Sunnybrook appoints new VP, education

Following an extensive search, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Joshua Tepper as the new Vice President, Education for Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Dr. Tepper is a Family Physician and Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He comes to us from his current role as the Assistant Deputy Minister at the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Health Human Resources Strategy Division.

As an Assistant Deputy Minister, Dr. Tepper leads the HealthForceOntario health human resources strategy and has reporting responsibility to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities as well to Premier McGuinty on the "Family Health Care for All" Health Results Table.

Dr. Tepper has led the development of new education programs in areas of population need, and has guided the introduction of the province's first two programs for Physician Assistants, as well as Canada's first program for Nurse Practitioners with specialized skills in anaesthesia and training sites for Canada's first Anaesthesia Assistants and Registered Nurses with specialized training in colon cancer screening.

He has been the government lead for the major expansion of educational capacity for Midwifery, Nurse Practitioners, Medical Schools, Medical Residency Training and numerous Diagnostic and Laboratory Technician programs. He has also supported the use of technology in education including simulation equipment and creation of SIM/one. He is a champion for patient-centred, inter-professional education and care and has created the Offices of Inter-professional Education in every Ontario University with a medical school and nine other provincial universities and colleges with large health sciences programs.

With a degree in Public Policy from Duke University, Dr. Tepper has been involved in health policy and research relating to health human resources at both the provincial and national level. He is a graduate of McMaster University Medical School and he holds a Masters of Public Health from Harvard University. He is currently completing an Executive MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

In addition to his role as Sunnybrook's Vice President, Education, Dr. Tepper will be a member of the Sunnybrook Family Practice Team and will maintain his current work at Sanctuary, an inner-city health clinic for the homeless and marginalized.

Sunnybrook is proud to welcome such a renowned leader in this field to our team and we look forward to working with Dr. Tepper when he begins with us on February 14, 2011.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Peeter Poldre for serving Sunnybrook and the University of Toronto since 1993 when he was appointed Vice President of Health Sciences Education, which later became Vice President of Medical Education in 1998. Dr. Poldre also served as the inaugural Director of the Peters-Boyd Academy from 1994-2004.

Barry McLellan
President and CEO
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre