Organization

Dr. Mark Ansermino co-leads the Digital Health Innovation Lab – a research team of engineers and clinicians who are developing and evaluating novel mobile health applications to improve the health outcomes of women and children around the world. As a team, they combine science and engineering to create cutting edge technology that uses clinical data, automation and smart physical sensors to extract important data features. Their goal is to provide frontline healthcare workers in low and middle-income countries around the world with the key tools they need to make informed medical decisions for their patients.

Dr. Stirling Bryan is a university-based health economist with extensive experience of engagement with the policy and decision-making world. He began his career in the UK with appointments at St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School and then Brunel University, before moving to the University of Birmingham. His research track-record reveals a long-standing goal of informing policy and practice, demonstrated, in part, through extensive engagement with the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE). For many years he led the University of Birmingham team that conducted economic analyses for NICE, and subsequently served for three years as a member of the NICE technology appraisals committee. In 2005 he was awarded a Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellowship and spent one year at Stanford University, researching technology coverage decision making in a US health care organizations. He immigrated to Canada in 2008, taking on the roles of professor in UBC’s School of Population & Public Health, and Director of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology & Evaluation. Over recent years, Dr. Bryan has become a strong advocate for, and practitioner of, patient-oriented research, and now partners with patients in all of his research activities. In 2016, he was appointed Scientific Director for the BC SUPPORT Unit, an operational unit of the BC Academic Health Science Network (BC AHSN), focused on promoting patient-oriented research. In 2020, Dr. Bryan became the president of BC AHSN which includes oversight of its operational units: the BC SUPPORT Unit, Clinical Trials BC and Research Ethics BC. In October 2021 after the consolidation of BC AHSN with Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, Dr. Bryan was appointed Chief Scientific Officer of the new entity Michael Smith Health Research BC.

Colleen Fuller is a health policy researcher and writer. After working in the trade union movement for 14 years in communications and research, she left to focus on the impact of privatization on universal access to health services. Since then, she has written extensively about Canada’s health care system, including issues affecting access to safe and effective prescription drugs and medical devices. Her published work includes Caring for Profit, How Corporations are Taking Over Canada’s Health Care System (1998), The Bottom Line: The Truth Behind Private Health Insurance in Canada (with Diana Gibson, 2006), and The Push to Prescribe: Women & Canadian Drug Policy (co-author, 2010).

Dr. Robert Halpenny is a health care consultant with extensive experience in his field. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with the Interior Health Authority. He completed his Family Practice Residency in 1982 after spending numerous clinical rotations in Kelowna and then setting up a practice in Vancouver. As the Vice President of Medicine at St. Vincent’s, he completed his Masters Degree in Health Administration from the University of Colorado and then spent six years in Grand Junction Colorado as the Vice President of Medicine at St. Mary’s Hospital. He returned to BC in 2002 as the Vice President of Medicine for the Fraser Health Authority and then accepted the position of Provincial Executive Director Cardiac Services at Provincial Health Services Authority. He started with the Interior Health Authority in January 2007 as the Senior Medical Director with a background in clinical care and Medical Administration. He presently serves as the Chair of the BC Medical Services Commission.

As Executive Vice President, Clinical Policy, Planning & Partnerships of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), Dr. Maureen O’Donnell is responsible for drawing on collaborative stakeholder engagement and robust data and analytics to inform provincial clinical policy, professional practice, population health, service planning, and delivery networks and development of strategic partnerships. Maureen’s portfolio sets standards, monitors, funds and leads evaluation across all service lines not connected to direct patient care, including: BCCDC/Public Health; Provincial Data Governance, Outcome Management & Reporting; Provincial Infection Control Network; Child Health BC; all Population Health programs: BC Perinatal Services, BC Cardiac Services, BC Stroke Services, BC Renal, BC Trans Care, BC Transplant, BC Chronic Diseases and BC Trauma Services and Virtual Health. Maureen brings to this role a diverse background: She is a subspecialist pediatrician, an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the former Executive Director of Child Health BC.  In addition to her medical and subspecialty training, Dr. O’Donnell holds a MSc in clinical epidemiology from McMaster University.  She also served for almost five years in a policy context as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Health in British Columbia. Maureen is Chair of the Board of Directors of Children’s Healthcare Canada and a member of the Royal College Examination Board for Developmental Pediatrics. Previous appointments include: board member for the TREKK knowledge translation NCE; Past President of the AACPDM; Chair of Canada’s Royal College of Physician and Surgeon’s Specialty Committee on Developmental Pediatrics; and President of the Canadian Pediatric Society’s Developmental Section.

