Programs

To promote lively discussion and informed action, the Forum convenes a number of different types of events. Some are open to the public, while others are off-the-record. For all events, materials are made publicly available after the event to continue the discussion and promote action.
 
Stakeholder Dialogues icon

Stakeholder Dialogues bring together policymakers, leaders, citizens and researchers for off-the-record deliberations about pressing health challenges. While discussions are off-the-record, materials produced before and after a specific dialogue are made publicly available on the Forum's website and promoted widely.

    Topic: Specialty clinics

    Recent activities:

      Event name: Dialogue: Addressing Student Mental Health Needs at McMaster University
      Geographic type: Local
      Topic: Mental health
      Audience: Stakeholders, Students, Researchers
      Date: April 10, 2013
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417
      Event name: Building Momentum in Using Avoidable Mortality Indicators in Canada
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Avoidable Mortality
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: February 15, 2013
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Preventing Suicide in Canada
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Suicide
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: November 9, 2012
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Promoting Healthy Weights Using Population-based Interventions in Canada
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Healthy weights
      Audience: Stakeholders
      Date: September 17, 2012
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Coordinating the Use of Genetic Tests and Related Services in British Columbia
      Geographic type: Provincial
      Topic: Genetics
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: June 19, 2012
      Location: Vancouver, British Columbia

      Products

      Event name: Expanding Uptake of Hospital-based Tobacco-use Cessation Supports Across Ontario
      Geographic type: Provincial
      Topic: Tobacco cessation
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: January 18, 2012
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Organizing a Care System for Older Adults in Ontario
      Geographic type: Provincial
      Topic: Aging in Ontario
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: November 14, 2011
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Measuring Health System Efficiency
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Health system efficiency
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: November 7, 2011
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Supporting Neighbourhood-based Approaches to Addressing Poverty Concentration and its Impacts on Health in Hamilton
      Geographic type: Local
      Topic: Poverty and health
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: October 6, 2011
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Addressing the Integration of Clinical Nurse Specialists and Nurse Practitioners in Acute Healthcare Settings in Canada
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Advanced practice nursing
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: July 7, 2011
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Addressing the Integration of Nurse Practitioners in Primary Healthcare Settings in Canada
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Advanced practice nursing
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: July 6, 2011
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Addressing Health and Emerging Global Issues in Canada
      Geographic type: International
      Topic: Global Health
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: May 12, 2011
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Engaging Health Systems Decision-makers in Supporting Comprehensive Chronic Pain Management in Provincial and Territorial Healthcare Systems in Canada
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Chronic pain management
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: April 11, 2011
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Enhancing Patient Transitions from Treatment in Regional Cancer Centres
      Geographic type: Local
      Topic: Cancer care delivery
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: April 5, 2011
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Supporting Quality Improvement in Primary Healthcare in Ontario
      Geographic type: Provincial
      Topic: Primary healthcare
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: June 21, 2010
      Location: Health Sciences Centre

      Products

      Event name: Developing a Rural Health Strategy in Saskatchewan
      Geographic type: Provincial
      Topic: Rural health
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: June 17, 2010
      Location: Regina, Saskatchewan

      Products

      Event name: Addressing Housing Challenges Faced by People with HIV in Ontario
      Geographic type: Local
      Topic: Housing for people with HIV/AIDS
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: June 1, 2010
      Location: Health Sciences Centre

      Products

      Event name: Strengthening Primary Healthcare in Canada
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Primary healthcare
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: January 8, 2010
      Location: Health Sciences Centre

      Products

      Event name: Supporting Chronic Pain Management across Provincial and Territorial Health Systems in Canada
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Chronic pain management
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: December 9, 2009
      Location: McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417

      Products

      Event name: Engaging Civil Society in Supporting Research Use in Health Systems
      Geographic type: International
      Topic: Civil society engagement
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: November 23, 2009
      Location: Health Sciences Centre

      Products

      Event name: Optimizing Diabetes Management in Ontario
      Geographic type: Provincial
      Topic: Diabetes management
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: November 5, 2009
      Location: Health Sciences Centre

      Products

      Event name: Strengthening Chronic Disease Management in Ontario
      Geographic type: Provincial
      Topic: Chronic disease management
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: October 19, 2009
      Location: Health Sciences Centre

      Products

      Event name: Strengthening Primary Healthcare in Canada
      Geographic type: National
      Topic: Primary healthcare
      Audience: Stakeholders, Researchers
      Date: May 11, 2009
      Location: Health Sciences Centre

      Products

Citizen panels icon

Citizen Panels engage groups of 15 to 18 people in off-the-record discussions about health challenges. Background briefs and summaries of the discussions are posted on the Forum's website.

