TORONTO, June 7, 2001 -- TORONTO - Over 60 top-level health care executives from across Canada have enrolled in a week-long program at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management to gain a better understanding of the key trends and issues facing the nation’s health care systems. The program, Understanding the New World of Health Care, features some of North America’s leading health care policy and management experts together with outstanding faculty from the University of Toronto, Harvard University, Columbia University, Dartmouth Medical School, and the University of Victoria. Session leaders of the program, that starts on June 10, include:

• Michael B. Decter, Chair, Canadian Institute for Health Information; President, Lawrence Decter Investment Counsel Ltd.; Senior Advisor, Health Investments, Lawrence & Company Inc. (former Deputy Minister of Health, Province of Ontario); Author, “Healing Medicare: Managing Health System Change the Canadian Way” (McGilligan Books, 1994); “Four Strong Winds: Navigating the Global Challenges to Health Care” (Stoddart Publishing, 2000).
• Sherry A.M. Glied, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Head, Division of Health Policy and Management, Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; (formerly a Senior Economist on the President of the United States’ Council of Economic Advisors with special responsibility for health care policy); Author, “Chronic Condition: Why Health Reform Fails” (1998);
• Alan R. Hudson, M.B., Ch.B., Former President and Chief Executive Officer, University Health Network; Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto; Honourary President, World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies
• Hugh E. Scully, M.D., Past President, Canadian Medical Association; Senior Staff Surgeon, University Health Network and Professor, Departments of Surgery and Health Administration, University of Toronto;
• Peter Singer, M.D., M.P.H., F.R.C.P.C.. Sun Life Financial Chair in Bioethics and Director, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics; Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto; Canadian Institutes of Health Research Investigator; Associate Editor, “Canadian Medical Association Journal”

“The continued success of this program demonstrates that the Rotman School has become a world leader in providing innovative management programs,” says Rotman Dean Roger L. Martin. “We are pleased that Rotman faculty can work integratively with leading thinkers from other faculties and universities in a program that greatly benefits the Canadian health care sector.”

Understanding the New World of Health Care is offered through a partnership between Rotman Executive Programs, Harvard University’s Division of Health Policy Research & Education, the U of T Department of Health Administration and U of T’s Joint Centre for Bioethics. The program is designed to equip leaders in the health care field with new insights for understanding and contributing to the development of the Canadian health care system. Sessions cover such topics as: Making Regionalization Work The Promises and the Problems, Improving Quality of Care and Reducing Adverse Events, and Canadian Competitiveness Challenges for the Health Care Sector.

Program Directors are: Joseph D’Cruz, D.B.A, Professor of Strategic Management at Rotman; Martin McKneally, M.D., Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery and Joint Centre for Bioethics at U of T, and Miles Shore, M.D., Bullard Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Visiting Scholar at the Kennedy School of Government.

“The program builds on the expertise of an existing program at Harvard University,” explains Rotman’s Joseph D’Cruz. “By integrating Canadian experts and perspectives into our course, we are able to help participants meet the unique challenges facing the health care sector in this country.”

Ken McGuffin
Media Relations Officer
Rotman School of Management
Voice: (416) 946-3818
E-mail: mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .