczuk
Senior Medical Director, Provincial Primary Health Care, Alberta Health Services
Dr. Lewanczuk obtained his MD from the University of Alberta in 1983. He then completed Internal Medicine specialization and entered a combined Endocrinology Fellowship/PhD in Medical Sciences at the University of Alberta, which he completed in 1992. This was followed by post-doctoral studies in Montreal, Detroit, and New York. In 1994, Dr. Lewanczuk returned to the University of Alberta as a member of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, of which he was Director from 1998-2006. Currently, Dr. Lewanczuk is a Professor in both the Departments of Medicine and Physiology. Dr. Lewanczuk assumed the role of Medical Director for Chronic Disease Management for Capital Health in 2007. With the inception of Alberta Health Services, he became Senior Medical Director for Primary Health Care. In this portfolio, he oversees all primary care activities for the Province of Alberta, as well as service delivery in areas that include chronic disease, and community and rural health care. He has published widely and carried out clinical trials in the areas of diabetes, hypertension, chronic disease management, and therapeutic natural products, as well as in the area of drug-disease interactions.
Ms. Kathy Ness
Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Services Division, Alberta Health
Kathleen Ness is a leading senior management professional with over 25 years of leadership in senior executive level positions within Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services. This included roles overseeing business and operations management, and providing strategic leadership for policies and initiatives that improve the health and quality of life for Albertans. In her current role, Kathleen is accountable for setting strategic direction and policies for Primary Health Care, Addictions and Mental health, Continuing Care, Emergency Health Services, and Provincial Health Services including Blood, and Organ and Tissue Transplant programs. Kathleen completed a Masters in Public Health from the University of Minnesota, and holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Alberta. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Health System Leadership from Royal Roads University and maintains certification as a Canadian Health Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders.
Ms. Carolyn Trumper
Director of Professional Practice Support, College & Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA)
Carolyn Trumper is the Director of Professional Practice Support for the College & Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CARNA). Carolyn directs many CARNA initiatives and strategies such as the advancement of health policy, professional development, member engagement, competence and learning, and practice resources. Carolyn is a Registered Nurse, has a Master of Arts in Communication and Technology and recently completed a Fellowship in Health System Improvement.
Dr. Lorne Tyrrell
Board Chair, Institute of Health Economics
D. Lorne Tyrrell is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Alberta. He is the Founding Director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology and has focused his research since 1986 on viral hepatitis. His work on the development of antiviral therapy was supported by CIHR and Glaxo Canada. It resulted in the licensing of the first oral antiviral agent to treat chronic hepatitis B infection – lamivudine – in 1998. Today, lamivudine is licensed in over 200 countries worldwide for the treatment of HBV. He has also been involved in the establishment of a biotech company – KMT Hepatech Inc., based on the first non-primate animal model for HCV. Dr. Tyrrell was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry from 1994-2004. Since leaving the Deanship in 2004, Dr. Tyrrell has taken on a number of important board positions in healthcare in Alberta and Canada. These include the Chair of the Board of the Institute of Health Economics, Chair of the Gairdner Foundation Board, and member of the Research Advisory Council for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He also has been appointed to the Science Advisory Board to Health Canada. For his studies on viral hepatitis, Dr. Tyrrell has received numerous prestigious awards including the Gold Medal of the Canadian Liver Foundation (2000), Officer of the Order of Canada (2002), Alberta Order of Excellence (2000) and Fellow of the Royal Society (2004). He was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in April 2011 and was awarded the Killam Prize Health Sciences in May 2015.