    Faculty-led dialogue and debates icon

    Faculty-led Dialogue and Debates are directed by faculty and address scientific issues arising in the study of pressing health challenges. Events are open to the public and no specialized knowledge is required to understand and join the discussion.

        Recent activities:

        Student-led dialogue and debates icon

        Student-led Dialogue and Debates: Dialogues and debates, planned by students are public events that focus on highly topical health challenges of concern to students and the general public. These events are aimed at the lay public.

            Recent activities:

              Event name: Debate: Evidence-Based Medicine remains the leading force in improving patient care
              Topic: Evidence-based medicine
              Speaker Biography: Dr. Gordon Guyatt, a professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University, is well-known for his work on EBM and has written extensively on the topic. Dr. Victor Montori, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Minnesota and lead investigator in the Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit at the Mayo Clinic, studied EBM under Dr. Guyatt in the early 2000s.
              Description: The two speakers will provide opposing views on the state of EBM and its role in 21st century medicine.
              Audience: Stakeholders, Students
              Date: March 31, 2011
              Time: 19:00 -- 20:30
              Location: (MHF) McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417
              Event name: 'Ill-Informed' The Future of Universal Healthcare in Canada
              Topic: Canadian medicare system
              Speaker Biography: Michael Rachlis is a private consultant in health policy analysis who has provided advice to the federal government, all 10 provincial governments and two royal commissions. Christopher Longo is an assistant professor in McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business, and has more than 20 years of industry and academic experience in clinical research, economic evaluation, and market access strategies for pharmaceuticals.
              Description: With the expiration of the First Ministers' Accord on Healthcare Renewal in 2014 and the aging of the Canadian population, the future of Canada's healthcare system is gaining increasing attention in political and public arenas. The panel discussion features two experts with extensive experience in studying various aspects of the healthcare system, who will discuss the benefits and risks of altering some of the features of Canada's medicare, and engage with the audience on questions and concerns regarding the current medicare framework.
              Audience: Stakeholders, Students
              Date: March 22, 2011
              Time: 18:30 -- 20:00
              Location: (MHF) McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417
              Event name: Government Relations: How to Get Noticed
              Topic: Government relations
              Speaker Biography: Andrea Burton is a consultant with more than a decade of experience in strategic communications and public and media relations. She most recently worked as communications director for the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, and prior to that was a writer and policy analyst with the Government of British Columbia.
              Description: This event will provide student leaders at McMaster with a step-by-step guide to help them get an issue onto a government agenda. Topics include how to develop a strategy to get their message noticed, how to determine their target audience, how to frame the message, and what communications tools to utilize to garner the attention of influential leaders.
              Audience: Students
              Date: March 2, 2011
              Time: 18:00 -- 21:00
              Location: (MHF) McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417
              Event name: Media Relations Workshop
              Geographic type: Local
              Topic: Media Relations
              Audience: Students
              Date: February 10, 2011
              Time: 10:00 -- 13:00
              Location: (MHF) McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417
              Event name: The Impact of Media on Women's Health and Wellness
              Topic: Women's health
              Speaker Biography: Dr. Marla Shapiro is a family physician and a specialist in community medicine. She is also the medical consultant for CTV National News and Canada AM, hosts the show Balance: Television for Living Well, and has a column in The Globe and Mail. She is author of a book chronicling her battle with breast cancer, entitled Life in the Balance: My Journey with Breast Cancer. Dr. Shapiro received the 2005 Media Award from the North American Menopause Society for her work in expanding the understanding of menopause, and won the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada/Canadian Foundation for Women's Health Award for Excellence in Women's Health Journalism in 2006 for her documentary Run Your Own Race.
              Audience: Community, Stakeholders, Students
              Date: March 8, 2010
              Location: (HSC) Health Sciences Centre
              Event name: HIV/AIDS and Grass-Roots Activism
              Topic: Civil society engagement
              Speaker Biography: Ron Rosenes is vice-chair of the Canadian Treatment Action Council, a national organization serving the needs of people living with AIDS. He has been an active member of the HIV/AIDS community in Toronto since 1991, and previously served as chair of the AIDS Committee of Toronto. He is chair of the Community Network Advisory Committee of the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, and has worked on the steering committee of the Canada AIDS Russia Program.
              Audience: Community, Stakeholders, Students
              Date: November 24, 2009
              Time: 15:00 -- 16:30
              Location: (HSC) Health Sciences Centre
          Public talks icon

