Speakers

Speakers for the core program are listed below. Additional speaker information including pre-conference speakers, complete biographies, pictures and abstracts will be posted as soon as they are made available

You can find additional information on past speakers at the Halifax Symposium (2001 through 2009) on the history page.

Speaker handouts are listed below each speaker's name, if provided. Some handout files are quite large and may take more time depending on the speed of your connection.

Halifax 10 Speakers

John BanjaJohn Banja PhD
Associate Professor, Clinical Ethics; Assistant Director for Health Sciences and Clinical Ethics, Center for Ethics, Emory University, Lawrenceville, Georgia

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John Banja is a Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and a medical ethicist at the Center for Ethics at Emory University. He also directs the Section on Ethics for the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Emory. Dr. Banja received a doctorate degree in philosophy from Fordham University in New York and has taught and lectured on topics in medical ethics throughout the United States. He has authored or coauthored over 150 publications and has delivered over 800 invited presentations at regional, national, and international conferences. He currently serves as the associate editor of AJOB-Neuroscience, the leading scholarly journal in the field of neuroethics. Dr. Banja has conducted research or educational projects with numerous federal and private organizations including the NIH, the American College of Surgeons, The Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, The National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, and the Georgia Hospital Association. He is a former board member of the Commission for Case Manager Certification. His current research interests include the study of empathy in healthcare relationships, and analyzing ethical dilemmas occurring in clinical and translational research environments. His most recent book, Medical Errors and Medical Narcissism, was published by Jones and Bartlett Publishers in 2005.


Ross BakerRoss Baker PhD
Professor, Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario

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Ross Baker is a professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto where he teaches and does research on quality improvement, patient safety and organizational change.

Ross was principal investigator for the project “Adverse Events in Canadian Hospitals” and together with Peter Norton and a team of investigators across Canada published the results of the study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in 2004.

Ross co-chairs a working group on methods and measures for patient safety for the World Health Organization. He also serves on the boards of the Health Quality Council of Saskatchewan, the Institute for Safe Medication Practice (ISMP) Canada, and the Clinical Standards, Guidelines and Quality Committee of Cancer Care Ontario.

Ross was a member of the National Patient Safety Steering Committee (Canada) chaired by Dr. John Wade. He currently serves as Chair of the Measurement Working Group and as a member of the Steering Committee for the Safer Healthcare Now! campaign ( the Canadian adaptation of the US 100,000 lives initiative) organized to improve patient safety.

His current research focuses on further analyses of the Canadian Adverse Events study data, and on the governance of patient safety activities in Australia, New Zealand, England and the US.


Cecilia BloxomCecilia Bloxom
Director of Communications, Canadian Patient Safety Institute, Edmonton, Alberta

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As the Director of Communications for the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, Cecilia is accountable for ensuring patient safety success by providing the right information, to the right people at the right time in the right way.

Cecilia joined CPSI from a senior management role in Public Affairs at Capital Health, Edmonton area. Throughout her time at Capital Health she had the opportunity to work in acute care, rural, geriatrics, rehab, long-term care, home care, supportive living and public health.

With a diploma in Advertising and Public Relations and a Degree in Public Relations, Cecilia has held various Communications positions over the past eleven years including working for the Alberta Public Affairs Bureau at Alberta Energy and Alberta Learning.


Pat CroskerryPat Croskerry MD PhD
Professor, Emergency Medicine, and Medical Education, Dalhousie University

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Pat Croskerry is a Clinical Consultant in Patient Safety, and Professor in Emergency Medicine, and Medical Education at Dalhousie University. In addition to his medical training, he holds a doctorate in Experimental Psychology with Fellowship training in Clinical Psychology. He has worked in the area of Medical Error and Patient Safety for the last fifteen years. His research is principally concerned with the impact of cognitive and affective error on clinical decision making. He has published over 60 articles and 30 book chapters in the area of medical error, and medical education reform. He has worked in the area of shift-work and the impact of circadian dysynchronicity on health and performance in the workplace. He has given over 400 invited presentations at provincial, national and international levels – principally in the area of Healthcare Safety. In 2001, Dr. Croskerry directed the first of the Halifax symposia on healthcare safety in Canada which have continued annually to the final Halifax 10 symposium in 2010. In 2006, he received the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada Ruedy Award for innovation in medical education. In the same year he was appointed to the Board of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute. He is lead editor on the text Patient Safety in Emergency Medicine (2009).


