On March 23rd, the Minister of Industry, Tony Clement, came to Ivey to announce a $5 million investment in a new centre for health innovation and leadership. The Ivey atrium was booming with students, faculty, staff, guests, the media, and medical equipment! At a time when much of the news is gloom, it was rather refreshing to hear positive news.
The Centre will address the deficit in innovation that exists in Canada in the adoption of new technologies, processes, and procedures. The Health Sector MBA is already addressing the human shortage that exists in our system by taking our world-class doctors, researchers, and other health professionals and training them with management and entrepreneurship skills. The new Centre will allow Ivey to go one step further in the training of our highly skilled health professionals while working to bring new technologies to market.
The presence of researchers from the Robarts Research Institute and the Stiller Centre and their leading-edge equipment was a testament to the innovations that exist in Canada and the role that the University of Western Ontario (UWO) plays. With the Ivey Centre for Health Innovation and Leadership (ICHIL), we’re able to bridge the gap and take innovations fromd4 ideas to market much faster. Not only will Ivey and UWO play a larger role on the world stage through ICHIL, but it will give a much needed boost in innovation to our health care system.
We often hear about the “brain-drain” in Canadian health care. Many attribute it to the lack of financial incentive for medical professionals to practise in this country. I remember watching a documentary some years ago that followed several medical professionals who had left Canada for practice in the United States. By far, their reasons for leaving were the lack of innovation and technology in Canada. Regardless of how great Michael Moore may paint our system to look, if those who work in it don’t feel confident with the resources at their disposal, it will be difficult to retain the best minds.
I’m obviously (and selfishly) excited about ICHIL because of the impact it will have on the Health Sector MBA – we will be establishing a Chair in Health Innovation and an entire self-sustaining centre at Ivey. But the potential difference it can have on our health care, in general, is tremendous. We’re creating a means to bring together Canada’s research and engineering strengths with its entrepreneurial advantage to take ideas and concepts from the lab and change the way medicine and health are practiced.