Plenary Speakers

 

Monday, April 2, 2012
Sheela Basrur Annual Public Health Symposium
Seth Mnookin

Seth Mnookin is an award-winning author of three books. His most recent, The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear, is a groundbreaking blend of current events, scientific history and sociology. It chronicles more than a quarter-century’s worth of fears that childhood vaccines cause a range of developmental disorders and health problems. Using interviews with parents, public health advocates, scientists, and anti-vaccine activists, Mnookin tackles a fundamental question: “How do we decide what the truth is?”

Mnookin’s previous books include Feeding the Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top (2006), a New York Times bestseller, and Hard News: The Scandals at The New York Times and Their Meaning for American Media (2004), which uses the plagiarism and leadership scandals at the New York Times as a case study of the struggles of a daily newspaper in the rapidly changing world of journalism.
 
In addition to his work as a bestselling author, Mnookin is an award-winning journalist who has written for many respected publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York, Slate, Wired and Spin. He graduated from Harvard University in 1994 with an honours degree in history and science, and was a 2004 Joan Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.  
 
 
 
 
Panelists
 
Noni MacDonald Photo.jpgDr. Noni MacDonald
 
Dr. MacDonald is professor of paediatrics and computer science at Dalhousie University with a clinical appointment in paediatric infectious diseases at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Canada. She is also head of the Health Policy and Translation Group of the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology.

Dr. MacDonald has published over 290 papers, primarily in infectious diseases, and served on a number of editorial boards. She is editor-in-chief of Paediatrics and Child Health, one of the most read Canadian specialty journals, and section editor for “Population and Public Health” for the Canadian Medical  Association Journal,  one of the top 10 general medical journals based on impact factor.
 
Dr. MacDonald is a former dean of medicine at Dalhousie University, an elected fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and serves on many professional organizations, federal government and international advisory committees. She has a long-standing reputation in Canada as an advocate for children and youth health and as a leader in paediatric infectious disease.
Jennifer Keelan.jpg
Dr. Jennifer Keelan
 
Dr. Keelan is an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. In 2009, she was awarded a Career
Scientist Award from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to support research examining the utility of social
media for knowledge exchange and behavioural change related to health.
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Coulson.jpgMonday, April 2, 2012
Plenary I
Tony Coulson

Tony Coulson is Group Vice President, Public Affairs, at Environics Research Group.  For nearly twenty years he has worked on policy and communications research with clients from the local to the international levels. This includes issue and communications studies ranging from assessing public knowledge, attitudes and (reported) behaviours on a given topic through to audience segmentation, message development, and communications testing.

Coulson has conducted research across a range of topics, including health and health care, energy and the environment, public service delivery and satisfaction, and many others. Coulson’s work in health research includes studies related to cancer and chronic disease prevention, healthy eating, drug safety information and adverse drug reaction reporting, research with nurses in remote communities about water-borne illnesses, work on natural health products and their regulation, Canadians’ views of the Canada Health Act, public surveys on functional foods and nutraceuticals, and tracking research on West Nile virus and Avian Influenza. His experience covers public opinion studies, as well as surveys and interviews with medical professionals and leaders in business, government, and academe.

Coulson has a master’s of business administration from the University of Ottawa, a master’s in political science from Wilfrid Laurier University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Lethbridge.

 

Respondent

Dr. Arlene King

Arlene King.jpg​Since June 15, 2009, Dr. King has led Ontario’s public health sector in her capacity as the province’s chief medical officer of health (CMOH) and has been heading the ministry’s Public Health Division since July 2011. As CMOH, Dr. King is guided by the Health Protection and Promotion Act and she functions as the primary link between Public Health Ontario, medical officers of health/public health units and government.

Dr. King is a passionate advocate for strengthening public health provincially and nationally and serves as Ontario’s representative on the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network Council. Her goal is to make Ontario the healthiest jurisdiction in the world supported by the best public health system. She believes strongly that public health is everyone’s business and that government should focus on healthy public policy.

Dr. King is an internationally recognized expert in immunization, infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness. She has acted as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) on polio, SARS and influenza and served as an advisor to the World Bank and Canadian International Development Agency on emerging infectious diseases. Most recently, Dr. King was a member of the WHO Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) in relation to Pandemic (H1N1) 2009. 

