Richard Alvarez, Canada Health Infoway; Edward Brown, Ontario Telemedicine Network; Robert Bell, UHN
Navigating the Healthcare System: The Patient’s Perspective
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Richard Alvarez is a leader in Canadian health care. He is known for taking on challenging mandates and building successful organizations.
As President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada Health Infoway, he has been a catalyst for accelerating the development of electronic health records in Canada. He has established strong, collaborative relationships with the federal, provincial and territorial governments and other stakeholders as the foundation for solid progress. He has articulated a broad national vision for reforming Canada's health care system through innovation and technology. On the international front, he has helped to position Canada as a world leader in health care renewal.
Mr. Alvarez earned the Institute of Corporate Directors certification at the Rotman School of Management. In 2007 he was recognized as the 2007 National Builder Inductee to the Canadian Information Productivity Awards (CIPA) Hall of Fame for the leadership he has exercised throughout his career (with the Government of Alberta, the Canadian Institute for Health Information and at Infoway) in promoting the application of innovative technology to improve health care delivery for Canadians.
Prior to his role at Infoway, Mr. Alvarez also played a key role in harnessing the power of information to improve health care. As former president and chief executive officer and ex-officio board member of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), he helped CIHI evolve into a well-known and respected organization with strong ties to the research community.
Mr. Alvarez is a frequent speaker and facilitator at national and international health care conferences and is a past recipient of the Who's Who in Healthcare Award. He is a Board Director with Ontario Health Quality Council and an honorary member of the C.D. Howe Institute Health Policy Council.
Edward Brown is a founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), one of the largest and most active integrated telemedicine networks in the world.
Dr. Brown has won numerous awards for his work in Telemedicine, including most recently, a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award for his contributions to health care in Canada. In 2010, he was chosen as one of 25 Living Transformational Canadians by a national media panel sponsored by the Globe and Mail, CTV and Le Presse. He currently sits on the board of OntarioMD and is the President of the American Telemedicine Association.
An emergency physician who studied mathematics and engineering before embarking on his medical career, Dr. Brown is a passionate advocate for telemedicine as a tool to improve access to care, quality of care and the sustainability of health care systems.
Robert Bell was appointed as President and CEO of UHN (Toronto General, Toronto Western, Princess Margaret Hospitals and Toronto Rehab Institute) in June 2005. An internationally recognized Orthopaedic surgeon, health care executive, clinician-scientist, and educator, Dr. Bell brings more than 25 years of experience in academic health care to leadership of Canada’s largest research hospital. From 2000 to 2005, he served as Chief Operating Officer of UHN’s Princess Margaret Hospital. Since his appointment UHN has grown substantially in its clinical programs exemplified by integration with Toronto Rehab and also in its teaching and research endeavours.
Dr. Bell earned a Doctor of Medicine from McGill University in 1975 and a Masters of Science from the University of Toronto in 1981. He completed a Fellowship in Orthopaedic Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University in 1985. During his career as a clinician-scientist at the University of Toronto, he received more than five million dollars in peer-reviewed funding and has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers. He participated in the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2005. Dr. Bell is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the American College of Surgeons and an Honourary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
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