About the Health Research Foundation

Christine Elliott, former Ontario Minister of Health and Deputy Premier, is Counsel with the Fasken Health Law group in our Toronto office. With over 15 years of experience in public service, she is ideally positioned to assist clients with navigating existing and emerging complexities in the healthcare space.

During her tenure as Ontario’s Minister of Health from 2018 to 2022, Christine played an integral part in overseeing the province’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this role, she also sponsored The People’s Health Care Act and enacted the Connecting Care Act. The Connecting Care Act gave rise to Ontario Health, a Crown agency that merged the 14 Local Health Integration Network and other agencies including Cancer Care Ontario, Gift of Life Network, eHealth Ontario and HealthForce Ontario in order to facilitate integrated care delivery systems also known as local Ontario Health teams. Christine also served as Ontario’s Deputy Premier (2018 to 2022) and as Ontario’s first Patient Ombudsman (2016 to 2018).

Christine, along with her husband James Flaherty (Jim) was a founding partner of Flaherty, Dow, Elliott & McCarthy. Later, Christine and Jim co-founded Abilities Centre in Whitby, Ontario, which supports and celebrates the abilities of all people and is a place where everyone belongs, regardless of their challenges. In addition, she has held positions on a range of boards in the health care sector since becoming involved as a volunteer with several charities including the Lakeridge Health Whitby Foundation, Durham Mental Health Services, and Grandview Children’s Centre.

Christine graduated from the University of Western Ontario law school and was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1980.

Dr. Bettina Hamelin, PharmD, EMBA, is a globally renowned researcher and esteemed life sciences executive, who brings over 30 years of experience in academia, industry, and not-for-profit organizations to her current role as President of Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC).

In this role, Dr. Hamelin is dedicated to enhancing access to innovative medicines for Canadians, while advancing Canada’s position as an attractive destination for life sciences investments, high-value jobs, and new clinical trials. Driven by her unwavering commitment to improving the health and well-being of all Canadians, Dr. Hamelin firmly believes collaboration and partnership are essential to the future of healthcare innovation in Canada. Having acquired an Executive MBA in Healthcare from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, she is uniquely positioned to work alongside health system stakeholders to find novel solutions to complex challenges.

Prior to joining IMC, Dr. Hamelin was the President and CEO of Ontario Genomics for over six transformative years. Here, she not only established the organization as Canada’s preeminent force in engineering biology on the world stage, but also cultivated an ecosystem that was conducive to the development and commercialization of cutting-edge Canadian innovations.

Dr. Hamelin’s illustrious career includes serving as the Vice-President of Research Partnerships at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), where she led a 130-member team to spearhead a robust research and innovation investment strategy. She also held pivotal leadership roles at BioChem Pharma and Pfizer Inc., pioneering novel public-private partnership models that propelled research and innovation forward, and was a tenured professor at Université Laval.

Dr. Hamelin is fluently trilingual and holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Kentucky, US.

With her wealth of expertise, purpose-driven leadership, and passion for driving positive change in the pharmaceutical, health, and life sciences sectors, Dr. Hamelin stands as a trusted leader, poised to make enduring contributions to the health of Canadians and the vibrancy of Canada’s research and innovation ecosystems

Helen is a former Ontario Deputy Minister of Health and former co-chair of the Canadian Council of Deputy Ministers of Health. 

Helen is the chair of the board of Public Health Ontario and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.  Helen is a distinguished fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.  Helen also serves on the Board of Unity Health in Toronto. 

Helen is the CEO at AMS Healthcare, an Ontario-based charity that advances compassionate leadership in healthcare though fellowships and grants.  AMS Healthcare also funds Research Chairs in the History of Medicine at Universities across Canada. 

Helen has a demonstrated ability to lead complex organizations and inspire others to drive systems-level change.  She had a 30-year progressive career in the public sector including 20 years working in the Government of Ontario, ten years working at Cancer Care Ontario as well as four years in management consulting.  From June 2018 to September 2021 Helen served as Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Health and led the initial health response to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as an ambitious health sector modernization agenda.  During her time with the Ontario Government, Helen also served as the Deputy Minister of Treasury Board, Citizenship, Immigration and international Trade, Seniors Affairs and Women’s Issues.

