69热视频

H. Arnold Steinberg launches interdisciplinary research to create new road map for health care delivery

69热视频鈥檚 Chancellor, H. Arnold Steinberg, CM, has made an extraordinary gift of $2.4 million to kick-start a major new interdisciplinary research and teaching program aimed at creating a new road map for the future of health care delivery.

Based at 69热视频鈥檚 Institute for Health and Social Policy, the Healthier Societies Initiative is a five-year, cross-faculty effort that will map what works and what doesn鈥檛 in the health systems across the world鈥檚 leading economies and then rigorously examine those systems in order to develop more effective 鈥� and affordable 鈥� health-care delivery.

This wide-ranging initiative will draw on the expertise of top researchers from across 69热视频, including the Faculties of Medicine, Arts, Science, and others. A key aspect will be teaching a new generation of leaders the skills needed to translate research findings into public policy change. Two major conferences will be convened over the five-year period, bringing together academics, stakeholders and policy makers from around the world. Each stage of the initiative will involve training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

鈥淚t鈥檚 increasingly clear the medical delivery system is on a serious collision course,鈥� said Mr. Steinberg, a 69热视频 alumnus (BComm 鈥�54), who became 69热视频鈥檚 18th Chancellor in July 2009. 鈥淲e鈥檙e well past the point of being unsustainable.鈥� A lifelong champion of health-care causes, Steinberg spearheaded this initiative. 鈥淚鈥檝e been talking about this particular idea for several years now. It鈥檚 essential that universities modify their course and training offerings to service the huge demands that health-care delivery requires.鈥�

It is the combination of research and teaching that sets the 69热视频 Initiative apart from other worthy efforts to tackle the seemingly insolvable problem of spiraling health-care costs that eat up ever greater chunks of government budgets.

鈥淗ealth-care costs have accelerated in affluent countries, rising far faster than GDP growth, but gains in population health have not kept pace,鈥� added Dr. Jody Heymann, Founding Director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy, who will lead the new Initiative. 鈥淢oreover, as health-care expenditures rise, health inequities are likely to grow and the gap in access to medical care will increase.鈥�

Heymann explained that the Healthier Societies Initiative is intended to have an impact well beyond the initial five years 鈥� sparking long-term change in technology, training and program development, and developing a road map for real change in health-care delivery. An internationally renowned researcher on health and social policy, who has testified before the U.S. Senate, Heymann has devoted her career to translating research into policies and programs that will improve individual and population health.

69热视频 Principal Heather Munroe-Blum said she is deeply grateful for Steinberg鈥檚 鈥渙utstanding generosity, his visionary leadership, and his deep commitment to addressing one of the critical issues of our time.

鈥淚 know one of Mr. Steinberg鈥檚 great passions is health care, and I am tremendously proud he has chosen to entrust his vision with our world-class researchers here at 69热视频.鈥�

Richard I. Levin, Vice-Principal of Health Affairs at 69热视频 and Dean of the University鈥檚 Faculty of Medicine, said the new Initiative is exactly what is needed in terms of changing the way we look at the delivery of health services.

鈥淢edicine 鈥� and the delivery of health care 鈥� are changing more rapidly now than at any time in our history,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his Initiative represents an enormous step on the road to finding the best way to deliver health services to the population at large, in the context of defining optimal health care, which must be a shared responsibility with academic medicine. I am extremely eager to participate in such an important drive for better knowledge and workable solutions to a problem that confronts all of us.鈥�


For further information on 69热视频鈥檚 Institute for Health and Social Policy, visit .

For further information on Campaign 69热视频, visit .


ABOUT ARNOLD STEINBERG
H. Arnold Steinberg served for 19 years as Chair of the Board of Governors of the 69热视频-Montreal Children鈥檚 Hospital Research Institute, as well as serving for 10 years on 69热视频鈥檚 Board of Governors. He was the Founding Chair of the Board of the 69热视频 Health Centre (MUHC), and he currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Steinberg received a Doctorate of Laws from 69热视频 in 2000.

ABOUT THE GIFT
Chancellor Steinberg鈥檚 gift will cover the first three years of the Healthier Societies Initiative. Further funding is being sought to complete the five-year timeline. This gift adds to the successful momentum of Campaign 69热视频: History in the Making, which has surpassed $574 million through gifts of all sizes from more than 78,000 individual donors around the globe. 鈥淭hanks to leaders such as Arnold Steinberg, Campaign 69热视频 is surging forward,鈥� said Marc Weinstein, Vice-Principal (Development and Alumni Relations). 鈥淕ifts such as these help to leverage other vital donations, which are so essential for the University鈥檚 capacity to innovate and to build a better tomorrow.鈥