Governance Committee

Professor and Chair of the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University since 2006 and was Chief of Family Medicine at Hamilton Health Sciences from 2004-2018, David Price has been the executive lead on the Health TAPESTY project since its inception. While most of his career has been as a comprehensive family physician in major urban centres (including Vancouver and Hamilton), he is proud of the fact that he gained significant clinical experience in a number of rural and northern communities. During his tenure as Chair of the Department, he has overseen substantial growth such that it now graduates 100 family medicine residents annually, has a full-time faculty of over 40 with approximately 1,400 part-time faculty and 200 staff. The research enterprise within the department has also grown proportionately, with approximately $19 Million managed annually and is recognized both nationally and internationally for its work in primary care.

Through his leadership roles at the University and Hospital, and his involvement with local, regional, and provincial government bodies where he acts as a consultant and advisor, he has developed expertise in primary care reform and health care policy development.  As the Chair of the Provincial (Ontario) Expert Advisory Panel on Primary Care (2013-2014) he was instrumental in helping produce “Patient Care Groups:  A new model of population based primary health care for Ontario” (“Price Report”).  Locally, he was the founding director of the Maternity Centre of Hamilton; a multidisciplinary centre that cares for prenatal and intrapartum patients. Dr. Price was also instrumental in helping to create the academic Family Health Team at McMaster University, an interprofessional team, currently serving over 40,000 patients in the Hamilton area.  He was a key player in the development of the $ 85 Million, David Braley Health Sciences Centre, a six-story, 185,000 ^{sq. ft.} home for Family Medicine and Hamilton Public Health in the downtown core.  He has participated in over $6M in peer reviewed research funding (> $1M as lead) and has been the lead in over $15 M of other funding from a variety of Governments and Agencies. David has authored over 35 peer reviewed publications  ( half of these as either lead or senior author).

In April 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, he was tasked with chairing the Primary Care Advisory Table on behalf of Ontario’s Ministry of Health.

Dr. Dee Mangin is the David Braley Chair and Professor in Family Medicine at McMaster University. Her interests are rational prescribing, polypharmacy, patient centred care and innovative models of primary care. She has wide experience in clinical research in primary care including pragmatic randomized trials. She is a Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. In 2011 she received their Distinguished Service Medal.

Dr. Mangin sits on the Section of Researchers’ Council with the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and is a member of the Integrated Patient Safety Action Plan Medication Safety Leads Group, Patients for Patient Safety Canada. She is the Director of MUSIC, the McMaster University Sentinel and Information Collaboration practice-based research network, and the Medical Director and cofounder of RxISK.org a website for consumer information and reporting of drug adverse reactions.

Tracey Carr is the Executive Director of the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University, a capacity in which she provides leadership in the strategic and operational management of education, research, clinical services and e-health innovations of the Department.  Tracey also fulfills a part-time faculty role within the Department as the Lead, Academic-Industry Collaboration.  Tracey is a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Business Administration in Health Services Management from McMaster.

In her career, Tracey has collaborated effectively with diverse stakeholders and demonstrated skill in facilitating changes in process across systems, academic institutions and health care organizations. She was a founding member of the Senior Executive Team of the Trillium Gift of Life Network, an agency established by the Province of Ontario to promote and facilitate increased organ and tissue donation. As Administrative Director of McMaster’s School of Nursing, she was instrumental in strengthening collaboration within the Nursing Education Consortium comprised of McMaster University, Mohawk College and Conestoga College.

Since joining the Department of Family Medicine in 2010, Tracey’s leadership has been integral to its success. In every aspect of operations, Tracey has led organizational and service redesign to improve both experience and outcomes for learners, patients, faculty and staff, and to ensure ongoing sustainability.  She has also been instrumental in establishing and nurturing relationships locally to nationally which have extended the Department’s strategic impact.

Within the digital health space, Tracey led the creation of a not-for-profit organization, OSCAR EMR, and its achievement of ISO 13485 certification, enabling OSCAR to become one of the top three electronic medical records used by clinicians in Canada.  She has also been a leader and advocate in pursuing the vision of an integrated patient experience of the digital health ecosystem.  Reflecting her skill and passion for enabling better health and enhanced practice through technology, Tracey has fulfilled a digital health lead role in addition to her executive oversight role for McMaster’s TAPESTRY initiative since its inception.

Tracey believes strongly in the transformative potential of people working together for a common purpose. Her professional background in health and business administration, her leadership experience, and her skill in conceptualizing and implementing solutions to health and health system needs have, together, enabled her success in these roles.

Dr. Cathy Risdon is a Professor and Vice Chair and Director of Health Services in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster.  She was the first holder of the David Braley-Nancy Gordon Endowed Chair in Family Medicine. In that role she developed innovations in education, clinical service and research relating to the doctor-patient and interdisciplinary team relationships, including the co-creation of the Professional Competency curriculum in the McMaster MD Programme.

