Speakers

He was the Founding Medical Director of the BC Transplant Society/Vancouver General Hospital’s Lung Transplant Program (1988-1997) and was active in co-founding of the Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic. He retired from clinical practice in 2014.

He served in the positions of Vice President of Clinical Services, Chief Information Officer and Vice President, Medical and Clinical Innovation from 1997-2009.

He was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Vancouver Coastal Health Authority from 2009 retiring in April 2014. He acted as interim CEO for Fraser Health from June to October 2014.

He co-authored: Dreamers, Skeptics and Healers, the History of the UBC School of Medicine

He sat on a number of Boards including: HSO (formerly Accreditation Canada and Accreditation Canada International), Canadian Institute for Health Information, Evasc Neuro, and the not-for-profit PA Woodward Foundation.

Mr. Osborne is the longest serving member of the legislature and has held several cabinet positions throughout his political career, including Minister of Environment, Minister of Labour, Minister of Health, Minister of Justice, Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board, Minister Responsible for the Human Resource Secretariat, Minister Responsible for the Public Service Commission, Minister Responsible for the Office of the Chief Information Officer, Minister Responsible for the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation, and Minister of Service NL.

Mr. Osborne was elected as the 43rd Speaker of the House of Assembly in 2015, the first time the legislature elected the position of Speaker in the province. He served in that role until his re-appointment to Cabinet as Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board in 2017.

On August 19, 2020 he was appointed as Minister of Education, and was re-sworn into this role on April 8, 2021 following the 2021 General Election.

The Network, situated on 34 sites, includes the Jewish General Hospital, which is a tertiary/quaternary university teaching hospital, seven long-term care facilities, five rehabilitation institutes, major community health clinics, home care services, plus professional assistance for those with intellectual and physical disabilities. The Network has over 2000 beds, employs more than 10,000 clinical and support personnel and serves approximately 700,000 people.

Prior to his appointment in 2015 as President & CEO of the Network, Dr. Rosenberg was the Executive Director of the Jewish General Hospital, and before that, he was Chief of Surgical Services and Director of Transformational Change at the Hospital.

Dr. Rosenberg received his MD, CM degree from McGill University, where he completed specialty training in general surgery. He holds an MSc and PhD in Experimental Surgery from McGill and completed post-doctoral studies and a surgical fellowship in transplantation at the University of Michigan.

He was director of the Multi-Organ Transplant Program at Montreal General Hospital, inaugurating McGill University’sPancreas Transplant Program and leading the team that performed the first successful liver transplant at McGill.

Dr. Rosenberg has served as a consultant to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA), the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and the NIH(U.S). His scientific contributions to the field of islet regeneration are widely acknowledged. He has received many career awards, including an appointment as Chercheur National(national scientist) of the Quebec Government. Dr. Rosenberg remains the only Canadian to have been awarded the prestigious American Surgical Association Foundation Fellowship.

Dr. Rosenberg was instrumental in the creation of three national multidisciplinary research teams funded by JDRF-CIHR, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Stem Cell Network of Centers of Excellence.

Dr. Rosenberg also received an MEng from University of Waterloo, with concentrations in Systems, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He is presently designing and implementing the first provincial digital health innovation & research incubator, and has garnered support from the Minister of Innovation and Economic Development, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Labor of the Government of Quebec.

Dr. Rosenberg has extensive experience as a clinician-scientist, educator, and consultant in value-based health systems and management of change.

Business-focused and results-driven, Bruce is used to facilitating high-stakes meetings. He brings more than just good facilitation skills, he also brings good process. A process that is tailored to every client.

“Our neutrality and objectivity are highly-valued by our clients. We are the only people in the room who don’t have a stake in the outcome. This means we can be impartial and unbiased. And by taking over the facilitation of the meeting, the CEO can participate in a way they never could before. This – combined with our experience and our process – is what we bring.”

Clients are impressed with Bruce’s ability to quickly master and assimilate new and often esoteric material. They are often surprised to learn that he does not specialize in their field.

In addition to his strategy work he also facilitates customer advisory board meetings and board retreats.
Bruce has served on the board of Strategic Leadership Forum in Toronto. He chaired their most successful conference ever was the creator of the Breakfast Research Briefing series.
His degree is from the University of Toronto and he is a CPA by background. Bruce lives in Barrie, just outside of Toronto, Canada.

Nimira is a health system leader focused on delivering technical and digital solutions that provide a connected care experience for clinicians and patients. Nimira has held progressive IT leadership roles in several healthcare organizations over the past 15 years and brings expertise in IT strategy and delivery, clinical and patient user experience design, privacy and security best practices, and IT incident management.

