THIS ISSUE

SOG President's Message

Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.
– St. Augustine

Most of us can identify an overarching vision for our work. For some, such a vision has even served as a durable, lifelong theme.

My own career as a social worker and health-care leader has been dedicated to connecting people and groups in order to foster clear communication and understanding. With good communication and understanding, we can create synergistic relationships and accomplish a lot of great things. This personal vision of helping others to work together has been a consistent theme in my life, and it has helped me to accomplish many professional milestones as a leader.

The theme of this issue of IHPME Connection is vision – in particular, the importance of articulating a vision for the future state of our health system, our Institute, and our Society of Graduates. Without a clear vision, we cannot lead the necessary health-system changes required to meet the needs of consumers in the 21st century.

Here are some of the fascinating pieces in this issue that speak directly to – and shed a lot of light on – our vision theme:

• Adalsteinn Brown, IHPME's new director, discusses how he is working collaboratively with a variety of stakeholders to co-create a vision that will lead us into the next decade. I know that the resulting plan will include the active and engaged involvement of our students and alumni.
• A brief review of IHPME's new quality leadership project.
• Joanne Wong, an MHI student, shares her thoughts on the critical role of design in health-care innovation.
• Talya Wolff gives us a snapshot of the 2012 Annual Recognition Dinner.
• We offer up glimpses of two visionary Society of Graduates award winners: Lianne Jeffs (Leadership Award) and Tariq Asmi (Innovation Award).
• Michelle Greiver discusses her research findings and recommendations for EMR in family practice.

There are so many visionaries working to improve Ontario's health-care system, and a great number of them are alumni of the IHPME at the University of Toronto. Let's continue to work together towards achieving our vision for the future.

Warm personal regards, and sincere good wishes for a healthy and relaxing holiday season and a very happy 2013,

Sue VanderBent
SOG President