Andreas Laupacis joins CFN Board of Directors
Andreas Laupacis, MD, MSc, BA, FRCPC, is a general internist who currently practices palliative care at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, and the Executive Director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael’s. He is a Professor at the University of Toronto in the both the Department of Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Dr. Laupacis is currently an adjunct scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), one of Canada’s largest health services research organizations, having previously served as ICES President and CEO.
His research interests are broad; he has published over 315 peer-reviewed articles, covering a variety of topics in clinical epidemiology, health services research, health technology assessment and health policy. Recently he has become interested in engaging the public about health care issues (he founded the website www.healthydebate.ca), and is convinced that the health care system would be better if there is more informed input from citizens. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Policy and Citizen Engagement, and is Chair of the Institute Advisory Board for the CIHR’s Institute of Health Services and Policy Research.
In addition to his academic work, Dr. Laupacis has considerable health policy experience. Currently he is the board chair for Health Quality Ontario (since 2013) and is also a board member of Cancer Care Ontario (since 2011). He served on the Board of Directors of Alberta Health Services from 2008 to 2010, and was Chair of its Quality committee from 2009 to 2010. He served on the Health Advisory Committee of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. Dr. Laupacis was also the first chair of the Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee, and Vice-Chair of Health Canada’s Science Advisory Board. In 2005, Dr. Laupacis chaired a public inquiry into the effectiveness and safety of Cox-2 inhibitors – the first such public inquiry sponsored by Health Canada.
His leadership and dedication to bettering health care and research has been recognized through many awards. In 2010 he was named the Justice Emmett Hall Laureate by the Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR). In 2011, Dr. Laupacis received the annual Health Services Research Advancement Award from the Canadian Health, and Services Research Foundation (now CFHI – Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement) and the inaugural Jill M. Sanders Award of Excellence in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH). In 2013, Dr. Laupacis received the inaugural CIHR Barer-Flood Prize in Health Services and Policy Research.