HPME Hosts Ulysses International Master's Students

By: Wendy Ungar

With the increasing demand for high-quality evidence to guide decision-making, the field of health technology assessment (HTA) is growing rapidly across the world. As a result, there is an expanding need to train experts in the production and use of HTA reports. The MSc in Health Technology Assessment and Management (HTA&M) Ulysses program is uniquely designed to answer that need.

From May 11 to May 21, 2009, an international cohort of HTA&M Ulysses students descended on Toronto for the first time. Ulysses is now in its eighth year, and the present group is the fourth to go through it – and the first to include students from the University of Toronto (U of T).

HPME faculty members are leaders in HTA, health economic evaluation, and clinical decision-making. By hosting the Ulysses module, HPME faculty members were able to extend their teaching to the international student community. Participation in the Ulysses program is another example of U of T’s global reach.

Dr Wendy Ungar, senior scientist, Hospital for Sick Children, and associate professor, HPME, is Ulysses’ U of T program director. Students from Montreal, Italy, Spain, Belarus, Switzerland, Colombia, Austria, and Romania joined the U of T students (themselves from Toronto, Edmonton, and St. John’s) for two courses. Most MSc HTA&M students work in HTA in regional government health units, the private sector, or clinical settings.

The first course was entitled “The Incorporation of Health Technology Assessments into Clinical Practice and Micro/Meso Decision Making: The Barriers and Facilitators.” It was led by Dr Andreas Laupacis, executive director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute and professor, HPME; and Dr Roberto Grilli, director of the Regional Agency for Health and Social Care, Bologna, Italy. The course featured lectures by Laupacis and Grilli, as well as by U of T faculty members Drs Irfan Dhalla, Sharon Straus, Ahmed Bayoumi, Murray Krahn, Robert Fox, Chaim Bell, David Alter, and Michael Evans. Dr Dawn Stacey of the University of Ottawa also travelled to Toronto to deliver a lecture. A highlight was the involvement of HTA and government decision-makers, including Dr Adalsteinn Brown, assistant deputy minister, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC); Dr Sacha Bhatia, senior health advisor to Ontario’s premier; Dr David Henry, chief executive officer, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences; Dr Jeffrey Hoch, head, Pharmacoeconomics Unit, Cancer Care Ontario and associate professor, HPME; and Dr Les Levin, head, Medical Advisory Secretariat, MOHLTC.

The second course was devoted to the students presenting their thesis or practicum research findings. It was led by Dr Wendy Ungar, along with co-faculty Dr Mira Johri, University of Montreal; and Dr Paolo Giorgio Rossi, Agency for Public Health, Lazio, Italy. This course also included a presentation by Dr Louise Lemieux Charles, HPME professor and chair.

We are now looking forward to enrolling U of T students in the fifth Ulysses cohort, which begins in September 2009. Find out more about this program online or contact Wendy Ungar via email.