Joan DaweJoan Dawe
Former Chair, Board of Trustees, Eastern Health, Newfoundland and Labrador

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Joan Dawe is a former Deputy Minister of the Departments of Health and Community Services and Social Services with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

A nurse by training, she has held senior executive positions in nursing service and hospital administration and has served in governance roles with numerous health organizations at local, provincial, and national levels for this past 35 years.

At the provincial level, she is Past Chair of the Board of Trustees of Eastern Integrated Health Authority(2004-2009); Past Chair of Board of Trustees of Health and Community Services- St. John’s Region (2001-2004); Past President of the Newfoundland Health Boards Association.

Nationally, Ms. Dawe served as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Canadian Healthcare Association. She was Chairperson of the National Healthcare Leadership Conference (2009) and Chairperson of the Planning Committee for the ISQua Conference held in St. John’s NL in 1995. This was the first time this prestigious international conference was held in Canada.

She was a recipient of the 2001 Public Service Award of Excellence in Newfoundland and Labrador and the 2004 recipient of the Canadian Healthcare Association Award for Distinguished Service.

Ms. Dawe is currently involved with the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute as a trainer in the "Effective Governance for Quality and Patient Safety Education Program".


Drew DawsonDrew Dawson PhD
Director, Centre for Sleep Research, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia

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Professor Drew Dawson is nationally and internationally recognised for his contributions to the scientific community and to industry in the areas of sleep research, organisational psychology and human factors, industrial relations negotiations, and the human implications of hours of work.

Drew has worked extensively with the aviation, manufacturing, retail, entertainment, transportation, and mining sectors in Australia and is a world-renown expert on fatigue in the workplace. He's instigated fatigue management programmes, developed shiftwork and fatigue policy, undertaken pre-employment assessments, and facilitated shiftwork education sessions. Drew also regularly presents at national and international conferences and has provided expert witness testimony in several fatigue-related court cases.


Ed EtchellsEd Etchells MSc FRCPC
Associate Director, University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario

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Dr. Etchells is a staff physician with the Division of General Internal Medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Toronto. He is director of Sunnybrook’s Patient Safety Service, which is dedicated to the identification, analysis and prevention of medical error and adverse events. He was a co-investigator for the Adverse Events in Canadian Hospitals study (the Baker-Norton Study). He has worked closely with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices on the medication reconciliation initiative of Safer Healthcare Now!, a national initiative to reduced medication errors at the time of hospital admission and discharge. He was senior author of a research paper titled Unintended medication discrepancies at the time of hospital admission. This paper was cited as an influential paper in the area of Quality Improvement by the 2006 Annals of Internal Medicine Update on Hospital Medicine, and won the 2005 University of Toronto HPME Graduate literary Award.


Rhona FlinRhona Flin BSc PhD FBPsS FRSE
Professor, School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Old Aberdeen

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Rhona Flin is Professor of Applied Psychology and Director of the Industrial Psychology Research Centre at the University of Aberdeen. She leads a team of psychologists conducting research on human performance in high risk industries and healthcare. Her group’s projects include studies of leadership, culture, team skills and decision making in acute medicine, aviation and energy industries. She is currently studying surgeons’, anaesthetists’ and nurses’ non-technical skills and safety climate in hospitals and is leading the Scottish Patient Safety Research Network, established in 2007 (www.spsrn.ac.uk). Her latest books are Safety at the Sharp End: A Guide to Non-Technical Skills (with O’Connor & Crichton, Ashgate, 2008) and Safer Surgery: Analysing Behaviour in the Operating Theatre (with Mitchell, Ashgate, 2009).


Amir GinzburgAmir Ginzburg MD FRCPC
Patient Safety Officer and Physician Lead, Quality, Trillium Health Centre, Mississauga, Ontario

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Amir Ginzburg works as a general internist and hospitalist at the Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. He chairs Trillium's Medical Quality of Care Committee which governs quality of care reviews for adverse events rooted in system-based issues. Amir participates in strategic planning for quality and safety and leads and supports many local improvement initiatives. Amir is also one of the founding members of the Canadian Society of Hospital Medicine Quality and Patient Safety Committee.


