Donors provide $5.75M to cross-sector think-tank

MONTREAL – McGill University has launched the Initiative for Transforming Healthcare (ITH) to apply a systems-based approach and advance technology-enabled solutions to drive change in Canadian healthcare.

Mounting pressures – from limited access to family doctors to surgical backlogs and emergency room crowding – are straining Canada’s health system. The Initiative will explore ways to resolve these growing challenges through cross-sector partnerships.

“As one of Canada’s major research universities, McGill has a responsibility to help strengthen the systems that underpin our healthcare,” said Deep Saini (pictured), president and vice-chancellor of McGill University. “Drawing on our expertise in management, medicine and public policy, and building on our strong partnerships across the health sector, we have the capacity to develop sustainable solutions that will have an enduring impact.”

Anchored at McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management, the ITH will bring together the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Max Bell School of Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts, as well as participants from across McGill and beyond, to work directly with healthcare leaders, policymakers and practitioners.

By combining research, collaboration and technology, it aims to help improve access to family care, shorten surgery wait times and reduce ER congestion.

“Many of the pressures facing healthcare today are not clinical problems – they are co-ordination and organizational challenges that require cross-disciplinary cooperation,” said Samer Faraj, inaugural director of the ITH. “The initiative aims to solve long-standing health sector bottlenecks by pioneering organizational and technological solutions that are based on a deep university-health sector collaboration and joint engagement.”

In its initial phase, researchers will conduct field investigations and data-driven analyses of how care is organized in practice. Findings will be shared with sector constituents through policy briefs, workshops, symposia and pilot projects. The initial financial contributions have laid the groundwork for the ITH’s launch, opening opportunities for additional support from organizations and individuals.

“We are grateful to Power Corporation of Canada, Canada Life, and IGM Financial for their generosity and vision in support of this new initiative,” affirmed Yolande Chan, dean of the Desautels Faculty of Management. “Together, we can help shape a future where healthcare is more accessible, efficient and responsive to the needs of all Canadians.”