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Fall 2023 MPA Course: Lessons from the Pandemic

This fall, a Master’s of Public Administration course hosted at the MacEachen Institute will bring together experts from all orders of government to explore different dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated challenges with future policymakers. The course,Lessons from the Pandemic,is co-taught by the MacEachen Institute’s Scholarly Director Dr. Kevin Quigley and former Nova Scotia premier Darrell Dexter.

While these sessions are not open to the public, follow the MacEachen Institute’s social channels for a look at what lessons our experts are taking with them into the next wave and beyond.

Week One: Risk Communication

September 12, 2023

Gaynor Watson-Creed

Associate Dean of Serving and Engaging Society, Faculty of Medicine, H University; Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Health, Nova Scotia

Dr. Gaynor Watson-Creed is the Associate Dean of Serving and Engaging Society for H University’s Faculty of Medicine, and Chair of the Board of Engage Nova Scotia. She is a public health specialist physician with 17 years experience, having served as the former Medical Officer of Health for the Halifax area and Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health for Nova Scotia. She also sits as chair or member of several national population health councils and boards and is a passionate advocate for high-quality public health services in Canada.

Jim Barker

Professor, Herbert S. Lamb Chair of Business Education

Professor Jim Barker is the Herbert S. Lamb Chair of Business Education and a Founding Fellow of the MacEachen Institute. He is a globally recognized expert in complex organizational behaviour, ethics and strategy who has specific expertise in leadership, safety, change management and stakeholder engagement. As the leader of the Safe Assured research team, Dr. Barker directs the research efforts of 14 Canadian and international safety scholars in collaboration with community pharmacy regulators, pharmacists’ professional associations, and pharmacy industry partners. He has several on-going projects with colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine including MacEachen Institute initiatives.

Week Two: Epidemiology

September 20, 2023

Tiffany Fitzpatrick

Epidemiologist, Public Health Ontario

Tiffany Fitzpatrick, PhD MPH, recently joined Public Health Ontario as a Scientist in August 2022. Prior to this, she was a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology (IWK Health, H University) and a CIHR Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Yale School of Public Health’s Public Health Modeling Unit. Dr. Fitzpatrick completed her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the epidemiology and evaluation of public health policies and interventions preventing viral respiratory infections, particularly respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19, with an emphasis on health equity.

Robert Van Der Meer

Professor of Management Science, University of Strathclyde, Scotland

Robert van der Meer is Professor of Management Science at the University of Strathclyde. Over the last decade, Robert’s research has focused on health economics, healthcare analytics and healthcare operations management, funded by the Scottish Government, NHS Scotland, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Golden Jubilee National Hospital, Cancer Research UK, Pancreatic Cancer UK and others.

Robert has a PhD in Operational Research from the University of Strathclyde, an MSc in Economics (with specialisation in Mathematical Economics) from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a Cand. Econ. degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Amsterdam.

Week 3: Leading in Complex Contexts

September 26, 2023

David Petrie

Physician, Department of Emergency Medicine, H University

Dr David A Petrie is an emergency physician at the QE2 Health Science Centre in Halifax and a pProfessor of Emergency Medicine with H University. He has been Medical Director of the Halifax Regional ground EMS system, the Provincial LifeFlight/critical care transport program, the Academic Head/Clinical District Chief of the Department of Emergency Medicine H/Central Zone, and most recently, the senior medical director of the provincial Emergency Program of Care/Nova Scotia Health Authority. Currently, he co-chairs the CAEP Future of Emergency Medicine task force. His academic interests have evolved from prehospital and trauma systems research, to studying the impact of critical thinking and complexity science on leadership decision-making and health system design.

Jim Barker

Professor, Herbert S. Lamb Chair of Business Education

Professor Jim Barker is the Herbert S. Lamb Chair of Business Education and a Founding Fellow of the MacEachen Institute. He is a globally recognized expert in complex organizational behaviour, ethics and strategy who has specific expertise in leadership, safety, change management and stakeholder engagement. As the leader of the Safe Assured research team, Dr. Barker directs the research efforts of 14 Canadian and international safety scholars in collaboration with community pharmacy regulators, pharmacists’ professional associations, and pharmacy industry partners. He has several on-going projects with colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine including MacEachen Institute initiatives.

