Innovation and Sustainability in Health Systems: Key People

Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Alexandra Bibbee

Alexandra Iwanchuk Bibbee is a senior economist at the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, an inter-governmental organization comprising 30 mainly industrialised nations committed to democracy and the market economy. She has been a staff member of the Economics Department since 1990, having worked in the balance of payments, fiscal affairs and general economic assessment policy areas and on the country desks for Germany, Austria, Turkey, Italy, and Norway. She currently serves as head of desk for Canada and New Zealand. Before coming to the OECD Alexandra held positions at the International Monetary Fund and the US Treasury. She has a B.A. from Kent State University (Ohio) and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin – Madison (1988).

Mr. Don Newman

Don Newman is the Chairman of Canada 2020, a non-partisan forum to further the political, social and economic well-being of Canadians. He is also a Senior Columnist with iPOLITICS.ca; Canada's leading online political news service, and Senior Strategic Advisor to Bluesky Strategy Group Inc., a public affairs and communications firm. His career spans more than forty years as a public affairs broadcaster and journalist. As Senior Parliamentary Editor of CBC Television News, he anchored live specials and his own national weekly and daily political affairs programs. He helped launch Canada's first all- news channel, and reported with The National, and was a foreign correspondent, with CTV and CBC, reporting from Washington, New York and the United Nations. Don is a Member of the Order of Canada, and a life member of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery, and has received numerous awards (including a Gemini lifetime achievement award in public affairs broadcasting, the Hyman Solomon Award for excellence in public policy journalism, the Charles Lynch Award for outstanding coverage of national affairs) and honorary degrees.

Speakers

Tim Caulfield

Timothy A Caulfield has been Research Director of the Health Law Institute at the University of Alberta, since 1993. In 2002 he received a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy. He is also a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.

His research has focussed on two general areas: biotechnology, ethics and the law; and the legal implications of health care reform in Canada. He has published well over 100 academic articles and book chapters and often writes for the popular press. In 2000, he was awarded the University of Alberta's Martha Cook Piper Research Prize, in 2002 received the Alumi Horizon Award and in 2004 received the University's Media Relations award. Professor Caulfield Chaired the Canadian Blood Services Ethics Committee; and is a Member of Genome Canada's Science Advisory Committee. He was on the Institute Advisory Board, Institute of Health Services and Policy Research, Canadian Institute of Health Research; was part of the Royal Society of Canada's Expert Panel on the Future of Food Biotechnology (2001) and was a member of the Canadian Biotechnology Advisory Committee (1998-2005).

Tim Caulfield chairs and serves on numerous other research policy and ethics committees, is an editor of the Health Law Journal and the Health Law Review, teaches Law and Medicine in the Faculty of Law, and provides health law lectures for other faculties.

Dr. Marvin Fritzler

Dr. Marvin Fritzler is Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary where he holds the Arthritis Society Endowed Research Chair and is Director of the Advanced Diagnostics Laboratory. He served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Montana and Chaired the Serology Committee of the International Union of Immunology Specialists and World Health Organization. He has served as a consultant to a number of diagnostic biotechnology companies including ImmunoConcepts (Sacramento), INOVA Inc. (San Diego), Immunex (Seattle); and Innogenetics (Belgium). He received the Distinguished Alumni Award and a number of Gold Star Letters of Excellence in Teaching from the University of Calgary. He served as the Associated Dean of Research and was Chair for the University Budget Committee for two terms. Prior to his appointment of Chair of ASRA, he was Chair of the Life Sciences Committee.

Mr. Fred Horne

Mr. Fred Horne was elected to his first term as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Edmonton-Rutherford on March 3, 2008. In addition to his regular duties as MLA, Mr. Horne serves as chair of the Standing Committee on Health, deputy chair of the Premier’s Council on the Status of Persons with Disabilities and is a member of the Agenda and Priorities Committee, Private Members Business Committee, Legislative Offices Committee and the Select Special Chief Electoral Officer Search Committee. Prior to serving with the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Mr. Horne worked as a health policy consultant for over 25 years, serving various government bodies and regional health authorities in addition to the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Throughout his career Mr. Horne led initiatives to improve access and quality in Canadian public health care and has worked extensively with the Conference Board of Canada, the Alberta government and the Mayo Clinic. An avid volunteer, Mr. Horne has served on numerous boards including: Alberta Mental Health Board, Athabasca University, Mediation and Restorative Justice Centre of Edmonton, Canadian Student Debating Federation. Additionally, Mr. Horne is a former debater and coached Team Canada at the World Schools Debating Championships. For his continued contributions to the development of debate and speech programs Mr. Horne received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Mr. Horne and his wife, Jennifer, have lived in Edmonton since 1992.

Ms. Allison Tonge

Alison Tonge is the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Performance, with responsibility for research and innovation, nursing strategies, health professionals strategies, strategic and service planning, data integration-measurement and reporting, health information management and system accountability.

Prior to joining Alberta Health Services, Ms. Tonge was employed in the United Kingdom's health care system. Her most recent post was the Executive Director of Health System Development at NHS North West responsible for innovation, transformation programmes, foundation trust development, strategic system review, consultations and market development. She also served previously as Deputy Chief Executive at Stockport Primary Care Trust, where she was responsible for finance, estates, commissioning services and performance.

Ms. Tonge is a qualified Public Accountant, holds a Masters in Business Administration (Health Economics and Management) from Keele University, a Post-graduate degree in Health Economic Research from Keele, and a Bachelor of Science (with honours) in Economics and Economic Policy from Loughborough.