The HSPRSN Steering Council consults with BC Health Authorities, the Ministry of Health and BC’s academic community to develop consensus on and provide recommendations to the MSFHR Board of Directors regarding strategic and funding priorities for health services and policy research and capacity building initiatives for BC.

Co-Chairs

Mr. Michael Marchbank
Executive Vice President, Quality Management, Performance Improvement & Innovation, Provincial Health Services Authority
Michael Marchbank is responsible for quality and safety, academic development and research coordination, strategic planning, transformation and change support, public performance reporting, information management and technology, decision support, and system analysis at the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA). Michael has more than 20 years of experience in health administration in various positions in BC and Ontario. His work in the Lower Mainland began as Chief Human Resources Officer, and subsequently President and CEO of Fraser Valley Health Region. After the consolidation of BC’s health regions in 2001, Michael moved into the role of Chief Operating Officer at Fraser Health, and immediately prior to joining PHSA, held the position of interim president and CEO. In addition to his involvement with the Women’s Health Research Institute Board of Directors, Michael is also Chair of the BC Forensic Commission and sits on numerous boards.  

Dr. Steven Shechter
Assistant Professor, Sauder School of Business, Operations and Logistics Division, University of British Columbia
Dr. Steven Shechter holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, an MS in Operations Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a BS in Mathematics from Loyola University in Chicago. Steven's research interests lie at the intersection of operations research and health care. He has collaborated with clinicians, biostatisticians, health policy researchers, and other colleagues in operations research to consider optimal decision-making for organ allocation, HIV therapy planning, and minimally invasive surgery. Steven, a Faculty Affiliate of the Centre for Health Care Management at UBC, is interested in applying dynamic programming, simulation modeling, and survey-based techniques to investigate important problems in medical decision-making.

BC Ministry of Health Services Representatives

Ms. Victoria Schuckel
Director, Strategic Policy and Research, BC Ministry of Health Services
Victoria Schuckel, MA, has worked in the public service for more than 16 years: nine years in mental health policy and the balance in the corporate research portfolio. While in the mental health area Victoria worked with diverse mental health stakeholders supporting research transfer initiatives related to best practices. During this time Victoria spent more than five years working to develop a policy agenda to address clinical and support needs of women with mental illness, informed through consultations and a variety of initiatives with consumer and family groups, advisory groups, health authorities, key ministries, and academic/research agencies in BC, other provinces, and the U.S. As Director of Research, Victoria supports the Ministry of Health Services’ capacity for evidence-informed policy and planning and works to increase collaboration and coordination with external research bodies. Victoria coordinates activities related to Ministry research priorities and capacity and transfer issues, and manages contracts for research activities and institutes. She also participates in a range of initiatives involving other ministries and stakeholders who have academic and economic development interests in health research.

Dr. Kelly Barnard
Medical Consultant, Health Protection, BC Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport
A major focus of Dr. Kelly Barnard’s work is optimizing the use of information to support population-based health system analysis and policy development. Her background includes full service family practice in northern BC, post-graduate training in epidemiology and community medicine, public health practice and administration, and a variety of assignments with the BC Ministry of Health in the areas of primary health care, rural health, physician compensation, and health system planning.

Health Authorities

Dr. Janet Joy
Director, Innovation in Health Technology, Vancouver Coastal Health
Dr. Janet Joy has worked in research, health policy, and most recently in the health care system at Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). She came to VCH in 2004 as Director of the Health Services and Policy Research Collaboratory, an initiative designed to build linkages among researchers and decision-makers that was created with funding from a HSPRSN Health Authority Capacity Building award. In 2005, she was appointed Director of Innovation in Health Technology. Prior to coming to Vancouver, Janet spent 10 years leading health policy studies at the Institute of Medicine in the U.S., where she edited or wrote reports on topics including stem cells, medical marijuana, multiple sclerosis, and intellectual property. She earned her PhD in biological rhythms from the University of Toronto and spent five years as a Senior Staff Fellow at the National Institutes of Health (U.S.).

Mr. Geoffrey Crampton
Vice President, People, Organization and Academic Development, Fraser Health
Dr. Geoffrey Crampton is responsible for strategic leadership of Fraser Heath’s people and human resources. His mandate in that role is to enhance Fraser Health’s effectiveness through innovative, sustainable, and results-oriented strategies that engage leaders and team members in organization transformation.Geoffrey was the first chair of the Employment Standards Tribunal, which hears appeals from employers and employees under the Employment Standards Act. He also served a six-year term as Director, Collective Agreement Arbitration Bureau when it was first created in 1993. Earlier in his career, he was Senior Consultant at the Health Labour Relations Association of BC.His private sector experience includes management positions with the Overwaitea Food Group and Four Seasons Hotels Ltd. After graduating from UBC with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1982, Geoffrey acted as Human Resources/Labour Relations Advisor for the University and later as Executive Director, UBC Faculty Association. He is an Adjunct Faculty Member in the UBC Sauder School of Business. In addition, Geoffrey serves on the Board and committees of a number of organizations.

