David Fortier, Paul Grootendorst, Jim Keon, Suzanne McGurn
How We Pay for Drugs: Is the Pan-Canadian Pricing Alliance on Track?
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David Fortier is the Director of Patient Access, Health Policy and Government Relations in Ontario. David’s responsibilities include working with the Ontario government to obtain reimbursement for Pfizer’s medicines and vaccines as well as providing input on policies that impact the pharmaceutical industry.
Prior to his current role, David was Business Unit Director, Rare Diseases. David led the sales and marketing efforts for Pfizer’s rare disease portfolio. Prior to that, David held positions of increasing responsibility within the Public Affairs team with Pfizer in Canada. He was Director of Strategy & Health Policy where his responsibilities included federal government relations, health and economic policy at the federal and provincial levels. David was also Associate Director, Patient Access and led the team charged with pricing strategy, HTA reimbursement submissions and negotiations with provincial payers.
Prior to joining Pfizer, David was a consultant with Monitor Company, a strategic management consultancy. During his time with Monitor, David worked on marketing and corporate strategy with a diverse group of clients in the areas of pharmaceuticals, professional services, and heavy equipment. David holds a degree in Civil Engineering and a MBA from Queen’s University in Canada.
Paul Grootendorst is a health economist interested in: the economic aspects of the pharmaceutical industry, including drug development, pharmaceuticals use, insurance and reimbursement; interactions between innovative and generic drug firms; and methods for program evaluation using observational data. He is Director of the Division of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Economics at McMaster University.
Jim Keon is President of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association (CGPA), the organization representing Canada’s generic pharmaceutical industry.
Mr. Keon graduated from Trent University. He subsequently received his M.A. in Economics from Queen’s University.
Prior to joining the Association in 1994 (he became President in 1998) he held senior positions in the federal government and was directly involved in international trade negotiations for the FTA, NAFTA and the WTO, as well as Canada’s inter-provincial trade negotiations. Mr. Keon is the Chair of the Management Committee of the International Generic Pharmaceutical Alliance (IGPA), which promotes the interests of generic drug makers around the world.
Suzanne McGurn has worked in the health care environment for over 25 years. Suzanne holds both a Bachelor of Nursing Sciences and a Masters of Public Administration. The first 15 years of her career were spent in a variety of clinical front-line service provision roles where she had the opportunity to see the difference that health care providers make every day as they touch the life's of patients and their families,often when at their most vulnerable. Despite her love for nursing, in 2000, Suzanne was given an opportunity to explore public policy when offered a position with the Ontario government. During her over 10 years with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care she has held a number of positions and in the summer of 2012 was confirmed as the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Health Human Resources Strategy Division. In this position she leads HealthForceOntario,Ontario's health human resource strategy. Additionally, as of May 7, 2014 she has taken on the Interim Assistant Deputy Minister and Executive Officer of the Ontario Public Drug Programs Division.
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