Dr. King received her medical degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, certification in family medicine from the University of Calgary and a master’s degree in health sciences from the University of British Columbia.  In 1992, she became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Community Medicine (public health and preventive medicine).

Dr. King has authored or co-authored over 75 publications and speaks regularly on public health issues at local, national and international levels.

 

Halverson.jpgTuesday, April 3, 2012
Plenary II
Dr. Paul K. Halverson

As a member of Governor Mike Beebe’s cabinet, Dr. Paul K. Halverson serves as director and state health officer of the Arkansas Department of Health. In this position, Halverson provides senior scientific and executive leadership for the agency — with nearly 5000 personnel and a budget of over $400 million — delivering services throughout the state in over 94 different locations.  In May 2005, he was appointed to this position by former Governor Mike Huckabee and reappointed in 2007 by Governor Beebe. Halverson also serves as the secretary of the Arkansas State Board of Health.

Halverson is the past president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the immediate past chairman of the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). He continues as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committees of each of these organizations and plays an active leadership role nationally to advance public health. In October 2011, Halverson was presented the Arthur T. McCormack Award for dedication and excellence in public health by ASTHO.

Previously, Halverson served as a member of the senior scientific and management staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. As the director of the Division of Public Health Systems Development and Research, he led the development and implementation of the National Public Health Performance Standards Program, the deployment of the National Health Alert Network, the advancement of the National Public Health Leadership Institute and supported the development of state and regional leadership and management education programs throughout the country. Additionally, Halverson worked with colleagues in both practice and academia to develop the first national agenda for public health systems research. While at CDC, Halverson also served as the director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Public Health Practice. He was recognized by WHO for his focus on the development of public health systems globally. 

Prior to his appointment at CDC, Halverson was a faculty member in the Department of Health Policy and Administration at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School Of Public Health. While at UNC, Halverson served as associate director of the doctoral program in public health leadership and as the senior health policy advisor to the North Carolina State Health Director. For nearly 15 years prior to his appointment at UNC, Halverson served as a hospital administrator in Arizona, Minnesota and Michigan.

Halverson received his doctorate in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his master's in health services administration from Arizona State University.

Respondent

Rasia Deber Photo.jpgDr. Raisa Deber

Dr. Deber has lectured, mentored, published and consulted on health policy at local, provincial, national and international levels.

Dr. Deber’s current research centres on Canadian health policy. Current projects, conducted with colleagues and students, include:
• the implications of the distribution of health expenditures and public/private roles for financing and delivery of health services
• the implications of different ways of financing primary health care
• the examination of where nurses and other health professionals work and the factors associated with differential "stickiness" across sub-sectors
• the issues associated with the movement of care from hospitals to home and community
• the approaches to accountability.
She is the director of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research team in community care and health human resources.

In 2009, Dr. Deber received one of Canada’s most prestigious lectureships, the Emmett Hall Memorial Lectureship, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the health ideals articulated by Justice Hall—equity, fairness, justice and efficiency.

 
Mark Federman Photo.jpgWednesday, April 4, 2012
Plenary III
Mark Federman
 
An unconventional yet strategic thinker, Mark Federman, PhD, has more than twenty-five years’ experience in the high-technology industry as an executive, manager and consultant, spanning disciplines including research and development, marketing, sales, operations and strategic leadership. He is co-author of McLuhan for Managers: New Tools for New Thinking. Some of the recent topics he has explored include: “Take Me to Your Leaders: Collaborative leadership and the power of trust,” “No Educator Left Behind: The present future of educator reform,” “Generation Gap: Why today’s youth are living in tomorrow’s world,” “How Do We Know: The changing culture of knowledge,” and “Creating a Culture of Innovation.”
 
Federman provides thought leadership on the consequences of the epochal changes occurring throughout society. His recent research, completed at the University of Toronto, “From BAH to ba: Valence Theory and the future of organization,” strives to re-theorize the concept and consequences of organization for our contemporary circumstances. His research findings provide a wider range of questions that can reasonably be asked of practical situations and substantially more humanistic options for decision making that are not otherwise available to managers. Federman’s practice focuses on organizational therapy — assisting leadership teams to develop effective approaches in response to complex challenges of organizational transformation and culture in an environment of continual change.

Federman has recently been named dean, faculty of executive coaching, leadership and organization development at the Adler Graduate Professional School in Toronto.