Centre for Health PolicyCHP Keynote Lecture: Professor Patrick Fafard on the contested role of Chief Medical - April 2023

The Centre for Health Policy recently hosted an international visit from Professor Patrick Fafard, a full professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ottawa and a Senior Investigator at the Global Strategy Lab, York University, Canada. Professor Fafard is a former civil servant in Canada so brings direct policy experiences to his research analysing health policy and public health leadership. His visit marked the final stages of a Government of Canada-funded project comparatively exploring the role of Chief Medical Officers in Australia, Canada and the UK, in which Centre for Health Policy Co-Director, Professor Kat Smith, and Associate Member, Dr Anna Macintyre, are both involved. As part of the visit, the Centre hosted a keynote lecture setting out the preliminary findings, for which Professor Sir Harry Burns (former CMO for Scotland and Chair of the Centre for Health Policy’s founding Steering Group) acted as an impromptu discussant, sharing his reflections on the findings from the perspective of someone who has first hand experience of the role.