Craig Ivany built a successful career in health services that has spanned 34 years. Recognized as a collaborative leader, he has worked with teams to deliver health system transformation in many dynamic environments including start-ups, turnarounds, stabilization, consolidations, and mergers. His depth of experience in system integration includes regional, provincial, and national roles, both in the public and private sectors. In 2020, he joined Provincial Health Services Authority as Chief Provincial Diagnostic Officer where he is currently leading the implementation of a province wide laboratory medicine service delivery model in collaboration with medical and operational leaders, and stakeholders across British Columbia, including representatives from regional health authorities, unions, Ministry of Health, and the University of British Columbia.

As the Vice Dean Research, Dr. McMaster leads the development of a health and life sciences research strategy and ensure the research is translational and of the highest caliber. He provides guidance to health research program leaders and ensure resources are supported effectively across the Faculty on all campuses and health authorities. He also plays a key role in formulating the research component of the Faculty’s new strategic plan, and ensures that the Faculty’s activities align with the plan’s priorities.

Mitch assumed the role of Assistant Deputy Minister, Pharmaceutical Services Division in 2017. Prior to his current appointment, Mitch was the Executive Director of the Division’s PharmaCare Information, Policy and Evaluation Branch where he was responsible for guiding the development, evaluation and research of pharmaceutical policies that support equitable and sustainable patient access to effective drug therapies.  A key accomplishment was the drafting of BC’s Pharmaceutical Services Act, a comprehensive legislative framework for the one-billion dollar BC PharmaCare program.

Mitch joined the Public Service in 2001 as a Ministry of Health Communications Officer and has been with the Pharmaceutical Services Division since 2004, progressively taking on increasing responsibilities. In addition to his role at the Ministry, he currently serves as a director on the board of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (CADTH) ; is vice-chair of the pan Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) governing council; and is a member of the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network steering committee.

Mitch obtained a Bachelor of Journalism and Communication at the University of Regina. He worked as a print journalist and editor at several daily and community newspapers during a 14-year career in that field. He obtained a Graduate Certificate in Health Systems Leadership in 2008.

Bob is a registered pharmacist with over 35 years of experience in both hospital pharmacy and public health administration. After receiving his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from UBC in 1980, Bob began his career as a staff pharmacist at St. Paul’s Hospital before moving to Lion’s Gate Hospital where he spent 13 years, serving as director in a number of different areas including pharmacy; pharmacy and clinical nutrition; community drug utilization; clinical nutrition and palliative care; and patient care services. From there he moved into roles which included: Pharmacare director with the Ministry of Health and Director of Pharmacy Services for both the Simon Fraser Health Region and the Fraser Health Authority.

Bob served as the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Pharmaceutical Services Division of the Ministry of Health. During his time with the Ministry, he was responsible for PharmaNet, drug-use optimization programs and other provincial drug programs. He also implemented an innovative evidence-based, policy-making model that has become the gold-standard for public drug plans in Canada.

Bob also has extensive experience as an industry leader in BC’s pharmacy profession, having served as President (board-chair) of the College of Pharmacists of BC, and of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists. He also served as the Federal government representative on the Health Council of Canada and chaired the Medical Services Commission, the BC Drug Benefits Committee, and the Federal Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee for Canada.

Dr. Robert Petrella was appointed Head of the Department of Family Practice at UBC in 2019. In this role, Dr. Petrella provides leadership to the more than 4,000 faculty, staff and family medicine and midwifery trainees across the province to advance and improve primary care within B.C.

Dr. Petrella joins UBC from Western University, where he serves as the Medical Director of the Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging and Professor in the Department of Family Medicine. He is also a practising Family Physician with St. Joseph’s Health Care London. From 2005-2015, Dr. Petrella was the inaugural Beryl and Richard Ivey Research Chair, as well as Program Leader for the former Aging, Rehabilitation, and Geriatric Care Program of Lawson Health Research Institute (now referred to as the Parkwood Institute Research Program) and Assistant Director of the Lawson Health Research Institute.