Dr. Mamdani is Vice President of Data Science and Advanced Analytics at Unity Health Toronto and Director of the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine (T-CAIREM). Dr. Mamdani’s team bridges advanced analytics including machine learning with clinical and management decision making to improve patient outcomes and hospital efficiency. Dr. Mamdani is also Professor in the Department of Medicine of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He is also an Affiliate Scientist at IC/ES and a Faculty Affiliate of the Vector Institute. In 2024, Dr. Mamdani’s team received the national Solventum Health Care Innovation Team Award by the Canadian College of Health Leaders. Previously, Dr. Mamdani was named among Canada’s Top 40 under 40. He has published over 500 studies in peer-reviewed medical journals. Dr. Mamdani obtained a Doctor of Pharmacy degree (PharmD) from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and completed a fellowship in pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research at the Detroit Medical Center. During his fellowship, Dr. Mamdani obtained a Master of Arts degree in Economics from Wayne State University with a concentration in econometric theory. He then completed a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University with a concentration in quantitative methods.

Professor Rémi Quirion is the inaugural Chief Scientist of Quebec since July 2011 (reappointed
twice by different governments; longest serving Chief Scientist in the world). Elected President of the
International Network for Governmental Science Advice (INGSA) in 2021 (over 6,000 members from
130 countries). McGill Full Professor in Psychiatry since the 1980s and Scientific Director at the
Douglas Mental Health University Institute from 1995-2011. He also served as Vice-Dean, Faculty of
Medicine at McGill University, as well as Senior University Advisor (Health Sciences Research) to
the Principal. Prof Quirion was the inaugural Scientific Director of the Institute of Neurosciences,
Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA; 2001-2009). As Chief Scientist, he chairs the Board of
Directors of the three Fonds de recherche du Québec. In 2020, the Quebec government asked him to
chair a major committee on the future of universities with recommendations currently being
implemented. Also directly involved in multiple government strategies focusing on science &
innovation as well as the sustainable development goals of the UN.

He has served on multiple national & international boards. During in active career as scientist, he
trained over 80 scientists from all over the world; served on editorial boards of more than 15
international journals in Psychiatry, Neuroscience & Pharmacology; and published 5 books & over
750 publications cited over 50,000 times.

He received many awards and recognitions including the Order of Canada (OC); l’Ordre National du
Québec (CQ); la Médaille de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec; le Prix Wilder Penfield du Québec;
Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade ; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; Fellow of the Canadian
Academy of Health Sciences; Membre de l’Académie de Médecine de France; Membre de l’Ordre
des Palmes Académiques de France; Membre du Conseil International des Sciences; Membre du
Temple de la Renommée Médicale du Canada & few honorary doctorates.

Dr. Lorne Tyrrell holds the GSK Chair in Virology in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Alberta. He is also the Founding Director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology. He has focused his research since 1986 on viral hepatitis. Dr. Tyrrell was the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry from 1994-2004. He was the Chair of the Gairdner Foundation Board (2006-2016) and served on the Research Advisory Committee to the President of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) (2008-2018). From 2020-2023, he served on the Vaccine Task Force for Canada. In 2021, he was selected for the Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research and in 2022, he was awarded the Baruch S. Blumberg Prize from the Hepatitis B Foundation of America.

Jamie is the Chief Executive Officer of Supply Ontario. Previously, he served as the Chief of Staff to the Premier of Ontario. During his time leading the Office of the Premier of Ontario, including throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic, Jamie supported the policy work, delivery, and implementation of the government’s agenda in partnership with the Ontario Public Service.

Prior to joining government, Jamie spent more than 30 years in the media industry, most recently as a vice president with Postmedia. He also had an extensive career as a journalist and is highly regarded as an operational and transformational leader.

Dr. Bradly Wouters is an internationally recognized leader and cancer researcher.  He became Executive Vice President of Science and Research at UHN in 2016 and prior to that served as the Interim Director of Research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre since 2014. He joined UHN in 2008 as Senior Scientist and Director of the Princess Margaret Hypoxia Program, and has held faculty appointments at the University of Toronto in the Department of Medical Biophysics and the Department of Radiation Oncology since that time. Prior to joining UHN, Dr. Wouters was Professor and Head of Experimental Radiation Oncology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. As EVP of Science and Research, Dr. Wouters is focused on creating an environment that incentivizes, facilitates, and rewards excellence in basic, translational, and clinical research across all elements of UHN.

Wilma is currently the Executive Director, Membership Value and Strategy Implementation at Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC). Prior to joining IMC in 2019, Wilma was the Chief Operating Officer of the University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research. Wilma has more than 20 years of combined experience in healthcare, health research, and the pharmaceutical industry. She holds a B.Sc. in Nursing from Western University and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, as well as an ESG Global Competent Boards Designation (GCB.D). Wilma is a Member of the Board of BioTalent Canada.