Mark GraberMark Graber MD
Chief, Medical Service, VA Medical Center, Northport, New York

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Mark Graber is the Chief of Medical Service at the VA Northport Medical Center and Professor and Associate Chair of Medicine at SUNY Stony Brook, NY.

Dr. Graber has chaired the Northport VAMC Medical Quality Assurance Committee for 15 years, and is responsible for developing a new model of peer review that incorporates root cause analysis of medical errors. He initiated the patient safety curriculum for medical students and medical residents at the State University of New York at Stony Brook School of Medicine. With Ms Ilene Corina, Dr. Graber established the first Patient Safety Awareness Week in 2002, now recognized internationally. He participated in the organizing committee to establish the US’s first voluntary, anonymous medical error reporting process, the VA's "Patient Safety Reporting System".

He has been funded by the National Patient Safety Foundation for research studies to investigate and understand diagnostic errors in Medicine, and is regarded as an authority in this area. With AHRQ sponsorship he chaired both the first national conference on "Diagnostic Error in Medicine" (Phoenix, 2008) and the second (Los Angeles, 2009).


Jim HornellJim Hornell BA BEd MEd
Chief Executive Officer, Brant Community Healthcare System, Brantford, Ontario

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Jim has been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Brant Community Healthcare System based in Brantford, Ontario since April, 2010. A 2010 Hamilton-Niagara Top 10 Employer and recipient of the Employer of the Year Award by the Ontario Registered Practical Nurses Association, Brant Community Healthcare System is an affiliated teaching site of McMaster University Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

Prior to being recruited to Ontario Jim served as Chief Executive Officer of Cypress Regional Health Authority based out of Swift Current, Saskatchewan where he had overall responsibility for the full continuum of care and all aspects of community and population health services in the southwestern region of the province. He was an active participant in that province’s Accelerating Excellence and Quality as a Business Strategy initiatives. Jim was also Chief Operating Officer & Vice President – Corporate Development with the Central Health Authority in his native Newfoundland. He has two baccalaureate degrees from Memorial University in Newfoundland and a Masters degree from the University of Ottawa. Jim is also an accreditation surveyor with Accreditation Canada.

In addition to health care leadership, Jim has considerable experience in the realm of corporate governance. As a volunteer, Jim has served at local, provincial, national and international levels within the sport of hockey. He is presently a Vice Chair of Hockey Canada and has toured internationally with several of Canada’s national teams.


Chuck HusakChuck Husak MA
Principal/Creative Director, August Lang & Husak, Bethesda, MD

Chuck Husak arrived in Washington in 1984 and has become one of the region’s most decorated creative directors.

Before joining August, Lang & Husak in 1994, Mr. Husak was Senior VP/Creative Director at Weitzman/Livingston in Bethesda, after spending 12 years with Ketchum Advertising in Pittsburgh and later with Ketchum’s DC office, where he relocated to direct the Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) business.

He has won two EMMY nominations, a Gold FREDDIE for excellence in health care marketing, two Gold Mercury Awards in New York including Best of Show, and a Best of Show/Broadcast Category in the Washington ADDYs. Past awards include two One Show Pencils, a CLIO, plus dozens of Local and District II ADDYs


Aaron LazareAaron Lazare MD
Professor, Chancellor and Dean Emeritus, Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts

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Aaron Lazare is the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medical Education and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Lazare served as Dean of the Medical School from 1990-2007 and Chancellor of the campus, which includes the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the Graduate School of Nursing, from 1991-2007.

