About Us

Who We Are

The Network for Improving Health Systems is a collaboration between the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Dalla Lana School of Public Health. The Network is creating a strong engine for evidence and knowledge transfer around improving the health care system including evolving pharmacy practice and related health policy. It provides a crucial forum to identify opportunities in the health system for impactful change and to address barriers and challenges to innovation. 

The NIHS is housed at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy’s Centre for Practice Excellence (CPE). The CPE equips students and practitioners with the skills and confidence to move science and health forward and to give patients the best possible care. We believe that all health care and treatment should be patient-focused, supported by proven procedures and research practices. Our goal is to continue to improve the healthcare system by enhancing patient care and improving patient outcomes. 

Advisory Committee

  • Lisa Dolovich

    Professor and Dean, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto

  • Adalsteinn Brown

    Professor and Dean, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

  • Zubin Austin

    Professor and Academic Director, Centre for Practice Excellence, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto

  • Sacha Bhatia

    Senior Vice-President, Population Health & Value Based Systems, Ontario Health

  • Audrey Laporte

    Professor and Director of the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto

  • Vasanthi Srinivasan

    Executive Director, Ontario SPOR Support Unit

  • Karen Sullivan

    Senior Director, Academic and Health System Partnerships, Shoppers Drug Mart

What We Do

The Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Dalla Lana School of Public Health announced the Network for Improving Health Systems (NIHS) in November 2022.

The NIHS has two primary aims: 

  1. Building Capacity and Connection in the Health Care System 

  2. Mobilizing Knowledge for Transformative Policy Change 

Objectives

  • Study an expanded role of pharmacists in our primary health care system and identify how pharmacists can be part of a bigger health system that is organized around the patient; 

  • Fund research that catalyzes changes to the primary health care system; 

  • Strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration and capacity building between Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and Dalla Lana School of Public Health; 

  • Stimulate opportunities for additional funding from external sources that can build on the research proposed; and 

  • Build capacity in health services and policy research focused on improving the health care system.

Donor Support

The NIHS is supported by the following organizations:

Founding Donor

  • Shoppers Drug Mart

Donors

  • Sanofi

  • McKesson

  • GSK

  • Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto