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A Public Health Summit

Saving our Water – A Public Health Issue

Maude Barlow
National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest public advocacy organization, and the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, working internationally for the right to water. She serves on the boards of the International Forum on Globalization and Food and Water Watch, as well as being a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. Maude is the recipient of six honorary doctorates, the 2005/2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship Award, and the 2005 Right Livelihood Award (known as the “Alternative Nobel”) for her global water justice work. She is also the best-selling author or co-author of sixteen books, including Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop Corporate Theft of the World’s Water and the recently released Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.

Poverty Focus

The Honourable Deb Matthews
Minister of Children and Youth Services, Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues & Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction

Deb Matthews was elected to the Ontario Legislature in 2003 and re-elected in 2007. Deb previously served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Community and Social Services.

Deb’s work on social assistance reform, including her report, Review of Employment Assistance Programs in Ontario Works & Ontario Disability Support Program, has received strong support from a wide range of community leaders. Deb was recognized in the 2007 Ontario Budget speech as having been a driving force behind the new Ontario Child Benefit. Deb received the 2007 Political Award of Merit from The Social Work Doctors’ Colloquium, given to an individual who in their political, professional and social life, practices and exemplifies the values of the social work profession including the fight for social justice.

Deb has been actively involved in community organizations such as Orchestra London and the Thames Valley Children's Centre. She has served on the London advisory boards for the Salvation Army, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and as a board member and president of the Big Sisters of London.

Her diverse work background includes business experience in the construction industry, fundraising in the non-profit sector and teaching at the University of Western Ontario. She served as the 1995-96 fundraising co-coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club of London and has been twice honoured with a place on The University Students' Council Teaching Honour Roll at the University of Western Ontario.

Deb was born in London North Centre and studied at the University of Western Ontario, where she completed her Ph.D. in social demography. She has three children.

Monitoring Child Development in the Community: A Key to Understanding, Intervention and Change

Dr. Clyde Hertzman
Director, Human Early Learning Partnership

Clyde Hertzman, MD, FRCPC, is the Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP) and is a professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. Nationally, he is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIfAR), a Canada Research Chair in Population Health and Human Development, and President of the Council on Early Child Development.

Clyde was born and grew up in Vancouver, BC. He completed his training in medicine, community medicine, and epidemiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario in 1985, and has been on faculty at UBC since that time.

He has played a central role in developing the conceptual framework for the "determinants of health" and elucidating the special role of early childhood development as one of those key determinants. His research has contributed to international, national, provincial, and community initiatives for healthy child development.

Ontario Public Health, Exciting Times

Dr. Vivek Goel
CEO, Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion

Dr. Vivek Goel is a respected public health physician and health services researcher. He brings extensive experience in health care evaluation and research, administrative skills and training and above all, his passion for the future of the Agency for Health Protection and Promotion.

Dr. Goel has been engaged in a broad range of research activities related to public health, particularly focusing on chronic disease prevention and control. These research activities include the economic evaluation of health care interventions, optimization of the use of laboratory tests in the periodic health examination and the development of measures for health status assessment.

Dr. Goel has served on numerous local, provincial and federal committees related to public health as well as being involved in international activities through the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).

He was also engaged in the conception of the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) practice patterns ‘Atlas’ series, the creation of innovative methods for informing front-line health providers about the results of health research, and in training and supervising numerous graduate and professional students.

Prior to joining the Agency, Dr. Goel was Vice-President and Provost at the University of Toronto. He is a Professor in the Paul Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. He is also adjunct senior scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Program in eHealth Innovation at University Health Network. Dr. Goel is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

In 1991, he joined the University of Toronto as an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics. Dr. Goel served as chair of the Department of Health Administration in the Faculty of Medicine from 1999 until 2001. He then served in the University’s senior administration as Vice-Provost, Faculty from 2001 to 2004 and then as Vice-President and Provost until his appointment to the Agency in 2008.

He was president of the Central East Health Information Partnership, an Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care funded health intelligence unit. From 1999 to 2002 he was the scientific program leader at the Health Evidence Applications Linkages Network (HEALNet), a federal network of centres of excellence.

Dr. Goel is a licensed physician and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada, having obtained his medical degree from McGill University. He did his post-graduate medical training in community medicine at the University of Toronto and also obtained a Master’s degree (M.Sc.) in Health Administration from the University of Toronto and a Master’s degree (M.S.) in Biostatistics from Harvard University’s School of Public Health.

Governance / Accountability and the new Ontario Public Health Standards

Graham Scott
President, Graham Scott Strategies

Graham Scott is President of Graham Scott Strategies Inc. and counsel to McMillan LLP. He has extensive experience in public policy, governance in the voluntary sector and in the assessment of boards and management teams in both the voluntary and private sectors with a particular emphasis on health care policy and issues.

Graham was born in Nova Scotia and received his law degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1966.

Following two years of law practice in Toronto, Graham served as executive assistant to the Right Honourable Robert Stanfield, Leader of the Opposition for Canada. In 1976 he joined the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General and in 1977 he became Assistant Deputy General, Courts Administration and Inspector of Legal Offices. In 1978 he became Associate Secretary of the Cabinet and in 1979 Deputy Minister of Environment where he served until late 1981 when he became Deputy Minister of Health. He joined McMillan Binch Mendelsohn as a partner in January 1984 and was managing partner from 2000 to January 2006.

Graham has extensive experience in representing health and government sector clients in matters of governance and accountability. He has been involved in the amalgamation, restructuring and governance processes of more than 40 hospitals in the last few years, mostly working with Maureen Quigley. In 2001-2002, Graham served as Interim President and CEO of Cancer Care Ontario. In 2003, he was appointed by the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care as Supervisor of the Hôpital régional de Sudbury Regional Hospital. In February 2004, Graham and Maureen Quigley were commissioned by the Ontario Hospital Association with the support of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to prepare the Report on Hospital Governance and Accountability in Ontario, which was released by the OHA in April 2004. From 2005- 2007 he served as Chair of the AHSC–AFP Task Force reporting to the PSC and in 2008 was appointed Investigator of the Kingston General Hospital. He has carried out both public and confidential assessments of Boards and management of non-profit and profit-based corporations.

Graham serves as Chair of the Board of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Chair of AllerGen NCE Inc., Vice Chair of OEB Enterprise and Vice Chair of the Institute for Research on Public Policy. Graham is a Director of Sanofi Pasteur Limited; Revera Inc; the Atlantic Salmon Federation; and the Association of the Faculties of Medicine of Canada. He is a former Chairman of Organ Donation Ontario and of the Public Policy Forum; a past President and Director of the Friends of H.M.C.S. Haida and a former member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board.

Climate Change/ Global Warming

Moderator: Bill Hunter, Manager, Niagara Region Public Health

David Phillips
Senior Climatologist, Environment Canada

David has been employed with Environment Canada's weather service for over 40 years. His work activities relate to the study of the climate of Canada and to promote awareness and understanding of weather and climate in Canada. He has published several books, papers and reports on the climate of Canada, including several essays in The Canadian Encyclopedia, a book on The Climates of Canada, and two bestsellers: The Day Niagara Falls Ran Dry and Blame It On The Weather. He is the originator and author of the Canadian Weather Trivia Calendar, the most popular calendar sold in Canada, and now in its 21st year. For nearly ten years he wrote the Weather-wise column in the Canadian Geographic magazine. David frequently appears on national radio and television as a commentator on weather and climate matters. He is well-known as an expert on The Weather Network. David is a fellow of both the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. He has been awarded the Patterson Medal for Distinguished Service to Meteorology in Canada, and has twice received the Public Service Merit Award David is the recipient of two honorary doctorates from the University of Waterloo and Nipissing University In 2001, David was named to the Order of Canada.

Jeff Beyer
Development Worker, Engineers Without Borders Canada

Jeff Beyer is passionate about the environment and international development He is actively involved with the development organization Engineers Without Borders (EWB), has volunteered with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in the rural north of Ghana, and will return to Zambia for a 14-month placement through EWB.

Last summer, Jeff was recognized with the first place Presidential Scholarship at ATHGO International’s United Nations Forum on Climate Change, attended the 2007 UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, and helped found the World Bank’s North American Youth Development and Peace Network. He was trained by Al Gore to deliver his Inconvenient Truth presentation and has spoken widely about development and the environment.

Jeff recently graduated with a B.A. combined honours in Economics and Psychology from Carleton University. He has since worked at the Delphi Group, an environmental consulting firm, and at Shad Valley, an enrichment program for high-potential high school students.