Nimira holds a Master of Business Administration from McMaster University and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Queen’s University.

Dr. Huang is a past Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster University, and past Chief of Pediatrics for Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.

Dr Huang was the co-lead for the regional physician response for COVID-19 across the greater Toronto Area and served as the executive sponsor of the Toronto Youth COVID-19 Vaccination effort.

Lennox’s academic work spans the fields of healthcare simulation, quality and safety and wellness. He has special interests in applying healthcare simulation in the testing and design of spaces and processes. Dr. Huang currently co-chairs the board of directors for the Global Network for Simulation in Healthcare and is a faculty member of Health Care Systems Simulation International.

Susan is passionate about improving the care experience for patients, families, and communities. She dedicates herself to engaging staff, volunteers, and local partners in the pursuit of health sector excellence across the Interior. To tackle the complex challenges associated with healthcare delivery in the region, her early initiatives as President and CEO of Interior Health include striking a team dedicated to improving and establishing a strong culture of safety across IH, initiating changes to address anti-Indigenous racism in health care, and delivering a regional engagement initiative to renew the organization’s vision, mission, and values.

As President and CEO, Susan continues to lead transformation efforts across the hospital, home, and community sectors, championing innovation and practices that make it easier for the people to receive care close to home. She remains a strong supporter of the University of British Columbia’s Southern Medical Program, and of building new opportunities that support future health professionals to receive their education and training in the Interior.

Krista currently sits on the Board of several not-for-profit organizations including the YMCA of greater Halifax-Dartmouth, United Way Halifax, the Nova Scotia Community College and is the Vice Chair of Children’s Healthcare Canada.

Krista completed her medical training at Dalhousie University where she also later earned a Masters of Health Administration and was awarded the Glenn Moore Memorial Award and the Nova Scotia Association of Health Organization Award for Academic Excellence. Krista is a mother of two, lives in Halifax with her husband and dog, and is an avid gardener.

Career snapshot

Victoria joined Fraser Health in 2010 as a medical health officer. She held progressive leadership positions including her most recent role as the vice president for population health and chief medical health officer. Prior to joining Fraser Health, she worked in collaboration with national and international organizations including the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank in the areas of comparative health systems, health policy, health financing and ecohealth.

Victoria also worked as a travel physician in rural communities in Chile and Brazil. Her research activities include health equity, community-based primary health system, health performance and clinical prevention.

She serves on the boards of CARE Canada and Digital Supercluster. 

Formal education

Victoria obtained her medical degree from the University of Western Ontario, her Royal College fellowship in Community Medicine from the University of Toronto and postgraduate degrees in Public Health, Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University.

Prior to joining Halton Healthcare Melissa served as President of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton where she led an innovative multi-site academic teaching hospital, affiliated with McMaster University. Before her time at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Melissa had a long and distinguished career largely focused in the public sector including her role as Assistant Deputy Minister, Acute and Emergency Health Services for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Melissa is currently a Board Member of the Ontario Hospital Association. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Master’s Degree in Planning from Queen’s University and has continued educational development in leadership programs at Harvard Business School, Ivey Business School and The Rotman School of Management.

After participating in the Alberta Health Services Executive Education Program, he went on to earn an MBA from the University of Alberta. He has also had formal training in Professional and Business coaching, and not-for-profit governance.

He progressed through a number of roles from Chief of Staff of a single site, to Zone Medical Director managing > 30 hospitals across a geography the size of Portugal. His current role is Vice President (Medical Affairs) for Halton Healthcare, a multi-site community hospital organization in Ontario.

His work is shaped by his core values of autonomy, joy, curiosity, integrity and challenge. Through a people-first approach, he has enabled organizations to achieve ambitious results by developing distributed leadership capabilities.

An erstwhile radio-host and former ski-racer, he now enjoys crazy long bike rides, technology, language-learning, the Booker longlist and the Economist. His wife has always been, and remains, his best coach.

My leadership philosophy is that people shine when treated with care, respect, and recognition. I am known to enthusiastically support my teams by encouraging them, providing tools and opportunities to grow and succeed, making it safe to learn from experiences, and celebrating their successes.

I value volunteerism and see it as a leader’s responsibility. I have contributed as a Director on multiple boards, including that of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University (NOSM U), Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO), ONE HITS, Kenora Rainy River Regional Lab Program, an NP-Led Clinic, and Victim Services. I am a long-time executive member of the Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL) local chapters and a member of its national Ethics Committee.

I enjoy camping, hiking, kayaking, and sharing fun outdoors with my spouse, our two teen daughters, and our Dalmatian.