Dr. Petrella received his medical degree from the University of Calgary and doctorate in Exercise Physiology from Western University. Dr. Petrella’s research is focused on lifestyle interventions for chronic disease prevention and management. His research is dedicated to furthering multi- and inter-disciplinary research on lifestyle management, physical activity, chronic diseases, and innovative technologies to improve the lives of all Canadians, with a specific focus on vulnerable populations.

Suzanne Solven is the Registrar and CEO of the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia. In her capacity as Registrar, Suzanne ensures successful execution of the College Board’s strategic plan, enhances stakeholder engagement and inter-professional collaboration, as well as leads the complaints, investigations and legislation departments.

Suzanne was previously the Associate Vice President of Audit, Investigations and Quality Assurance at Pacific Blue Cross for over 5 years. She led the fraud investigation branch to ensure health benefits plan sustainability as well as the Internal Audit and Risk Management branches to ensure appropriate controls and enterprise-wide risk management are in place for value add to the business.

Prior to her work at Pacific Blue Cross, Suzanne was the Deputy Registrar of the College of Pharmacists of BC for over 9 years. In her capacity as Deputy Registrar, Suzanne led the development of the award winning DrugSafe BC Initiative, changes to the ownership provisions in the pharmacy legislation, successful undercover pharmacy investigations and first in Canada successful investigative collaboration with the US Food and Drug Administration.

Prior to her work at the College, Suzanne was employed by the government of British Columbia for over 13 years in the positions of Executive Director and Senior Pharmacist of the BC PharmaCare program. While with government Suzanne led inter-professional drug policy initiatives such as evidenced based drug review processes, limited use drug coverage, special authorization expert committees and standardized product listing agreements. She was also a provincial partner in the development of the Common Drug Review.

Suzanne is a current member of the Alumni UBC Advisory Council, past member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC Prescription Review Panel, past Co-Chair of the National Pharmaceuticals Strategy, and past chair of the Advisory Committee on Pharmaceuticals, Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health.

Suzanne received her Bachelor of Science of Pharmacy degree in 1987 from the University of British Columbia and has a commitment to life-long learning with a particular focus on strategic leadership.

Johanna is a passionate patient advocate and a member of several local, national and international patient groups. She presents both nationally and internationally. Her focus is on working to prevent over-medication of the elderly and helping to improve home-based, team-delivered, coordinated, community care since our present over-reliance on residential and acute care is neither optimal, preferred or sustainable.

Johanna’s background in library science and educational media has predisposed her to compulsive researching which has been useful in her present work within health care. As well as her background in post-secondary libraries, she was an educational media coordinator and buyer for post-secondary institutions at the ministry of education in BC. Following this, she moved to the private sector and was the Western Regional Manager of one of Canada’s largest educational media distributors. Johanna also has experience in both educational and corporate video production.

She is the public member on the Steering Committee of the Polypharmacy Risk Reduction initiative in British Columbia, Canada. She also serves as a public member on the Faculty of the Clear project. She is the public member on the Geriatrics and Palliative Care Committee for Doctors of BC and co-teaches first year medical students at UBC in the Department of Family Practice, Community Geriatrics. Johanna is a council member with the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council.

Colin Dormuth has extensive experience using administrative health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy changes and physician prescribing behaviour. He has been a member of the Therapeutics Initiative since 1995. His research focuses on drug safety and effectiveness, as well as the design and evaluation of reimbursement policies for prescription drugs. He has training in economic theory, applied econometrics, epidemiology, health services outcome research and biostatistics. Dr. Dormuth holds a Sc.D. and S.M. in epidemiology from Harvard University, an M.A. in economics from the University of Victoria, and a B.A. in economics from the University of Manitoba.

Ken Bassett conducts systematic reviews of the efficacy and safety of new and established drugs, as well as pharmaco-epidemiologic studies of serious adverse events associated with prescription drug therapy in British Columbia. His ongoing research interests are in the systematic review of drug therapy and drug funding policy.

