Past Conferences – Speaker Bios

[widgets_on_pages] [printfriendly]

Monday April 27th Speakers

Kevin P.D. Smith D. Phil, ICD.D.

Keynote Address

Dr. Kevin P. D. Smith is President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health System, and CEO of the Niagara Health System. Kevin is an Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University. Educated in Canada, the United States and Great Britain, Dr. Smith began his career in medical education, followed by leadership roles in university administration and academic hospitals and health systems. Kevin is professionally certified by the Institute of Corporate Directors and has completed the Harvard Program in Effective Governance.

Kevin is fortunate to be a frequent advisor to Governments, Health Care Organisations and Funders at home and abroad. Dr. Smith is privileged to Chair the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Carole Jacob, MCS

Physician Under/Over Employment

Ms. Carole Jacob is the Manager of the Office of Health Systems and Policy at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.  Ms. Jacob graduated from Dalhousie University with a Masters of Computer Science and joined the College in 2008 after a first career in Telecommunications.  Since joining the College, Ms. Jacob has been involved in a number of health policy programs related to the provision of high quality health care with a recent focus on aspects related to human resources for health.   Ms. Jacob has also been involved in a number of collaborative initiatives such as technical co-lead of the National Physician Survey, and the International Health Workforce Collaborative.  She also participates in advisory and other capacities on various projects and committees.

Jane Walker

Succession Planning with Hamilton Physicians

Coming soon!

Ravi Jain, BA, LL.B, C.S

Navigating Immigration for Foreign Physicians: Options for Temporary Work Permits and Permanent Residence

Ravi Jain became a Partner at Green and Spiegel LLP in Toronto in 2005 and formed a professional corporation in 2010. He received his B.A. (Hons.) from Queen’s University, his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1998 and his Master of Laws from The University of Michigan in 2000. Ravi has practiced at Green and Spiegel LLP since 1998 (apart from one year away to complete his Masters). He is among the small percentage of immigration lawyers who are certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as Specialists in Citizenship and Immigration Law. He has addressed the Canadian Senate as an expert witness on immigration law and appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights. On November 27, 2012 Ravi was presented the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by Command of Her Majesty The Queen in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of Her Majesty’s Accession to the Throne and in recognition of Ravi’s significant contributions to Canada.

Ravi practices all aspects of Canadian immigration law. He assists clients with applications for permanent residence including: federal skilled worker applications; provincial nominee programs; the Canadian experience class; parental and spousal sponsorships; humanitarian and compassionate applications; and cases involving the business class (investors, entrepreneurs and the self-employed). He also assists with all types of work permits (including open work permits and those based on labour market opinions) and study permits, PRRAs, temporary resident permits and citizenship applications.

As well, Ravi has an extensive litigation practice. His appeal work covers all three divisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board and the Federal Court of Canada. Ravi has successfully argued many cases, particularly involving parental and spousal sponsorships, detention reviews, refugee hearings, residency appeals, deportation appeals, criminality appeals, stays and applications for leave and judicial review.

Dr. R. Sacha Bhatia

Shifting employment Landscape for physicians and its policy implications

Dr. R. Sacha Bhatia is the Director of the Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care (WIHV) at Women’s College Hospital. WIHV is a newly launched innovation laboratory that develops and tests new ideas, new programs and new policy approaches in the world of ambulatory care, and then helps to scale them up across Ontario and beyond.

When not managing WIHV’s diverse portfolio of projects, Dr. Bhatia is a staff cardiologist at Women’s College Hospital and at University Health Network.

He also serves as Assistant Professor in Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto and at the Institute for Health Policy Management and Evaluation. He is also an adjunct scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Previously he has worked as a clinical and research fellow in cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and as a research fellow at Harvard University.

As Director of WIHV, Dr. Bhatia sits on the steering committee for Choosing Wisely Canada, a national initiative managed through the University of Toronto in collaboration with the Canadian Medical Association. He has significant experience in health policy, and from January 2008 to December 2009 was the Premier of Ontario’s health and research and innovation policy advisor. He is a health policy researcher who has published in peer reviewed journals, such as New England Journal of Medicine and the CMAJ. He has also presented at national and international meetings, such as the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. He was recently awarded the 2013 American College of Cardiology’s Young Investigator Award, and the American Society of Echocardiography’s Arthur E. Weyman Young Investigator Award. He sits on the Mission Committee of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the cardiovascular working group of the Ontario Health Study, and advises the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Health Quality Ontario, hospitals and other healthcare organizations on various health systems issues, including strategic planning and quality improvement.

He has been invited to speak at conferences held by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Ontario Hospital Association, ICES, various Local Health Integration Networks, law firms, hospitals and research institutes on various issues of health policy.

Dr. Bhatia received his medical degree and MBA at McGill University and received his internal medicine and cardiology training in Toronto.

Tuesday April 28th

Albert Julius Schumacher, MD

Social Etiquette and Networking Strategies

  • Former President, Canadian Medical Association             2004-2005
  • Former President, Ontario Medical Association                 2000-2001

Albert Schumacher, born, raised and working in Windsor Ontario, graduated cum laude from The University of Western Ontario Faculty of Medicine in 1982. Initially a solo family physician he serves as part of a 15 member Family Health Organization.

As Ontario Medical Association President, he launched a decade of Clean Air and Anti-Smog advocacy.  Spotlighting draconian government privacy legislation he crippled it using the label “The Big Brother Bill”. Simultaneously, he advanced the Ontario Tobacco Advocacy Strategy preparing the way for Ontario’s Smoke Free Public Places. Testifying before the Walkerton Commission Inquiry, the investigation into Canada’s worst water contamination tragedy, he called for increasing the roles for Medical Officers of Health as well as increased and strengthened laboratory proficiency testing.