Dr. Lazare received his AB in 1957 from Oberlin College and his MD in 1961 from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He spent one year at Yale University Medical School before beginning 14 years of service at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), rising to the rank of Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. During his time at MGH, he built the outpatient psychiatry department into the largest and most diverse in New England, and provided leadership for founding and developing what many believe has been the most successful continuing education course in psychiatry in the United States. He conducted pioneering research on the importance of understanding the patient’s perspective on clinical outcome and applying a negotiating paradigm to the doctor-patient relationship. He is the author of the first textbook on outpatient psychiatry, Outpatient Psychiatry: Diagnosis and Treatment, now in its second printing. In 1982, Dr. Lazare accepted the position of professor and chair of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS). He received the University’s Distinguished Professional Public Service Award in 1988. The Department of Psychiatry won four subsequent awards for its public sector activities. While chair of psychiatry, Dr. Lazare initiated an entirely new sphere of scholarly activity on the subject of shame and humiliation in medical encounters. His thesis focuses on the medical interview as a tinderbox for shame experiences for both patient and physician. His other areas of academic expertise are the medical interview and the healing process of apology and forgiveness.

Dr. Lazare’s publications include 70 original articles and book chapters and six books. Many of these articles, appearing as early as the late 1960s, are still widely quoted and used as standard references for research and for clinical and training programs. Dr. Lazare’s book On Apology was published in 2004. Throughout his career, Dr. Lazare has received many honors that recognize a broad range of accomplishments as a practising psychiatrist, researcher, scholar, author, educator, lecturer, leader/administrator, and humanitarian. They include being: named to Who’s Who in America; asked by the American Psychiatric Association to give the Benjamin Rush Award Lecture; elected to the Bayonne High School Hall of Fame; together with his wife, Louise, recipient of the humanitarianism award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews; and named to Who’s Who in the World. In 1993, he was selected by the Anti-Defamation League of New England to receive the Maimonides Award for “outstanding commitment as a physician and educator to providing quality health services and the training of health care providers in an atmosphere of sensitivity and respect to all people.” In 2007, Dr. Lazare received the University of Massachusetts’ highest honor, the President’s Medal for “distinguished and unstinting services.”


Rob LeeRob Lee BA PhD FRAeS FCILT
International Consultant in Human Factors and Systems Safety, Melba, Australian Capital Territory

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Dr Rob Lee graduated from the Australian National University in 1970 with First Class Honours in Psychology, winning the Australian Psychological Society Prize. In 1974 he completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of St Andrews. His research was concerned with human performance in complex systems, with particular reference to aircraft.

In 1976, Dr Lee was appointed Senior Psychologist, Operational Command, Royal Australian Air Force(RAAF). He became the first RAAF psychologist to serve as a human factors specialist on RAAF aircraft accident investigation teams. He then joined the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) as the Bureau’s first human factors specialist in 1983. He established and developed the Bureau’s capability in human factors, systems safety and research. In 1989 he became the Director of BASI, pioneering the practical application of advanced human factors and systems safety concepts.

In 2000 he became an international consultant on human factors and systems safety in aviation, and other high technology industries, working with airlines, airports, air traffic service providers, regulators and safety investigation agencies - including the investigations of major accidents involving A320, B747, B757 and TU154M aircraft. He was an adviser to the Boards of Inquiry into the 2005 RAN Sea King accident in Indonesia, and the 2006 Army Black Hawk accident off Fiji.

Dr. Lee has won the Henry Wigram Award of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Aviation Human Factors Achievement Award of the Australian Aviation Psychology Association, and an International Prize from the Captain A. G. Vette Flight Safety Research Trust of New Zealand. He co-authored the book 'Beyond Aviation Human Factors' with James , Captain Dan Maurino of ICAO, and Captain Neil Johnston of Aer Lingus.


Steven LewisSteven Lewis (Moderator)
President, Access Consulting, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Steven Lewis is a health policy and research consultant based in Saskatoon as well as Adjunct Professor of Health Policy at the University of Calgary. He has also held the position of Visiting Scholar at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver (January to April 2007). Prior to resuming a full-time consulting practice he headed a health research granting agency and spent seven years as CEO of the Health Services Utilization and Research Commission in Saskatchewan. He has served on various boards and committees, including the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council, the Health Council of Canada, and the editorial boards of several journals, including the newly launched Open Medicine. Mr. Lewis’ published work covers topics such as reforming and strengthening medicare, improving healthcare quality, primary healthcare, regionalization, and the management of wait times.