James (Jim) Wright obtained his MD from the University of Alberta in 1968, his FRCP(C) in Internal Medicine in 1975 and his PhD in Pharmacology from McGill University in 1976. He worked as a specialist in Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology from 1997-2021. He served as the Co-Managing Director of the Therapeutics Initiative and Editor-in-Chief of the Therapeutics Letter from 1994-2020. He currently sits on the Editorial Boards of PLoSOne and the Cochrane Library.
Dr. Wright’s research focuses on issues related to appropriate use of prescription drugs (particularly antihypertensive and lipid lowering drugs), Clinical Pharmacology, clinical trials, systematic review, meta-analysis and knowledge translation.

Dr. Anat Fisher has extensive experience using administrative health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy changes and the long-term effects of medication. She also conducts systematic reviews of the efficacy and safety of new and established drugs. Anat has been a member of the Therapeutics Initiative since 2006, and is currently Co-Chair of the PharmacoEpidemiology Group (PEG). She completed her PhD in Pharmacology and Therapeutics with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology at the University of British Columbia. Her PhD thesis examined the comparative persistence of tumor necrosis factor alpha antagonists in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Anat also holds an MD from the Hebrew University in Israel, and Master’s in Health Administration from the Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Dr. Jessica Otte is a family physician in Nanaimo, BC. She has always been passionate about helping patients find the right health care according to the evidence and their needs and values, and she practices this daily with a focus on care of the elderly and palliative care. Dr Otte is deeply engaged in sharing this approach through continuing medical education, policy and medical leadership work, an active social media presence (@LessIsMoreMed), and teaching family practice residents.

Together with clinical expertise and patient values, Dr. Otte champions the values of the Therapeutics Initiative – rigorous and unbiased review of evidence –  in her quality improvement, policy, clinical guideline, and health technology assessment (HTA) contributions at the provincial and national levels.

Ciprian Jauca studied linguistics at the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (major in Romance Languages, minor in Germanistic Studies) from 1986 to 1990. In 1991 he earned an International Diploma of Business Management and Intercultural Communication from the University of Osnabruck, Germany. He speaks several languages and has worked as translator and simultaneous interpreter, as well as managing social development projects for non-profit organizations. Ciprian joined the Therapeutics Initiative at its inception in 1994. He is the Managing Editor for the Therapeutics Letter and has been the Program Coordinator for the Therapeutics Initiative from its inception in 1994 until 2018. He created the Therapeutics Initiative website in the late 1990s and has been serving as its webmaster. He has been involved in the international Cochrane Collaboration since 2001, serving as the Managing Editor for Cochrane Hypertension. He has been involved in the International Society of Drug Bulletins since 2003, was elected as a member of the Executive Committee in 2008 and was elected Secretary General of the organization in 2016. Ciprian served as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff (AAPS) at the University of British Columbia from 2011 to 2015. Ciprian is currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the Laurier Institution, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of Colibri Learning Foundation and Vice-Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’í Community of Canada.

Balraj (Benji) Heran received a B.Sc. (Hon.) in Physiology at the UBC and joined the TI in 2000. He recently graduated from the Ph.D. program in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, UBC. Under the supervision of Dr. Jim Wright, he conducted two systematic reviews of the dose-related blood pressure lowering efficacy of ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers for primary hypertension. Benji is also a contributing author of a number of systematic reviews and protocols published in the Cochrane Library. From 2003 to 2009 he has served on the editorial team of the Cochrane Collaboration Hypertension Review Group as the Trial Search Co-ordinator, since 2009 has been an Editor with the Cochrane Hypertension Group and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Cochrane Heart Group. He has a keen interest in cardiovascular research.

Originally from Montreal, Patrick studied pharmacology and obtained both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from McGill University. He took on several business development and management roles in the corporate world before dedicating his career to non-profit health research for advancement of medical sciences and the greater good. Prior to joining the Therapeutics Initiative, he was managing the extensive research portfolio of the cancer centre at Purdue University ranging from fundamental research to clinical trials. As the TI general manager, Patrick oversees daily operations, safeguards financial health, and provides strategic support to the working groups. What he appreciates the most working with the TI is its non-biased policy, openness to the world, and relentless pursuit of clinical evidence for drug therapy.