Week Four: Public Management Reforms in Health

October 3, 2023

Colin Stevenson

Chief of System Integration, Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness

Week Five: Mental Health and the Pandemic

October 10, 2023

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Lara Hazelton

Co-Director of Faculty Development, H University

Dr. Lara Hazelton is a Co-Director of Faculty Development for H’s Faculty of Medicine, situated within the Office of Continuing Professional Development and Medical Education. She is a professor in the H Department of Psychiatry where she was previously director of CPD and currently is the Director of Education.

Her scholarly interests have focussed on medical education and leader development.In 2021, she received the AFMC Award for Outstanding Contribution to Faculty Development in Canada.

Dr. Hazelton has been a psychiatrist for over 20 years and currently practices community mental health at the Cobequid Health Centre in Lower Sackville, NS.

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Sam Hickcox

Physician Consultant, Office of Mental Health and Addictions, Province of Nova Scotia

Dr. Sam Hickcox is the Physician Consultant for the Office of Addictions and Mental Health, embedded within Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness. As a currently practicing family physician and a certified specialist in addiction medicine, his clinical background is varied. Prior to his medical training he worked as a registered massage therapist and taught massage therapy at the community college level. As a physician, he has worked in general family practice, emergency medicine, hospital-based care of the elderly, and rheumatology.

Throughout his medical career he has provided mental health clinical care in a variety of settings, with a particular focus on addiction care provision and working with survivors of military trauma, including co-founding Nova Scotia’s first Pain Self Management Program for Military Veterans/RCMP living with Operational Stress Injuries. Prior to joining the DHW he was the Physician Lead for Addictions Medicine for Nova Scotia Health’s Mental Health and Addictions Program.

He continues to maintain a psychotherapy practice and care for patients living with addiction and chronic pain, in a variety of settings, with Nova Scotia Health’s Mental Health and Addictions Program, and Department of Anesthesia. Additionally, he is the Medical Director of the Atlantic Mentorship Network for Pain and Addictions.

Week Six: Ethics

October 17, 2023

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Bashir Jiwani

Lead Ethicist and Executive Director, Ethics and Diversity Services, Fraser Health Authority, British Columbia

Bashir Jiwani, PhD, is Lead Ethicist andExecutive Director, Ethics and Diversity Services, at the Fraser HealthAuthority in BC. He heads a team that provides decision- and capacity-buildingsupportin patient care and at the system-level when dealing with complex, ethicallychallenging situations in contexts of diversity. Bashir currently serves as President oftheCanadianBioethics Society, as a member of thepan-CanadianAdvisory Panel on aFramework for a Prescription Drug List andon the Core Team for the Aga Khan University Thinking Group on Ethics, Stem Cell Science, and Regenerative Medicine.Bashir received his PhD in Public HealthSciences from the University of Alberta.

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Maxwell Smith

Bioethicist and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health, Western University

Dr. Maxwell Smith is a Bioethicist and Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University. Professor Smith also co-directs Western’s Health Ethics, Law, and Policy (HELP) Lab, is the Associate Director of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, and has appointments in the Department of Philosophy, Schulich Interfaculty Program in Public Health, and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He is a Consulting Bioethicist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and serves or has served in numerous ethics advisory roles, including with the Ontario government, Public Health Agency of Canada, and World Health Organization. His research is primarily in the area of public health ethics, with a focus on infectious disease ethics and the ethical requirements of health equity and social justice for public health policy, practice, and research.

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Christy Simpson

Associate Professor, Department of Bioethics, H University

Christy Simpson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioethics at H's Faculty of Medicine.Christy’s research focuses on ethics issues arising in health care, at the clinical, organizational, and systems levels. She collaborates on research which is “rethinking” rural health ethics as well as core concepts in organizational and paediatric ethics.

The most important lesson we need to draw from COVID-19:

'If we say that specific values, such as equity and solidarity, are important, then we need to critically reflect on our planning assumptions, determine how best to respond to differential impacts of polices or decisions on communities, and commit to making changes in the health system in line with these values."