Dr. Larry Frisch
Executive Medical Director, Quality, Safety and Research, Vancouver Island Health Authority
Dr. Frisch is the Executive Medical Director for Quality, Safety, and Research for Vancouver Island Health Authority in British Columbia. He is also a clinical Associate Professor of pediatrics at the University of British Columbia and an adjunct Associate Professor in Health Information Sciences at the University of Victoria. Larry holds a BA in music history from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, an MPH from the University of Washington School of Public Health, and an MD from Harvard Medical School.  He has postgraduate training in pediatrics at Dalhousie University and at UBC, and in epidemiology at Ohio State University. He has held academic appointments at the University of Hawaii (pediatrics), the University of Kansas (Preventive and Family Medicine), and Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). Prior to joining VIHA he held the John S. and Doris M. Andrews Chair in Community Health Sciences at NEOUCOM.  A clinical and field epidemiologist, Larry has research interests in childhood injury, patient safety, and disease prevention.

Ms. Suzanne Johnston
Vice President, Academic Affairs & Regional Development, Chief Nursing Officer, Northern Health Authority
Suzanne Johnston obtained both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing from the University of New Brunswick and has completed her doctoral studies at the University of Arizona, College of Nursing. Her research interests focus on the use of technology for the delivery of health promotion education, and mothering adolescent children affected with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Suzanne has more than 25 years of leadership experience in healthcare and government services. Prior to becoming Vice-President of Academic Affairs and Regional Development at Northern Health, Suzanne held the position of Chief Operating Officer for the North West Health Services Delivery Area in Northern Health. Suzanne has special interest in leadership development and has experience as a facilitator for education in this area. Specifically, Suzanne has volunteered with United Way agencies to help build leadership capacity for non-profit boards.

Ms. Linda Sawchenko
Regional Practice Leader, Advanced and Inter-professional Practice Initiatives, Interior Health
Linda Sawchenko holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Victoria and a Master of Science in Health Administration from the University of Colorado. She has worked in health care in BC in positions ranging from hospital administration to teaching. Linda has an Adjunct Professor appointment at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan. Linda completed the two-year Executive Training for Research Application (EXTRA) fellowship, focusing on an evidence informed approach to the introduction of Nurse Practitioners.

Universities

Dr. Gweneth Doane
Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, University of Victoria
Dr. Gweneth Doane’s research and practice interests include relational epistemology, ethical practice in health care, and learning/teaching in professional practice disciplines. Her currently funded research projects include a Canadian Institutes of Health Research project examining the working relationships between high priority families and public health nurses in northern and rural practice (co-principal investigator) and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council-funded multinational study of nursing ethics, religion and perceptions of personhood (co-investigator). Gweneth’s experience in graduate education began in the Faculty of Education, teaching a graduate level family therapy course in the Master’s in Counseling program. Since her appointment in the School of Nursing, she has taught in the Master’s in Policy and Practice program in the Faculty of Human and Social Development, as well as a number of directed studies at the doctoral level for special arrangement students.

Dr. Josée Lavoie
Associate Professor, Health Sciences, University of Northern British Columbia
Dr. Josée Lavoie became a faculty member at the University of Northern British Columbia in July 2006. Prior to deciding to pursue an academic career, Josée spent 10 years working for indigenous controlled primary health care services in Nunavut and northern Saskatchewan. She recently completed her PhD at the Health Policy Unit of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She holds a MA in Medical Anthropology from McGill University. Her research interests lie with the engagement of the non-government and indigenous sectors in health care delivery, health care policy, and financing, and in health care planning and implementation challenges in remote environments. She has conducted research at the national and local levels in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.  She recently joined a team from the University of Manitoba that will be developing a research program with indigenous controlled health services organizations in Colombia. Josée maintains an affiliation with the University of Manitoba Centre for Aboriginal Health Research and a faculty appointment with the Department of Community Health Sciences.

Dr. Morris Barer
Director, Centre for Health Services and Policy Research and Professor, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia
Dr. Morris Barer holds a PhD in Economics and an MBA from UBC. His research interests include health care financing, health human resource policy, direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals, and the determinants of changing trends in health care utilization. Morris was the founding treasurer of the Canadian Health Economics Research Association, an Associate of the Population Health Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, served six years as a member of the Canadian Federal/Provincial/Territorial Advisory Committee on Health Services, and served five years as a senior editor with the journal Social Science and Medicine. Between December 2000 and August 2006, he served as the first Scientific Director of the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He and colleagues at UBC developed the BC Linked Health Database, a research resource that has found widespread use in health services and population health research for over a decade. He was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in 2005 and was the 2006 recipient of CHSRF’s Health Services Research Advancement Award. Morris is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation.

*Two vacancies to be filled in 2010.

MSFHR

Mrs. Cherry Graf
Vice President, External Affairs, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
Cherry Graf was a member of the strategic group that developed the plan for creating the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research and was appointed Vice President External Affairs when the Foundation began operations in March 2001. Prior to joining the Foundation, she was a member of the senior management team at the BC Research Institute for Children’s & Women’s Health, reporting to the Executive Director Dr. Aubrey Tingle as Director of Communications for the Institute. Cherry has worked in public affairs and communications for more than 20 years, both in industry and the non-profit sector. At MSFHR, Cherry’s work encompasses the full range of external affairs, including stakeholder relations, partnership development and communications. In this role, she led a task force process to develop the vision and goals for the Foundation’s infrastructure programs and for the Health Services and Policy Support Network and its funding programs. She is the Foundation’s Executive Sponsor for the Nursing Research Initiative.

Last updated July 6, 2009