Tom graduated from McGill University Medical School in 1978.  After a rotating internship at Dalhousie University and internal medicine residency in Vancouver, he achieved Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.  He took additional training at the Karolinska Institute Department of Clinical Pharmacology in Stockholm 1986-87 and at UBC until 1989, when he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.  Tom served as Opposition Health Critic from 1989-1991, then as Minister for Advanced Education, Training & Technology from 1991-93, and as a government MLA from 1993-96.  These experiences alerted him to the importance of getting good value for money in health care, in order to maintain an effective universal health service in Canada.
After returning to clinical medicine in 1996, Tom practiced general internal medicine with sick patients at Delta Hospital, UBC Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital until 2014.  Until the end of 2021, he maintained an outpatient internal medicine practice focused on pharmacological treatment of chronic pain and reducing polypharmacy (deprescribing).  He continues to teach clinical pharmacology through seminars, lectures, special courses, and webinars presented throughout British Columbia. Tom has a special interest in the use of videography to teach students and health professionals about drugs and about human pathophysiology.

Tom co-chairs the Education Working Group and is Editor in Chief of the Therapeutics Letter. His other interests include wilderness canoeing and hiking, environmental conservation, peace and social justice issues, music, reading, and his wife (an experienced RN) and two children (geologist and NP). He likes continuous thinking and learning about medicine and drug therapy, and especially enjoys our interactions with smart and dedicated health care colleagues (students, MDs, pharmacists, NPs, nurses, PAs, and others) throughout B.C. and around the world.  As of early 2022 he’s helping vaccinate British Columbians against Covid19 and hoping that the benefits of good medical science are extended rapidly to everyone on Earth.

Colin Dormuth has extensive experience using administrative health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy changes and physician prescribing behaviour. He has been a member of the Therapeutics Initiative since 1995. His research focuses on drug safety and effectiveness, as well as the design and evaluation of reimbursement policies for prescription drugs. He has training in economic theory, applied econometrics, epidemiology, health services outcome research and biostatistics. Dr. Dormuth holds a Sc.D. and S.M. in epidemiology from Harvard University, an M.A. in economics from the University of Victoria, and a B.A. in economics from the University of Manitoba.

Ken Bassett conducts systematic reviews of the efficacy and safety of new and established drugs, as well as pharmaco-epidemiologic studies of serious adverse events associated with prescription drug therapy in British Columbia. His ongoing research interests are in the systematic review of drug therapy and drug funding policy.

James (Jim) Wright obtained his MD from the University of Alberta in 1968, his FRCP(C) in Internal Medicine in 1975 and his PhD in Pharmacology from McGill University in 1976. He worked as a specialist in Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology from 1997-2021. He served as the Co-Managing Director of the Therapeutics Initiative and Editor-in-Chief of the Therapeutics Letter from 1994-2020. He currently sits on the Editorial Boards of PLoSOne and the Cochrane Library.
Dr. Wright’s research focuses on issues related to appropriate use of prescription drugs (particularly antihypertensive and lipid lowering drugs), Clinical Pharmacology, clinical trials, systematic review, meta-analysis and knowledge translation.

Michael Law is the Canada Research Chair in Access to Medicines at the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on the affordability of medicines, the assessment of pharmaceutical policy changes, generic drug pricing, and the use of routine data for policy evaluation. Currently, his program of research includes studies in several countries, including Canada, Rwanda, Uganda, Namibia, and Colombia. His research results have been published in several leading medical journals and have received both major research awards and significant media coverage.

Dr. Ambasta is a general internist with a research focus on healthcare quality and patient safety. Having completed a medical degree and post-graduate training in general internal medicine at the University of Calgary, Dr. Ambasta pursued a Masters in Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with a focus on Clinical Effectiveness. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia. Her overall research program focuses on reduction of low-value services in health systems. She is a member of the Choosing Wisely Canada national expert group dedicated to reducing unnecessary laboratory testing. Her research work in low-value laboratory testing has been funded by Alberta Health Services, Choosing Wisely Alberta, Canadian Society of Internal Medicine, Alberta Health Services, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Her ongoing research projects include implementation of a multi-modal intervention bundle to reduce low-value laboratory testing across hospitals in Alberta and British Columbia, collaboration with a patient and family advisory council to engage patients with reduction of low-value use of health care resources and describing linkages between low value use of diagnostic testing and therapeutic use in healthcare systems.