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Marika Warren

Assistant Professor, Department of Bioethics, H University; Network Ethicist, Nova Scotia Ethics Network

Christy Simpson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioethics at H's Faculty of Medicine and a Network Ethicist with the Nova Scotia Ethics Network.Dr. Warren’s research interests are broadly centered on social justice and health. She is particularly interested in ethical problems that arise for health care providers in everyday practice and much of her work is devoted to building ethics capacity to address these challenges.

The most important lesson we need to draw from COVID-19:

"Even when policies are carefully considered and reflect relevant values they can contribute to ethical harms."

Week Seven: Care for the Elderly

October 24, 2023

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Sandra Bauld

Former Director of Home Care, Northwood

A nurse by profession, Sandra has taught at the Victoria General Hospital (VGH) School of Nursing in Halifax, worked in long-term care specializing in dementia care, and was an administrator in home care for nineteen years before retiring in 2015.

As a passionate proponent of home care, Sandra worked tirelessly to advance consolidated education for home support workers; to ensure appropriate wages, benefits, and worklife balance for home support workers; and to promote the value of these employees and their services to the continuum of care in Nova Scotia.

Sandra continues to advocate for homecare matters through participation on the ; contributing to as an Advisory Group member; and seeking opportunities to educate about and champion for home care whenever possible.

Grace Warner

Grace Warner

Professor, School of Occupational Therapy, H University

Dr. Grace Warner is a Professor in the H School of Occupational Therapy and an Affiliate Scientist with Nova Scotia Health. She has a PhD in Epidemiology with post-doctoral work in applied health services. Her work focuses on understanding how to facilitate the implementation of programs that address the care needs of older adults and their families. She is involved in a range of research projects partnering with health system administrators, provincial policy makers, providers, and patients; examples include remote monitoring of home care clients, care trajectories of home care clients, and family visitation in Long Term Care during Covid.

Week Nine: People with Disabilities

October 31, 2023

Donalda MacIsaac

Family Patient Advisor, Department of Family Medicine, H University

Donalda has been a dedicated, full-time healthcare and social change advocate for her entire adult life and has served in a variety of roles in local, provincial, and national organizations. Donalda serves as a Family Patient Advisor for H Family Medicine, and for various Nova Scotia Health committees. She has and continues to work tirelessly on behalf of people in need, helping them to navigate the systems of government and attain the services they require, while fighting for improved services and increased accessibility.

BillAdair

Bill Adair

Executive Director, Spinal Cord Injury Canada

Bill is presently the Executive Director of Spinal Cord Injury Canada. Bill has extensive professional and community leadership experience in the areas of healthcare and disability. Bill has devoted his leadership and expertise to the Government of Canada through various advisory committees such as the Canadian Access and Inclusion Project; the Federal Accessibility Legislation Alliance; the Working Group on Alternate Format Materials; and others. Bill also led the committee that developed recommendations for the Government of Canada’s Accessibility Communications policy. He is a member of the Accessibility Standards Canada Board of Directors. He is also a member of the Disability Advisory Group to Canada’s Minister Responsible for Disability Inclusion. Bill has a Bachelor of Science (University of Minnesota) and is a graduate of the Executive Leadership Course on the Management of Non-Profit Organizations (Harvard University). He received a Meritorious Service Medal from the Government of Canada in 2016.Bill fell off a horse when he was 11, and he has a paralyzed arm as a result.

Week Ten: Housing

November 7, 2023

Ren Thomas

Associate Professor, School of Planning, H University

Ren is a Registered Professional Planner (RPP) and an Associate Professor at the School of Planning. She hasworked in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, including the Ontario Growth Secretariat and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. She has conducted research for BC Non-Profit Housing Association, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Infrastructure Canada, and Autism Nova Scotia. In 2021, she served as the Co-Director of the Nova Scotia Affordable Housing Commission.

Week Eleven: Health Care Recruitment

November 21, 2023

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Kevin Orrell

Deputy Minister, Office of Professional Healthcare Recruitment