Margaret MurphyMargaret Murphy
Patient Advocate and Member Steering Committee, Patients for Patient Safety Strand, WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety, Cork

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Margaret Murphy is a member of the Steering Group, Patients for Patient Safety Programme, WHO Patient Safety. Following the death of her son as a result of medical error, Margaret became actively involved as a patient safety advocate. The focus of her work relates to seeing adverse events as having the potential to be catalysts for change as well as being opportunities for learning, identifying areas for improvement and preventing recurrence. She promotes this viewpoint at local, national and international levels as an invited presenter to conferences, hospital staffs and students. Her area of particular interest is education as a vehicle to achieve sustainable culture change.


David MussonDavid Musson MD PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Anaesthesia, McMaster University School of Medicine, Hamilton, Ontario

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David Musson is the Director of the Centre for Simulation-Based Learning at McMaster University. He received his MD from the University of Western Ontario in 1988 and completed a rotating internship at the University of Toronto in 1990. Following graduation, he served with the Canadian Air Force as a medical officer and flight surgeon, working in the areas of aircrew medical care and flight safety in Canada and overseas.

Since 2006, Dr Musson has been on faculty at McMaster University, where he oversees the new Centre for Simulation-Based Learning. The Centre is a shared resource, serving all health care programs in the Faculty of Health Sciences.


Viren NaikViren Naik MD Med FRCPC
Medical Director, University of Ottawa, Skills and Simulation Centre, Ottawa, Ontario

Viren Naik is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesia at The Ottawa Hospital, University of Ottawa. He completed a Master of Education degree and Fellowship in Education prior to being recruited to St. Michael’s Hospital, where in 2004, he was appointed Medical Director of the Allan Waters’ Family Simulation Centre. In 2007, he was awarded the John Bradley Young Educator Award by the Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society, whom he now serves as the Section Chair of Education and Simulation. In July 2009, Dr. Naik was recruited from the University of Toronto to establish the University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Centre as the inaugural Medical Director. He also serves the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada as the past-Chair of the Written Examination in Anesthesia, and as their first Simulation Educator tasked with advancing simulation for both postgraduate education and continuing professional development. In his spare time, when he isn’t apologizing to his wife Jasmine for taking on too many roles, he enjoys sailing with her and their two kids, Laurel and Ketan.


André PicardAndré Picard
Public Health Reporter, Globe and Mail

André Picard is the public health reporter at The Globe and Mail (http://www.theglobeandmail.com) and the author of three best selling books, including Critical Care: Canadian Nurses Speak for Change (2001) and The Gift of Death: Confronting Canada's Tainted-blood Tragedy (1997). He lives in Montréal.


Deborah ProwseDeborah Prowse
Board Member, Canadian Patient Safety Institute, Calgary, Alberta

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Deborah has a professional background in Social Work and in Law. She is a private consultant in the areas of respectful workplace, human rights and conflict management offering mediation, investigation, and training. Deborah served as Panel Chair for the Alberta Human Rights Commission for four years. For the past ten years, she has been a Sitting Justice of the Peace in the Provincial Court of Alberta, Traffic Division.

Deborah is a single mother of a 14 year old son and is very active in his school and extracurricular activities. Deborah is a very committed and a founding member of the Calgary Health Region’s Patient/Family Safety Council. Her mother’s tragic death in 2004 was a triggering event for the Calgary Health Region, and health care professionals to think, plan and practice differently when it comes to the safety of patient care. Deborah had a significant role in speaking about her families’ experiences in a series of patient safety sessions targeted to leaders in the Region as the new patient safety policies and procedures were being launched. She is often asked to give similar addresses in other regions and health systems where there is a desire to listen, learn and make improvements to safety from the patient/family perspective.

Deborah is a member of the Board of Patients for Patient Safety Canada, a newly formed organization associated with the World Health Organization Alliance for Patient Safety.


Savik RamkaySavik Ramkay
President, SRC Inc., Toronto, Ontario

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Savik Ramkay, President, Savik Ramkay Consulting Inc. has been involved in developing and implementing Safety Management Systems in Canadian carriers since 2003. Savik, is a licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer for 20 years and has spent the last 10 years at Senior Management Level positions in Safety, Security and Quality at Canadian carriers. He has developed and implemented data base solutions for organizations and mentored staff to develop sustainable succession planning for organizations. Today he offers service to organization that need to ensure their SMS Program is both compliant to the regulations and delivering sustainable value as well as developing SMS implementation plans and audits. Sharing the experience both at implementation, managing of SMS Programs and developing safety culture in organizations has been given at ICAO, China CAA, Singapore, Safeskies Australia, Transport Canada, and Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and now at Halifax 10.