Wade is a pharmacist and researcher working to ensure older persons are taking medications that are necessary, effective, safe, and consistent with their healthcare goals and treatment preferences. This primarily involves developing and evaluating strategies to stop medications when they are no longer a good fit (“deprescribing”). Wade approaches deprescribing and polypharmacy management research with a multi-methods approach, incorporating qualitative methods, pharmacoepidemiological methods, knowledge translation, and implementation science. He is also an investigator with the deprescribing.org initiative. Wade has worked clinically as a pharmacist in long-term care, geriatric outpatient clinics, and primary care clinics.

Greg Carney completed his doctorate in Pharmacology and Therapeutics, with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology at the University of British Columbia. His PhD thesis examined the comparative safety and effectiveness of medications commonly used to aid smoking cessation. Greg has worked for the Therapeutics Initiative since 2003, and is currently Co-Chair of the PharmacoEpidemiology Group (PEG). Greg has 20 years of experience in analysing health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy and program changes, and in conducting drug safety and effectiveness studies. His current research focus is on the implementation and evaluation of physician audit and feedback programs using randomized designed delay trials.

Dr. Anat Fisher has extensive experience using administrative health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy changes and the long-term effects of medication. She also conducts systematic reviews of the efficacy and safety of new and established drugs. Anat has been a member of the Therapeutics Initiative since 2006, and is currently Co-Chair of the PharmacoEpidemiology Group (PEG). She completed her PhD in Pharmacology and Therapeutics with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology at the University of British Columbia. Her PhD thesis examined the comparative persistence of tumor necrosis factor alpha antagonists in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Anat also holds an MD from the Hebrew University in Israel, and Master’s in Health Administration from the Tel Aviv University in Israel.

Dr. Aaron M Tejani, is a researcher/educator with the Therapeutics Initiative (co-chair of the Education Working Group, member of the Drug Assessment Working Group), clinical assistant professor with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (University of British Columbia), and Medication use evaluation pharmacist with Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services (Vancouver, BC). He completed his BSc(Pharm) at UBC (Vancouver) and Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Creighton University (Omaha, Nebraska).

Aaron is particularly interested in teaching healthcare professionals how to critically appraise evidence for medical interventions and how to use evidence in clinical practice/policy development. He is an author of a number of Therapeutics Letters.

Dr. Jessica Otte is a family physician in Nanaimo, BC. She has always been passionate about helping patients find the right health care according to the evidence and their needs and values, and she practices this daily with a focus on care of the elderly and palliative care. Dr Otte is deeply engaged in sharing this approach through continuing medical education, policy and medical leadership work, an active social media presence (@LessIsMoreMed), and teaching family practice residents.

Together with clinical expertise and patient values, Dr. Otte champions the values of the Therapeutics Initiative – rigorous and unbiased review of evidence –  in her quality improvement, policy, clinical guideline, and health technology assessment (HTA) contributions at the provincial and national levels.

Balraj (Benji) Heran received a B.Sc. (Hon.) in Physiology at the UBC and joined the TI in 2000. He recently graduated from the Ph.D. program in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, UBC. Under the supervision of Dr. Jim Wright, he conducted two systematic reviews of the dose-related blood pressure lowering efficacy of ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers for primary hypertension. Benji is also a contributing author of a number of systematic reviews and protocols published in the Cochrane Library. From 2003 to 2009 he has served on the editorial team of the Cochrane Collaboration Hypertension Review Group as the Trial Search Co-ordinator, since 2009 has been an Editor with the Cochrane Hypertension Group and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Cochrane Heart Group. He has a keen interest in cardiovascular research.

Carolyn’s research interests are organized around providing health care decision makers with research based as well as contextualized research. An active producer of health technology assessment (HTA) from 1992, she builds on a foundation of research synthesis methodologies, incorporating critical appraisal, meta-analysis, utilization analysis and decision analysis using data from administrative databases, systematic reviews and clinical trials.

Doctoral and postdoctoral training has added health informatics and qualitative research perspectives and approaches to her investigations into how knowledge is used in socio-technical systems. Carolyn has a BHSc(PT) from McMaster, a MSc from the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology at UBC, a PhD in Health Informatics from the University of Victoria, and has completed a CIHR sponsored postdoctoral fellowship in Knowledge Translation at the University of Alberta.