She has completed a Doctor of Management in Organizational Change and the University of Hertfordshire where her research explored themes of excellence and improvisation within curriculum design and implementation. Dr. Risdon draws upon principles of complexity and organizational change in her work within the faculty to create excellence in interprofessional care and education within clinical and academic settings.

Dr. Risdon has contributed to over 4 million dollars of research grants, primary in work supporting interprofessional care and reducing the harms of too much medical intervention.

She has conducted training and consultations across North America for primary care and community-based agencies wishing to improve their capacity for effective team and interprofessional collaborations.  She most recently facilitated the city wide process to secure Hamilton Health Team project approval, the first step for achieving broad, system wide health and service delivery integration.

Dr. Risdon graduated from McMaster’s MD Programme in 1992. Her clinical practice is located at McMaster Family Practice.

Ruta Valaitis joined McMaster University in 1987 as a part-time Lecturer in the School of Nursing. She is presently an Associate Professor in the School and the Dorothy C. Hall Chair in Primary Health Care Nursing.

Ruta has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Windsor; a Master of Health Science from McMaster University; and a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Toronto.

Her primary research interests are in health services research; primary health care; public health nursing (youth health and school health); interprofessional and intersectoral collaboration; computer applications in health promotion; participatory research; e-health and health promotion; e-learning in health sciences education; qualitative research methods; Photovoice; Q-methodology; case study; and use of NVIVO 8 and 9 for cross case comparisons. Currently, Ruta is a Principal Investigator for a CHSRF funded multisite program of research exploring collaborations between primary care and public health. This program of research aims to use novel research methodologies, such as social network analysis and concept mapping, to explore the processes and impact of public health policy renewal.

Her research interests include the patient perspective about using or deciding to use medications, pharmacist integration into primary care practice, continuity of healthcare, pharmacy and health services practice research, and evaluating the clinical and policy relevance of interventions that can improve prescribing and patient medication taking behaviour. She holds research grants mainly from government and academic sources, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

As the Managing Director, Research Enterprise, Pam Forsyth provides strategic oversight, financial management and operational planning to the Department’s research initiatives.

Pam’s expertise is in planning and evaluating strategic health initiatives, facilitating systems change and managing teams to maximize their potential. She has held senior management positions in health promotion, health communications and knowledge translation. Before joining McMaster DFM, Pam was the Managing Director of the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, a federally funded organization with a mandate for building capacity for Knowledge Translation in Public Health across Canada. Prior to that, Pam Managed the Community Relations Division with Halton Region and the Health Promotion and Communications program with the Halton Region Health Department.

Pam is a Registered Dietitian and holds a Master’s degree in Health Promotion from the University of Toronto.

Larkin Lamarche came to the Department of Family Medicine in 2015 after completing a PhD in exercise sciences at the University of Toronto and post-doctoral work at Brock University. They are a Research Associate and Assistant Professor (part-time). Their research also focuses on body image experiences from a biopsychosocial perspective. Their current work seeks to understand how body image is understood by primary health care providers and manifests in people who use the primary health care system. Larkin brings experience in exercise and health psychology, as well as various research methods, to the department and TAPESTRY team. They teach courses related to aging, mental health and the continuum of care in the Department of Health, Aging and Society at McMaster. They are a softie for animals and will talk about pets to anyone in the office who will listen. If they could wear shorts year-round, they would.

As a Program Manager, Julie Datta provides operational oversight to the Health TAPESTRY program and is the primary liaison for implementation sites across Ontario.

Julie brings over ten years’ experience in health promotion, volunteer engagement, and community development to the Health TAPESTRY team. Prior to joining the Department of Family Medicine in 2017, Julie was a Program Manager at the Canadian Cancer Society, where she oversaw the delivery of a peer-education program promoting cancer screening within under-served communities across Ontario. Julie was also a Health Promoter at the Halton Region Health Department where she implemented and evaluated health promotion strategies to achieve chronic disease prevention.

Julie holds a Bachelor of Social Work from York University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Waterloo.

Samina Talat has over 25 years of international and local experience across a variety of health sectors. Samina received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Education & a Masters of Science in Psychology from Pakistan. After completing her education, she worked in the acute and community health sectors, across rural and urban Pakistan, prior to immigrating with her family to Canada in 1998.

In her initial years of settlement in Canada, Samina worked and volunteered in the community and social sectors. Upon completion of a 3-year term at Victorian Order of Nurses, Samina pursued a Masters of Health Sciences in Health Administration from the University of Toronto and achieved her Certified Health Executive from the Canadian College of Health Leaders. She subsequently completed a Diploma in Advanced Health Leadership from the Rotman School of Management, at the University of Toronto and a Diploma in Clinical Services Management from Schulich School of Business at York University.

Samina’s journey across the Canadian Healthcare system has led her through gaining valuable experiences at GTA hospitals, LHIN, grassroot organizations, CHC and CCAC. She has also continued to volunteer widely across the sector. Samina is currently appointed as the Associate Vice President, Health Innovation at the Canadian Red Cross.