Sir Michael RawlinsSir Michael Rawlins
Chairman, National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence

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Sir Michael Rawlins has been chairman of the National Institute of Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE) since its formation in 1999. He is also an Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

He was the Ruth and Lionel Jacobson Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne from 1973 to 2006 .At the same time he held the position of consultant physician and consultant clinical pharmacologist to the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust. He was vice-chairman (1987-1992) and chairman (1993-1998) of the Committee on Safety of Medicines; and chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (1998 - 2008)


James James Reason PhD FRAeS FBPsS FBA CBE
Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of Manchester

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James Reason, PhD, was Professor of Psychology at the University of Manchester from 1977 until 2001, from where he graduated in 1962. Among his publications are books on motion sickness, absent-mindedness, human error, aviation human factors and managing the risks of organisational accidents. He has worked in a wide variety of hazardous industries, though patient safety is now his primary concern. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Royal Aeronautical Society and the British Academy. He received a CBE in 2003 for his services to reducing the risks in health care. In 2006, he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners.


Sabina RobinSabina Robin
Quality and Safety, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Alberta

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Sabina has worked as a Licensed Practical Nurse in both rural and urban facilities over the past 15 years. Sabina’s involvement with patient safety began after losing her youngest child, Mataya, in April 2004, following a series of communication breakdowns during a nine day hospitalization that contributed to Mataya’s death. Sabina spoke about Mataya’s story in a patient safety video created by the Calgary Health Region in a public forum shown at Halifax 5 in October, 2005.

Sabina was a founding member of the former Calgary Health Regions, Patient/ Family Safety Council. A volunteer council that played a key role in advising, informing and making recommendations on operational safety issues. Sabina’s commitment as a member of the Council has included speaking about the importance of listening to patients and family members and the need for improved communication between healthcare professionals and families. She has been a strong voice among the Council in recommending the development of patient safety education for healthcare providers and pilot testing a patient/family activated rapid response (Code 66) service and collaborating with healthcare leaders and providers on defining a process of accountability for residents to medical leadership and operational administration.

Sabina is a national champion for patient safety and a member of the World Health Organization’s World Alliance, Patients for Patient Safety Canada (PFPSC). She currently chairs the PFPSC Disclosure Working Group reinforcing the need for patient engagement in disclosure of harm related policies, procedures, and promoting the development of an educational framework that includes disclosure processes that are patient and family centered. Most recently the group has developed a set of Principles For Disclosing Harm to Patients.


Blair SadlerBlair Sadler JD
Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

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Blair L Sadler is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and a member of the faculty at the UCSD Schools of Medicine and Management. He served as Past President and CEO of Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego from July 1980 until July 2006. Under his leadership, Rady Children’s was the first pediatric hospital in the United States to win the Ernest A. Codman Award for its work in developing clinical pathways. He gave the Commencement Address at the 2005 UCSD Medical School graduation on the health care quality revolution and the implications for hospitals and academic medical education. He speaks widely to healthcare Boards of Trustees about their new role in patient safety and quality.

As a former Board member of the Center for Health Design, he has been heavily involved in developing the business case for building better hospitals through evidence - based design. He was the founder of the Center’s Pebble program – a collaborative effort to identify, support and disseminate the work of pioneering organizations throughout the world in evidence - based design.

He has consulted with several health systems throughout the world regarding building optimally safe and low stress hospitals through evidence - based design. These include Australia, Norway, Canada and the United Kingdom. He has written several articles on the compelling business case for evidence based design (both adult and pediatric) that appeared in several journals and a book sponsored by Nachri and the Center for Health Design during 2008. He is a frequent speaker on the topic at major meetings including the Annual Forum of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He is the founder of the Blair L. Sadler International Healing Arts Awards Competition in partnership with the Society of the Arts in Health Care.