Barbara Mintzes is an Associate Professor at the School of Pharmacy and Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney. She has a PhD in epidemiology from the University of British Columbia (UBC; 2003) and was at the School of Population and Public Health at UBC before moving to Sydney in 2015. Her research is on pharmaceutical policy, including systematic reviews, observational research on regulatory policies, and drug utilization/ pharmacoepidemiology. She has studied the effects of direct-to-consumer advertising of medicines in the U.S. and Canada, and of the quality of information provided by sales representatives to family doctors in Canada, the U.S. and France. Barbara Mintzes and Colin Dormuth are jointly leading a research project that compares regulatory safety advisories on medicines over a 10-year period in Australia, Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Barbara has also worked for many years with consumer and women’s health organizations in Canada and internationally and is a member of the European network of Health Action International (HAI-Europe).

Cait O’Sullivan has a clinical pharmacy background in acute general medicine, residential care, and community practice. She received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Brunswick (Honours, Medical Anthropology), a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Dalhousie University, and a Doctor of Pharmacy Degree from the University of Washington. Cait has a research interest in the drug approval process and clinical practice guideline methodology.

Tom graduated from McGill University Medical School in 1978.  After a rotating internship at Dalhousie University and internal medicine residency in Vancouver, he achieved Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.  He took additional training at the Karolinska Institute Department of Clinical Pharmacology in Stockholm 1986-87 and at UBC until 1989, when he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.  Tom served as Opposition Health Critic from 1989-1991, then as Minister for Advanced Education, Training & Technology from 1991-93, and as a government MLA from 1993-96.  These experiences alerted him to the importance of getting good value for money in health care, in order to maintain an effective universal health service in Canada.
After returning to clinical medicine in 1996, Tom practiced general internal medicine with sick patients at Delta Hospital, UBC Hospital and Vancouver General Hospital until 2014.  Until the end of 2021, he maintained an outpatient internal medicine practice focused on pharmacological treatment of chronic pain and reducing polypharmacy (deprescribing).  He continues to teach clinical pharmacology through seminars, lectures, special courses, and webinars presented throughout British Columbia. Tom has a special interest in the use of videography to teach students and health professionals about drugs and about human pathophysiology.

Tom co-chairs the Education Working Group and is Editor in Chief of the Therapeutics Letter. His other interests include wilderness canoeing and hiking, environmental conservation, peace and social justice issues, music, reading, and his wife (an experienced RN) and two children (geologist and NP). He likes continuous thinking and learning about medicine and drug therapy, and especially enjoys our interactions with smart and dedicated health care colleagues (students, MDs, pharmacists, NPs, nurses, PAs, and others) throughout B.C. and around the world.  As of early 2022 he’s helping vaccinate British Columbians against Covid19 and hoping that the benefits of good medical science are extended rapidly to everyone on Earth.

Colin Dormuth has extensive experience using administrative health care databases to evaluate pharmaceutical policy changes and physician prescribing behaviour. He has been a member of the Therapeutics Initiative since 1995. His research focuses on drug safety and effectiveness, as well as the design and evaluation of reimbursement policies for prescription drugs. He has training in economic theory, applied econometrics, epidemiology, health services outcome research and biostatistics. Dr. Dormuth holds a Sc.D. and S.M. in epidemiology from Harvard University, an M.A. in economics from the University of Victoria, and a B.A. in economics from the University of Manitoba.

Ken Bassett conducts systematic reviews of the efficacy and safety of new and established drugs, as well as pharmaco-epidemiologic studies of serious adverse events associated with prescription drug therapy in British Columbia. His ongoing research interests are in the systematic review of drug therapy and drug funding policy.

James (Jim) Wright obtained his MD from the University of Alberta in 1968, his FRCP(C) in Internal Medicine in 1975 and his PhD in Pharmacology from McGill University in 1976. He worked as a specialist in Internal Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology from 1997-2021. He served as the Co-Managing Director of the Therapeutics Initiative and Editor-in-Chief of the Therapeutics Letter from 1994-2020. He currently sits on the Editorial Boards of PLoSOne and the Cochrane Library.
Dr. Wright’s research focuses on issues related to appropriate use of prescription drugs (particularly antihypertensive and lipid lowering drugs), Clinical Pharmacology, clinical trials, systematic review, meta-analysis and knowledge translation.