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When we experience a pivotal moment in our lifes or an abudance of stress, it’s not uncommon to feel like our lives are unravelling. And there is no single approach that is right for everyone, but sharing my journey, the lessons I’ve learnt, and everything in between has helped me to continue moving forward. I like to find positives in negative situations, and view challenges as learning opportunities.
I have an educational background in Health Sciences & Pre Hospital Care. I’ve been a part of The Ottawa Hospital Emergency Dept, Administrative team for the past 26 years. As a Coordinator I’ve had the opportunity to engage in multiple initiatives & committees to help our team provide the best service to our patients and their families.
Dean is a veteran of The Royal Canadian Navy, his experiences and professional competencies, are gain through 25 years of service to the Canadian Forces Logistics Branch and his over 14 years of volunteer community service work. His employment has been in a wide range of working environments both in Canada and internationally.
It’s important to Dean to self-identify as a member of Toronto’s queer community who is HIV positive having complex medical and mental health challenges, who navigates a mild to moderate cognitive impairment. Due to challenges with his diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, Dean was medically released from the Canadian Forces finding himself challenged navigating a healthcare system unfamiliar to him. His personal journey, both successes and challenges, has inspired his passion to become an advocate for collaborative people-centred holistic community healthcare.
Dean is a board member of Casey House Hospital, an active Community Advisor to the Downtown East Toronto, Ontario Health Team (DET OHT), and the Addictions & Mental Health Ontario Person with Lived and Living Experience Advisory Panel.
He was the inaugural Chair of the DET OHT Community Advisory Council and Co-Led Community Engagement Strategies. In addition, Dean is actively involved in community research projects with the HQ Toronto (Innovative Approach to Treating Methamphetamine use), Sinai Health (Co-Author, Culturally Appropriate Care for Diverse Older Adults Living with HIV) and has participated in various peer support programing in the area of Mental Health and Addictions and Skills for Safer Living.
“I want to acknowledge, I come from a place privilege, my story is unique to me, I recognize I may have similar challenges to others and our access to services may vary significantly – I want to commit to learning and assisting with breaking down barriers and those oppressions that impede the provision of equitable access to Healthcare. I firmly believe mental and physical Healthcare spans over a lifetime and Community Healthcare should be, equitable, easy to navigate with seamless access to services, when it is needed, without delay” - Dean Valentine
From 15 to 23 Dan survived life on the streets which he finally escaped through an overdose and a rescue by the Addiction Research Foundation. Many people experiencing homelessness including Dan began the Homeless Coalition of ST Thomas (“THC of ST T”) where he has been a frontline peer supporter for the past six years. Dan achieved 30 years of sobriety in various lengths; he is the proud father of 6 wonderful children; and recently graduated from the Fanshawe Paralegal program.
Madeleine has over 6 years of personal and professional experience supporting system change initiatives within local, provincial, and national mental health systems. Madeleine completed a Bachelor of Social Work at McMaster University and most recently worked as a community engagement specialist for Stepped Care Solutions, a national not-for-profit mental health system consultancy group.
Driven by their own experiences with mental health and system navigation, Madeleine is a fierce advocate for equitable access to high quality mental healthcare for all. Madeleine is passionate about service user engagement, advancing equity in mental health spaces, and disrupting the status quo. Madeleine draws inspiration from the famous Maya Angelou quote: ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.’In their free time, Madeleine enjoys exploring Hamilton’s beautiful trails, trying new foods, and listening to music.
Dr. Ben Chan is Assistant Professor of Global Health at the University of Toronto and a leading figure in Canada on strategy and leadership for healthcare quality. Dr. Chan was the inaugural CEO of the Health Quality Councils of Saskatchewan (2003-2007) and Ontario (2007-2012). In recognition of his work in spearheading improvement initiatives in chronic disease management, patient safety and public reporting on quality, Dr. Chan was named in 2006 Canada’s Outstanding Young Health Executive.
Dr. Chan is a consultant at the World Bank and has worked with the WHO and foreign governments in 25 countries spanning 5 continents. He advised on the national quality strategies for Georgia, Uzbekistan & Kyrgyzstan and led or supported quality improvement projects on hypertension, diabetes and childhood growth in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and several Caribbean states. He is currently developing for the World Bank a tool to assess quality improvement capacity at a national level to identify priorities for investment.
Dr. Chan is also an experienced primary care and emergency department physician and has worked in over seventy rural communities across Canada. He was also the former physician for a remote First Nations community in Northwest Ontario where he helped establish opioid addiction treatment services. He holds a BSc and MD (Toronto), Master of Public Health (Harvard) and Master of Public Affairs (Princeton).
Danyal Martin is the Director of Clinical Programs at the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence at Ontario Health.
In this role, Danyal and her team (in collaboration with clinical experts and people with lived experience) are responsible for the development and adoption of clinical performance standards, guidelines, and best practices, along with associated performance metrics.
She has been with the Centre since its early days. Before that, she supported other provincial quality improvement programs at Ontario Health.
Prior to joining Ontario Health, Danyal worked with primary care teams and organizations across the province to improve quality and patient safety, using data and quality improvement techniques.
Anna is a highly regarded member of Ontario Health’s senior leadership team, serving in a number of roles since the organization’s beginning. She served as the inaugural Chief of Strategy and Planning and as Chief Regional Officer, Toronto and East, for over two years. She has also held the role of Executive Lead, Equity, Inclusion, Diversity and Anti-Racism. She has a track record of success, excelling in each role.