          Public talks feature guest speakers from the frontiers of efforts to address pressing health challenges.

              Recent activities:

                Event name: Global Health Advocacy: The power of community
                Topic: Global Health
                Speaker Biography: Jacqui Lunday is the Chief Health Professions Officer for Scotland?s health department. Based within the Directorate of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions, she works closely with colleagues from across a range of departments including health, education and social care. She provides advice to ministers and the government on professional matters affecting all 60 health professions, adult rehabilitation and the development and implementation of related policy areas.
                Description: This lecture will focus on opportunities and challenges facing the international community in meeting global health needs. Issues such as health workforce capacity and development, and the provision of affordable, sustainable health care services for the future, will be addressed.
                Audience: Students
                Date: March 14, 2011
                Time: 18:00 -- 19:30
                Location: (MHF) McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417
                Event name: Health Systems and the Global Agenda: After going up, must it come down?
                Topic: Global Health
                Speaker Biography: Sara Bennett is an associate professor in the Health Systems Program at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
                Description: The significance of health systems strengthening among global health policymakers, and how the issue has gained political priority to a position at the top of the global health agenda will be explored. This lecture will trace the evolution and underlying causes of the current global focus on health systems, and will situate this trend within the longer term narrative of global health debates.
                Audience: Students
                Date: March 9, 2011
                Time: 18:30 -- 20:00
                Location: (MHF) McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417
                Event name: Speech Acts, Social Reality and the Securitization of Global Health
                Topic: Global health
                Speaker Biography: Clifton van der Linden is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto and a research fellow with the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Free University Amsterdam. He is a former journalist with the National Post and past-chair of the G8 Research Group at the Munk School of Global Affairs.
                Description: This lecture will focus on the motivations and means of framing health as a national and global security issue. The increasing securitization of global health discourse and the impact of security language on domestic and global responses to health issues will be explored.
                Audience: Students
                Date: February 9, 2011
                Time: 18:00 -- 19:30
                Location: (MHF) McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417
                Event name: The Role of Human Rights in Achieving Global Health Equity
                Topic: Global Health
                Speaker Biography: Lisa Forman is director of the Comparative Program on Health and Society, and the Lupina assistant professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She specializes in human rights law relating to HIV/AIDS, health and medicines, with a particular interest in human rights can influence trade-related intellectual property rights, and positively impact on access to affordable medicines. She has a BA and LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, a master's in human rights studies from Columbia University, and a Doctorate in Juridical Science from U of T's Faculty of Law.
                Description: An exploration of the contributions that human rights can make to the achievement of global health equity, looking in particular at the outcomes of the experience with AIDS medicines.
                Audience: Students
                Date: November 17, 2010
                Time: 18:00 -- 19:30
                Location: (MHF) McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace, MML 417
                Event name: Unique work supporting evidence-based practice with Dr. Claire Harris
                Topic: Evidence-based medicine
                Speaker Biography: Dr. Claire Harris is the Director of the Centre for Clinical Effectiveness at Southern Health, the largest health service in Victoria. Following a career in clinical practice, Claire became a public health physician who is passionate about evidence-based practice. She has extensive expertise in undertaking systematic reviews and developing, implementing and evaluating clinical guidelines. Claire is particularly interested in EBP education, capacity-building and evidence-based policy making. During her visit to the McMaster Health Forum, Claire will be exploring research frameworks and use of evidence in the policy-making context.
                Description: This presentation followed the evolutionary journey of the Centre for Clinical Effectiveness (CCE), an Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Support Unit within Southern Health, from conception, through childhood into its current adolescence. The unit is one of only a few of its type around the world.
                Audience: Community, Stakeholders, Students
                Date: September 29, 2010
                Time: 15:30 -- 16:30
                Location: (MHF) McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace
                Event name: Civil Society Engagement in Health Enquiries, Advocacy and Action to Strengthen Health Systems: Lessons from India
                Topic: Civil society engagement
                Speaker Biography: Thelma Narayan, a public health consultant at the Centre for Public Health and Equity (CPHE) in Bangalore India, has extensive international experience in research and policymaking for health care systems. She has a M.Sc. in epidemiology and a PhD in Public Health Policy Analysis from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She co-founded the Community Health Cell in India, and was instrumental in establishing the Society for Community Health Awareness and Research Action, of which CPHE is a unit. She has also been actively involved at the national and global levels of the Peoples' Health Movement.
                Audience: Community, Stakeholders
                Date: November 23, 2009
                Time: 17:00 -- 18:00
                Location: (MDCL) Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning
            Simulations courses icon

