Message from the President
Welcome to the Spring/Summer 2011 HPME Society of Graduates (SOG) newsletter!
Your SOG executive committee has been very busy over the past months informing, influencing, and leading change in health care. Our February 2011 SOG/CCHL event was well received by all participants, both those who attended in person and those who came by webcast. The theme of the event was Ethics for Leaders: What Keeps You up at Night? I would like to thank the event planners for their hard work in organizing this yearly event.
HPME’s annual Research Day was also well attended, and the SOG sponsored a great breakfast to start the day for our students. I was filled with admiration for all of them as I toured the amazing poster presentations and attended the sessions. There is no doubt in my mind that our current HPME students will lead the future progress of health care.
Education Day was another outstanding success, as we welcomed (via Webcast) Jim Easton, the national director for improvement and efficiency at the National Health Service (in England). Easton was uncompromising in his message that we can save money and expect high quality in health care. This is an imperative to which we must aspire as the leaders of health-care systems and organizations. Thank you to our sponsors – St. Elizabeth Health Care, Spectrum Health Care, Telus, and Accenture – for your support. We deeply appreciate it.
As always, it was a pleasure to speak to the graduating class of the HPME program at the June convocation this year. With the wonderful preparation they have received from their studies, they all have great futures in health-care leadership ahead of them.
I am very excited to announce that after much hard work, the SOG will be launching our new strategic plan over the summer and consulting with you for your input. An important part of our new plan is the vision to expand outreach through social networks such as LinkedIn. Over 100 alumni are now connected, and we continue to grow. Please join our LinkedIn community and participate in its discussions groups. If you are already a member of LinkedIn you can connect to the Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, LinkedIn site. It is only open to alumni, students and faculty of HPME programs.
In closing, I hope to see you this fall at our Alumni Dinner and Awards event: October 13, 2011, at the Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto. Please mark the date. This is a wonderful evening during which to honour the Silver Anniversary class, meet former classmates, and reconnect with your colleagues. I am personally asking all my fellow graduates of the class of ’97 to meet me there!
Have a wonderful summer and remember to get LinkedIn!
With kind regards to all,
Sue VanderBent
SOG President
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