Anna has led a number of strategic and corporate initiatives and was instrumental in support of Ontario’s Health’s system response to the COVID 19 pandemic. Her commitment to actively listening, engaging and educating has helped Ontario Health better recognize and address barriers to equity.
A former president of Health Quality Ontario, Anna championed improved performance monitoring, public reporting and clinical standards. Prior to that Anna served in policy and strategic roles in the cancer system and at the Ministry of Health.
As Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, Anna serves as a strategic partner with the CEO, the Board and senior leadership counterparts, providing additional leadership support to our corporate services. She works closely with senior government officials and health system leaders to continue to shape and drive Ontario Health’s vision, mission and values.
Camille Quenneville is the CEO of Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario Division. Before joining CMHA Ontario, Camille channeled her passion for mental health care in senior leadership roles in the educational, governmental and children’s mental health sectors. Camille is an alumnus of the University of Windsor and the University of Toronto.
Graham Woodward has focused his career on improving health care policy, planning, and delivery through better use of evidence, data, and collaboration. With the MHA CoE, Graham’s focus is on creating a high-performing mental health and addictions system that delivers demonstrable improvements in outcomes and experience for Ontarians. This will be achieved by building on what has been learned and achieved in other parts of Ontario’s health care system such as cancer, cardiac, and renal, through MHA sector collaboration, and by utilizing the many valuable resources and experiences present at Ontario Health.
Prior to joining the MHA CoE, Graham has held leadership roles in several of Ontario’s higher performing systems. He co-led the merger of the Cardiac Care Network and Ontario Stroke Network to create CorHealth Ontario, where he also led the Health System Policy, Planning, and Performance portfolio. Prior to CorHealth Ontario, Graham helped found the Ontario Renal Network (ORN), leading its clinical, planning, performance, and funding portfolios, and held leadership roles with Cancer Care Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Health, as well as research positions with the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and the University of Toronto.
Naushaba Degani joined CMHA Ontario in November, 2019 as the Director of Quality Improvement; in Sept, 2022, she became the Chief Quality and System Performance Officer. She has worked in health system performance and evaluation for more than 25 years and has a PhD and an MHSc from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto as well as a BScH from Queen’s University (Cha Gheill!). She comes to us from Health Quality Ontario (now part of Ontario Health) where she worked as the Manager, Performance Measurement supporting public reporting, quality standards and measurement for quality improvement. In addition to strong skills in data and measurement, Naushaba has a background in harm reduction, evaluation and equity assessment.
Eleni Tsoutsias
Host
Director, Policy, Quality & System Transformation, Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (AMHO)
Eleni joined Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (AMHO) and the E-QIP team as a Co-lead in November 2022. She brings with her extensive policy and program development experience, having worked across multiple sectors during her 15 years in Ontario Public Service. Eleni’s ministry experiences span the health care, social assistance, policy and community safety and environment sectors. During her time at the Treasury Board Secretariat, Eleni led complex and transformational health sector initiatives through the central agency, fiscal approvals process. Throughout her career, Eleni has led complex policy issues and managed relationships to drive consensus on strategic initiatives working with a wide range of stakeholders, including health sector partners.
Eleni Tsoutsias
Host
Director, Policy, Quality & System Transformation, Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (AMHO)
Eleni joined Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (AMHO) and the E-QIP team as a Co-lead in November 2022. She brings with her extensive policy and program development experience, having worked across multiple sectors during her 15 years in Ontario Public Service. Eleni’s ministry experiences span the health care, social assistance, policy and community safety and environment sectors. During her time at the Treasury Board Secretariat, Eleni led complex and transformational health sector initiatives through the central agency, fiscal approvals process. Throughout her career, Eleni has led complex policy issues and managed relationships to drive consensus on strategic initiatives working with a wide range of stakeholders, including health sector partners.
Dr. Ben Chan is Assistant Professor of Global Health at the University of Toronto and a leading figure in Canada on strategy and leadership for healthcare quality. Dr. Chan was the inaugural CEO of the Health Quality Councils of Saskatchewan (2003-2007) and Ontario (2007-2012). In recognition of his work in spearheading improvement initiatives in chronic disease management, patient safety and public reporting on quality, Dr. Chan was named in 2006 Canada’s Outstanding Young Health Executive.
Dr. Chan is a consultant at the World Bank and has worked in over with the WHO and foreign governments in 25 countries spanning 5 continents. He advised on the national quality strategies for Georgia, Uzbekistan & Kyrgyzstan and led or supported quality improvement projects on hypertension, diabetes and childhood growth in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and several Caribbean states. He is currently developing for the World Bank a tool to assess quality improvement capacity at a national level to identify priorities for investment.
Dr. Chan is also an experienced primary care and emergency department physician and has worked in over seventy rural communities across Canada. He was also the former physician for a remote First Nations community in Northwest Ontario where he helped establish opioid addiction treatment services. He holds a BSc and MD (Toronto), Master of Public Health (Harvard) and Master of Public Affairs (Princeton).
One would think that quality improvement is easy to do in big budget teaching hospitals with quality departments and sophisticated IT systems. But can you do it if you are in a small, isolated setting with limited resources, serving a vulnerable population? Of course you can! Dr. Chan shares his decades of experience as a front-line rural physician, former CEO of Health Quality Ontario, and now consultant with the World Bank supporting quality initiatives in low- and middle-income countries across five continents. He’ll share tips on how to be nimble, stick to QI basics, measure smartly and set the right culture to achieve success.