Kathleen O’Neill
Manager with the Strategic Policy Branch, Ministry of Environment

Kathleen O’Neill is Manager with the Strategic Policy Branch, Ministry of the Environment –this branch provides the central strategic policy function for the ministry and works to ensure the integration of cross cutting policy initiatives. Kathleen has a B.A. in political science from the University of Western Ontario and a M.Ed. from the University of Toronto. Over the past ten years, she has held a number of positions in the Ontario Government both in the Ministry of Community and Social Services where her work focused on children’s policy and more recently in the Ministry of the Environment. Kathleen has worked on the Clean Water Act, 2006 since its inception including the policy development component of the related regulatory framework and played a lead role in the government’s response to the Walkerton Report recommendations. Kathleen is currently leading work to mainstream climate change adaptation into government decision making and supporting the work of the Ontario Expert Panel on Climate Change Adaptation. This panel, appointed by the Minister of Environment in December 2007, is advising the government on adaptation strategies related to health, environment and infrastructure.

Working Policy Lunch – Interventions for Poverty

Dr. Rosana Pellizzari
MOH, Peterborough County-City Health Unit

Dr. Rosana Pellizzari is Medical Officer of Health for the Peterborough County-City Health Unit. Dr. Pellizzari came to Peterborough from Toronto Public Health where she was the Associate Medical Officer of Health and Director of Planning and Policy. Prior to specializing in Community Medicine, Dr.Pellizzari worked as a Family Physician in Hamilton and Toronto. As a Community Health Centre physician, she specialized in the care of immigrant, refugee and HIV infected populations. She is past president of the Association of Ontario Health Centres and a former Chair of the City of York Board of Health.

Dr. Pellizzari has served as the Medical Officer of Health for the Perth District Health Unit, located in Stratford, Ontario. She holds an academic appointment at the University of Toronto and has worked both internationally, and in First Nations communities in Canada.

Dr. Pellizzari has been a health columnist for the Toronto Star in the past and co-hosted a daily TV health show. She is a member of the International Women’s Health Committee and the Social and Sexual Health Committee of the Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Canada (SOGC) and has co-authored the recently released SOGC consensus guidelines on Violence Against Women (April 2005). She has been a leader in the training of health care providers in Intimate Partner Violence, both in Canada and Central America.

Evidence-Based Design for Healthy Hospitals and Communities

Dr. Roger Ulrich
Beale Professor of Facilities Design, Texas A&M University

Dr. Roger Ulrich has a truly unique background that has made him one of the preeminent experts in the world on the intersection between design, urban planning, and health.  Over his distinguished career, Dr. Ulrich has held many positions that span the areas of design, architecture, psychology, and health.  His interests concern the applications of evidence-based design knowledge to healthcare buildings, landscape architecture and urban design. His research has addressed the effects of people's experiences with built and natural environments on psychological well-being, stress and health outcomes.

Dr. Ulrich was founding Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Design at Texas A&M University, and is now a Fellow of the Centre.  The Centre is jointly housed in the colleges of Architecture and Medicine and emphasizes multidisciplinary approaches for research, graduate education, and outreach for designing improved healthcare facilities and communities. He has also been a visiting Professor to the Bartlett School of Architecture at the University College of London and served as an Advisor to the UK Department of Health.  In England, he has the distinction of being invited to act as special advisor to the highest levels of government on new healthcare facility design.

In addition to his role in the Center for Health Systems and Design, Dr. Ulrich is a professor both in the Department of Architecture and the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning.  As a behavioral scientist, he teaches courses in the area of evidence-based design, and conducts research on the effects of healthcare facilities and nature on medical outcomes.  Dr. Ulrich has published widely in both scientific and design journals, and is the most frequently cited researcher internationally in the area of evidence-based healthcare design. His work has influenced the architecture, interior design, and site planning of scores of major hospitals in different countries. His research has also examined the public health benefits of landscape architecture and urban nature, and has proven useful for professionals in such areas as urban planning, sustainable urban design, and urban forestry.

Dr. Ulrich has worked extensively in Scandinavia, where he has carried out research at Lund Institute of Technology, Uppsala University, and the Karolinska Institute of Medicine. He has also been Visiting Research Professor in Healthcare Architecture at the University of Florence, Italy, and served as Invitation Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He is a member of the Board of Directors of The Center for Health Design, California, and serves on its national Research Committee.

The recipient of many distinguished awards, in 2007 Dr. Ulrich received the Texas A&M University Bush Excellence Award.  This research award was established through the vision and support of President and Mrs. George H. W. Bush and recognizes a faculty member who has made outstanding contributions to international research and obtained international preeminence through research.  Well known throughout the international healthcare community, Dr. Ulrich is recognized for his research that has changed the way buildings are designed and healthcare provided.

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