He has co-authored the book Transforming the Health Care Experience through the Arts with Annette Ridenour www.artandhealthcare.com


Kathleen SutcliffeKathleen Sutcliffe PhD
Associate Dean, Faculty of Development and Research, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business, Ann Arbor, Michigan

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Kathleen M. Sutcliffe (Ph.D.) is Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Research and the Gilbert and Ruth Professor of Management and Organizations at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alaska, a Master of Science degree from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in management from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research program has been devoted to investigating how organizations and their members cope with ambiguity and uncertainty, team and organizational learning, and how organizations can be designed to be more reliable and resilient. She is currently investigating high reliability and resilience practices in wildland firefighting, healthcare, and other high-hazard industries. Her research has appeared in numerous scholarly journals such as the Academic Medicine, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Medical Care, Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal. Two books include: Medical Error: What Do We Know? What Do We Do? (co-authored with Marilynn Rosenthal, Jossey-Bass, 2002); Managing the Unexpected: Resilient Performance in an Age of Uncertainty (co-authored with Karl E. Weick, Jossey-Bass, 2007).


Charles VincentCharles Vincent PhD
Smith and Nephew Professor of Clinical Safety Research, Department of Surgery, Oncology, Reproductive Biology and Anaesthetics, Imperial College London, London

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Charles Vincent trained as a Clinical Psychologist and worked in the British NHS for several years. Since 1985 he has carried out research on the causes of harm to patients, the consequences for patients and staff and methods of prevention. He established the Clinical Risk Unit at University College in 1995 where he was Professor of Psychology before moving to the Imperial College in 2002. He now directs the Clinical Safety Research Unit based in Department of Department of Biosurgery and Technology, Imperial College London. He is the editor of Clinical Risk Management (BMJ Publications, 2nd edition, 2001), author of Patient Safety (2ned edition 2010) and author of many papers on risk, safety and medical error. From 1999 to 2003 he was a Commissioner on the UK Commission for Health Improvement. In 2007 he was appointed Director of the National Institute of Health Research Centre for Patient Safety & Service Quality at Imperial College Healthcare Trust. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and of the NHS Institute for Innovation & Improvement.


Jacqueline VischerJacqueline Vischer PhD
Professeure titulaire, École de design industriel, Faculté de l’aménagement, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec

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Jacqueline Vischer is an Environmental Psychologist who has specialized in the study of the impact of work environments on building users. Recently, she was Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Design at the Université de Montréal, where she founded the Groupe de recherche sur les environments de travail (New Work Environments Research Group). She has also worked extensively as a consultant to large organizations in North America and Europe.

Dr. Vischer is author or coauthor of six published books and a seventh in press. She has also published numerous articles on the environmental psychology of workspace, building evaluation, users’ needs in buildings, indoor air quality, user-manager communication, facilities management, and architectural programming.

She has a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Psychology, and a PhD in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.


Albert WuAlbert Wu BA MD MPH
Professor, John Hopkins Center for Global Health, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

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Albert W. Wu is Professor of Health Policy and Management and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and director of the Hopkins DEcIDE center for comparative effectiveness research. He received BA and MD degrees from Cornell University, and completed Internal Medicine residency at the Mount Sinai Hospital and UC San Diego. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UCSF and received an MPH from UC Berkeley. His research and teaching focus on patient outcomes and quality of care. He has studied the handling of medical errors since 1998, and has published influential papers including "Do house officers learn from their mistakes" in JAMA in 1991, and "Medical error: the second victim" in the BMJ. He has over 270 published papers and developed an award-winning educational video on disclosure “Removing insult from injury: disclosing adverse events.” He was a member of the Institute of Medicine committee on identifying and preventing medication errors, and was Senior Adviser for Patient Safety to WHO in Geneva. He teaches a series of courses on measurement, quality of care and patient safety, and maintains a clinical practice in general internal medicine.

What to Expect at the Symposia

The Halifax Series has evolved into Canada's flagship event in healthcare safety. Participants from previous meetings have consistently remarked about the meeting being innovative, cutting edge, and intellectually challenging.

The meeting is different by design. In developing the early programs, the founders of the Halifax Series sought inspiration within healthcare and in other industries around the world for different ideas, knowledge, skills and attitudes which would present opportunities for the improvement of healthcare safety in Canada. The Halifax Series Organizing Committee has diligently continued this approach.



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