Faculty & Student News
Dr. Zakus Receives Honourary Professorship from Kunming Medical College in China
Dr. David Zakus, Associate Professor in HPME and Director of the Centre for International Health, has been awarded an honourary professorship from the President of the Kunming Medical College (KMC) in Kunming , Yunnan , China . Dr. Zakus, along with other UofT colleagues, has been working with KMC for two years on rural health system reform.
Dr. Dave Davis Recognized for Contributions to Academic Medicine
Dr. Dave Davis, of the Department of Medicine and HPME, has been elected as a new member of the Canadian Institute of Academic Medicine (CIAM), an organization dedicated to supporting academic medicine, particularly in the clinical departments of Canada 's faculties of medicine. Membership in the CIAM is limited to 100 and is based on distinguished contributions to medicine through research, education and leadership. Established in 1990, the institute's objectives are to advance the education and scholarly pursuits of academic physicians and further medical research by working to enhance the role of clinical departments.
Dr. Davis will also be made an honourary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) at the Fall 2004 convocation ceremony. The Royal College Convocation Ceremony and Reception honours and recognize new Fellows and celebrates College award winners. The RCPSC is a national organization responsible for setting and maintaining the standards for postgraduate medical education, for certifying specialist physicians and surgeons in Canada, and for promoting their continued education.
Michael Schull Receives Young Investigator Award
Michael Schull (Department of Medicine and HPME) has received a Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Young Investigator Award. The Award recognizes young investigators who have demonstrated promise and distinction in their emergency medicine research careers. The Award will be presented at the SAEM Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida in May 2004.
Wendy Levinson Appointed Sir John and Lady Eaton Professor and Chair of Department of Medicine
Wendy Levinson (Department of Medicine and HPME) has been appointed as the Sir John and Lady Eaton Professor and Chair of the Faculty of Medicine's Department of Medicine, effective July 1, 2004, for an initial five-year term. On staff at St. Michael's Hospital, Dr. Levinson spent most of her career in the United States, working at Oregon Health Science University and the University of Chicago Medical School. Dr. Levinson moved to Toronto in 2001 and has been Vice-Chair of the UofT Department of Medicine and Associate Director of Research at St Michael's Hospital.
Deber Brings Clarity to Private versus Public Healthcare In Election Debates
In an interview with Anthony Germain on CBC Radio’s The House (May 15, 2004), Dr. Raisa Deber (Professor in HPME ) was asked to comment on the positions on healthcare taken by party leaders running in the Federal election. Dr. Deber noted that there is a great deal of confusion in the public versus private healthcare debate. Speakers do not usually distinguish between the financing of healthcare and its delivery. In Canada, 70% of health costs are currently publicly financed, including most physician and hospital costs, but not pharmaceuticals, dentistry, physiotherapy, and home care. One aspect of the public/private debate is therefore about deciding what types of care are medically essential and should be publicly funded. In this respect, Deber observed, Canada actually funds a lower percentage of services than many other countries. Healthcare is already delivered privately in Canada, through a combination of not-for-profit hospitals and for-profit physicians (chiropractors, dentists, physiotherapists, etc.). The second aspect of the public/private debate is therefore about the introduction of greater competition among providers and the private delivery of care by investor corporations with a fiduciary responsibility to bring a return on investment to shareholders. According to Deber, evidence suggests that attempting to shift costs from the public purse onto investor-owned corporations has a variety of negative effects on the delivery of healthcare, including higher overall costs. While Dr. Deber did not comment specifically on the positions of leadership candidates Martin, Harper and Layton, she provided listeners with a clear picture of the key issues in the public/private debate and the direction in which danger may lie.
Warren Winkelman Receives the COACH Steven Huesing Scholarship
Warren Winkelman, PhD student in the eHealth and Health Information Management Program of HPME, has been awarded the Steven Huesing Scholarship of COACH, Canada 's Health Informatics Association. This award is given annually to the most promising new student researcher in the field of health informatics in Canada . In addition to a cash prize, the award provides the student with a complimentary registration to the annual COACH conference and a one-year student membership in COACH.
Major Stephan Plourde Named as 2004 Robert Wood Johnson Award Winner
Congratulations to Major Stephan Plourde who was selected by HPME faculty as the 2004 Robert Wood Johnson Award Winner. The Robert Wood Johnson Award, established in 1956 by Johnson & Johnson Medical Products Inc., is an award program exclusively for professional graduate students in health administration programs in Canada.
Robert Wood Johnson earned a worldwide reputation for his innovative management techniques, far-sighted socioeconomic reforms and dedicated public service. He helped establish the world's first school of hospital administration, created a unique industry/hospital collaboration for improving hospital management efficiency and help set up a prototype nurse recruitment program.
The award consists of $1,500, a Certificate of Merit, travel and accommodation expenses to attend the awards ceremony. An award is presented to one student from each of the six Canadian universities offering graduate programs in health services administration whom the faculty select as the student viewed as the most likely to contribute valuable service to health services management. At the University of Toronto the award is given to a student in the second year of the program and all program faculty are involved in the nomination and selection process.
Adam Topp Appointed Board Chair
Adam R. Topp, HPME Doctoral candidate and Trustee of East York CCAC, has been appointed as the new Board Chair of Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC), Toronto. HIROC is the largest health care liability insurer in Canada.