Alumni Visionaries
This issue of IHPME Connection pivots on the theme of “vision”. It seemed appropriate to our editorial team, therefore, to share a little biographical information with our readers about Lianne Jeffs and Tariq Asmi – two recent Society of Graduates award winners whose careers are informed by such strong visions of health-care excellence.
Lianne Jeffs, PhD – Leadership Award
 Lianne Jeffs currently serves as the director of nursing/clinical research at St. Michael’s Hospital in downtown Toronto. She also maintains an active research programme as a scientist with that institution’s Keenan Research Centre, focusing on patient safety and health services. In particular, Lianne is interested in the effect and experiences associated with organizational and clinical micro-system approaches to patient safety.
During her gracious award-acceptance speech at the Annual Recognition Dinner, Lianne made several comments that are shed light on her vision of leadership:
My approach to leadership is aimed at discovering something new, learning something new (including from mistakes), trying something new, celebrating success, leading by example, and being creative.
The key factors in being able to lead are getting to work with – and have as friends – smart, creative, fun, and kind people who care about the organizations they work in … and the society they live in.
Lianne has an impressive professional record of acting on these convictions. This is evident, for example, in her innovative Research Advancing Practice (RAP) program. Lianne was the catalyst and architect of RAP, which equips nurses with the competencies to develop, implement, and evaluate research on a question they have in their nursing environments. RAP has enhanced nurses’ engagement in research and led to improved front-line care.
As a research team leader, Lianne has also had considerable leadership success. This includes five grants from national funding agencies and three from provincial funding agencies, together totalling over $1,000,000. This backing is testament to Lianne’s ability to bring together individuals and to engage them in relevant, meaningful research.
The Society of Graduates is not the first body to recognize Lianne’s stellar leadership. Among her many plaudits, Lianne has received the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Rising Star Award (2010), the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario Leadership Award (2008), and the Distinguished Alumni Award–Rising Star Award, Academic Nursing, from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Nursing (2004).
Tariq Asmi, CHE - Innovation Award
 Tariq Asmi’s career has spanned the full spectrum of the health-care system, including work in government policy-making and project planning at the hospital and regional levels. Today, Tariq is the vice-president of regional services at the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Services. In this role, Tariq works with and enables external mental health and addiction (MH&A) providers and system stakeholders to collaborate to build a more effective, accessible, and high-performing MH&A system in central-east Ontario.
Tariq expresses his vision in the following succinct terms:
Before all else, first and foremost it is about service and duty to our patients, clients, and their families; that we ensure not only a good outcome but, as well, that their experience was a good one that they’d tell their friends about. When it comes to helping and enabling others, for me it’s all about bringing together "head, heart, and hand".
Empowered by this vision, Tariq recently demonstrated great leadership when he brought together the chiefs of psychiatry from nine hospitals to further the LHIN’s Clinical Services Plan. This involved implementing a regional mental-health bed registry to improve patient access to inpatient services in a coordinated, transparent, and equitable way. This collaboration also led to improved assessment processes and increased the value of services in the community.
Beyond his official occupation, Tariq is committed to education and knowledge translation. This dedication is demonstrated through his lifelong learning – including returning to University of Toronto in mid-career to complete the MHSc in Health Administration program. Since graduation from that program, he has been an active mentor to many emerging leaders and is the practicum supervisor for current MHSc students at his facility.
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