            Forum-linked Courses include a simulation course that offers students the opportunity to participate in simulated meetings of high-level health system organizations, and global health courses which give students the chance to examine and appreciate the dynamics of global health decision-making.

              Recent activities:

                Event name: Health Science 4LD3 - Global Health Governance, Law and Politics 2013
                Description: Students survey contemporary issues and debates in global health governance from an interdisciplinary perspective. Theory converges with practice as students examine the historical development of global health, its regulatory framework (e.g., global health law, human rights and ethics), principal coordinating mechanisms (e.g., multilateral organizations, partnerships and diplomacy) and emerging challenges to its effective governance (e.g., multinational corporations, corruption, globalization, trade and intellectual property). Canada?s global health statecraft is also explored.
                Prerequisite for this course is registration in Level III or above in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program or Arts & Science Program, or permission of the instructor. Please email the McMaster Health Forum (mhf@mcmaster.ca) for more information.
                Audience: Students
                Date: January 11, 2013
                Time: 11:30 -- 14:30
                Event name: Health Science 4YY3 - Health Forum Practicum 2013
                Description: Students will come to understand the types of decisions that can have an impact on health, the roles of different organizations involved in making these decisions, and the types of influences on these decisions. To accomplish this, students will organize, prepare for, and participate in a variety of simulations, including: hospital, Local Health Integration Network and WHO board meetings, as well as provincial and federal cabinet meetings.
                Prerequisite: Registration in Level III or above and permission of instructor. To obtain the permission of the instructor, please submit a brief (2-3 sentence) description of why you are interested in taking the course and a personal statement that you commit to registering in the course if granted admission to the course. An accurate understanding of who is planning to register for the course is required in order to allocate the roles for simulations over the entire semester and to plan for the set-up of the McMaster Health Forums new technology-enabled DialogueSpace where the course will take place . If you think that you may change your mind about taking the course, please do not ask to be considered for admission. Please forward the description/personal statement to Julie Baird (jbaird@mcmaster.ca).
                Audience: Students
                Date: January 10, 2013
                Time: 11:30 -- 14:30
                Event name: Health Science 4ZZ3 - Global Health Advocacy 2012
                Description: Students will develop an understanding of the complexity of today's most pressing global health challenges and the ways that various actors work to overcome them. Global health is not studied as an altruistic goal, but rather as a complex domain of political praxis with an ever-expanding cast of players, divergent interests and hidden agendas. The focus is on the factors that drive global health decision-making and the various advocacy tools used by individual champions, civil society organizations, national governments and United Nations agencies to effectively influence it.
                Prerequisites for this course are registration in Level III or above in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program or Arts & Science Program, or permission of the instructor. Please email the McMaster Health Forum (mhf@mcmaster.ca) for more information.
                Audience: Students
                Date: September 15, 2012
                Time: 11:30 -- 14:30
            Fellows icon

            Our Fellows Program offers McMaster undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to spend a year at the Forum meeting and working with influential doers and thinkers on the frontiers of health research and action.

                Visiting leaders icon

                Visiting Leaders can spend a residency period at the Forum, and contribute to Forum events and conduct research on our Stakeholder Dialogues and Citizen Panels.

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