Dr. Graham D. Sher, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Blood Services | October 13, 2015

The Empire Club of Canada Presents:

Dr. Graham D. Sher, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Blood Services With A Bridge Across Silos: Collaboration and Leadership for Innovation and Better Value in Health Care

While meaningful debate on health care has yet to make its way into the federal election, one thing that is not debatable is that good things happen when we collaborate for greater health care innovation, argues Dr. Graham Sher, CEO of Canadian Blood Services. Dr. Sher will share his organization’s unique perspective, as a publicly funded, national health service delivery organization, on how collaboration, integration and innovation can improve system performance and patient outcomes, as well as equity and access to care. Innovation in health care is not just about technology, it’s about thinking, acting and behaving differently. Dr. Sher will discuss how Canadian Blood Services’ various programs, such as nationally shared blood inventory, organ donation and transplantation registries and bulk purchasing of plasma derived drugs, are examples of what’s possible when we collaborate across provincial health system silos to benefit patients and deliver better value. One week prior to heading to the polls, we hope you will vote to join us for this important national perspective on health care reform.

Biography: Graham has been with Canadian Blood Services since it began operations in September 1998. He first served as vice president of medical, scientific and clinical management, and was appointed CEO in June 2001. Graham continues to lead Canadian Blood Services through an extensive, multi year transformation journey. The early phases of this transformation focused on a comprehensive service delivery model redesign to ensure safety, adequacy and modernization of systems. Leveraging these early changes, Canadian Blood Services’ current strategy positions the organization as a trusted partner in healthcare delivery across Canada and has at its roots a focus on quality excellence, sustainable efficiency and a committed, engaged workforce. Graham is a recognized expert in transfusion medicine and science, and is a sought after speaker both nationally and internationally. He sits on a number of blood system and healthcare related boards and advisory bodies, and has provided consulting support to other countries in the transformation of their blood systems. Graham is a founding member of the Alliance of Blood Operators and is the first international director on the board of the AABB, formerly the American Association of Blood Banks, serving as its president in 2013 and 2014. Beyond blood system governance, he is passionate about health system design and management, and is active in a number of areas of health system performance improvement and policy development. A hematologist by training, Graham acquired his medical and doctoral degrees at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and his specialty certification at the University of Toronto. He was formerly a physician and scientist on staff at the Toronto Hospital and on faculty at the University of Toronto. He is happily married, has three sons, and is constantly struggling to find more time for his other passion: photography

Speaker: Dr. Graham D. Sher, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Blood Service

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