Internationally, he presented Canada’s experience from tainted water to the World Medical Association/World Oceans forum in New York City and lessons learned from Walkerton at the First World Medical Summit in Shanghai China in 2005.

As the Canadian Medical Association President, he engaged the national stage pressuring all governments to address the severe shortage of physicians, nurses and other health care professionals which had resulted in rationing and long wait lists for patients.  He called on all governments to expand medical schools and training programs into all Canadian provinces and communities.

Dr. Schumacher has consistently advocated on issues affecting medical education including escalating tuition and student debt. He established the Ontario Medical Student Bursary Fund as Founding Chair. Over 10 million dollars have been raised as a result.

His passion is training and developing the next generation of physician leaders. As a result, he has developed weekend student leadership training programs, now received by more than 1000 medical and dental students and residents.

He served the profession as a council member of the Canadian Medical Protective Association from 2002 thru 2004. He served Canadians as a board member of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute.

Dr. Schumacher teaches as an Adjunct Professor of Family Medicine for the Schulich School of Medicine, Western University. He is an Assistant Professor at the McMaster University Faculty of Medicine where he teaches the Physician Assistant Program. He served as Lecturer at the INSEAD Business School in France for the World Medical Association Leadership Program.

At the invitation of Canada’s Consul General he helped launch the Health Committee of the Brazil- Canada Chamber of Commerce with his presentation on Achieving and Maintaining Quality in Medicine in Canada, May 2011

Edgardo Pérez, MD, MPH, FRCPC, CHE, CPHQ

Mental Health and Well Being – Effective Coping Strategies

Edgardo Pérez MD, is Regional Chief, Mental Health and Addictions, Niagara Health System. He is Founder and Former Director General of Homewood Research Institute, Founder and Former Director of the Centre for Organizational Health, Past CEO and Past President of Homewood Health Centre in Guelph, Ontario; Past CEO and President of Homewood Corporation, past CEO of Homewood Human Solutions and past Medical Chief of Staff for Homewood Health Centre. He is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and McMaster University, and a Clinical Professor of both Psychiatry and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Pérez’s academic interests include management and organizational health, health services research and health care quality assessment. He is a popular keynote speaker for corporate and organizational training programs, focusing on issues such as employee emotional well-being and its impact on organizational productivity.

He co-authored Mindsets, a book dealing with the inter-relationship of emotional well-being and productivity, and has published more than 40 articles in peer review journals.

The work of Homewood Research Institute reflects his commitment to assume a leadership role in mental health research within and outside Canada. This research is linked to initiatives in 20 countries in North America, Scandinavia, Europe, the Pacific Rim and the Middle East. He played a leading role in the development of the Research Assessment Instrument – Mental Health (RAI-MH), a clinical information system that includes quality indicators, outcome indicators and a case mix grouping for in-patient psychiatry.

As CEO and President of Homewood Health Centre, one of his priorities was to develop international linkages with the Pan American Health Organization, and health care providers in Latin American countries, such as Chile, and hospitals in China and Cuba. These linkages have provided opportunities to carry out additional quality assessment research.

Under his leadership, Homewood received national recognition. The National Quality Institute recognized Homewood as one of the best-run organizations and one of the healthiest workplaces in Canada with the 2002 Canada Awards for Excellence – Quality Award, the 2005 Healthy Workplace Award, the 2006 Order of Excellence Award and the 2010 Order of Excellence Award in Quality and Healthy Workplace categories. The Ontario Hospital Association honoured Homewood in 2004 with the Healthy Hospital Innovators Award. In 2009, Your Workplace selected Homewood as a winner of the Top Ten Places Where Employees Thrive Award.

Dr. Pérez’s commitment to excellence is reflected in his long-term involvement with Accreditation Canada, as a director and surveyor. He is currently a Director of the Accreditation Canada Global Board. He was Co-Chairman of the Healthcare Quality Certification Board (HQCB) in the United States, an international body which certifies individuals as health care quality professionals, and is a past member of the Board of the National Association for Healthcare Quality.

Jonathan Bennett

Stakeholder Engagement and Value Proposition

Jonathan Bennett is Principal at Laridae Communications Inc. An award-winning communicator, Jonathan works with leaders of non-profits and public sector agencies to help their organizations succeed. Whether planning, branding, strategic communications or marketing, he finds the right way for the story to be told.

His past roles include Chief Communications Officer and Director, Planning, at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre where he was a member of the hospital’s senior management team for six years. PRHC is an acute care, regional hospital with a capacity of 494 beds. A unionized work environment, PRHC has 2,100 staff members, 600 volunteers, and 350 physicians.  Jonathan’s portfolio included providing strategic communications council, change management communications and to lead strategic planning. Reporting to the CEO, he was accountable for planning, public affairs, marketing, government relations, internal communications, branding, and crisis communications. In 2008 he was awarded the OHA’s “Communicator of the Year” award for his leadership in the new Peterborough hospital’s construction and move.

Jonathan has worked in management consulting, education and health care sectors, the book publishing industry, and the non-profit sector. His undergraduate degree is from Western University. A widely published author, Jonathan is the author of six critically-acclaimed books.

As a volunteer board member, Jonathan has many years of non profit governance experience including terms as the President of the Kawartha Haliburton Children’s Aid Society, and Committee Chair on the Writers’ Trust of Canada Board of Directors. He has completed the ICD-Rotman Not for Profit Governance Essentials training, and is a volunteer professional development instructor with the United Way of Peterborough and District. Originally from Australia, he lives with his family in Keene, ON.