National Health Fellows Program
"Connecting Health Systems Leaders For Transformational Impact, One Cohort At A Time"
The National Health Fellowship is the start of a challenging and transformational learning journey.
Transformation. Impact. Community. Canada’s health leaders are looking for ways to revitalize, re-imagine and retool for a changing world. Business as usual is no longer an option. It is now particularly clear that building new or honing existing capabilities is critical. The National Health Fellows Program will connect our most talented healthcare leaders with skilled, “new power” leaders, educators, complex change facilitators, and mentors to strengthen the networks, behaviors, and evidence-based tools needed to advance health and well-being across the broader healthcare system.
From the moment you start the program, you will become part of a growing movement charged with re-imagining our national health ecosystem capable of delivering more for you, your organization, your patients, employees, communities, for your world.
Over the course of 6 months, you will develop a deep understanding of how to create a leadership culture that embraces a systems thinking mindset, gain the practical skills and tools to progress your own leadership capabilities, and put these into practice tackling real-life opportunities and challenges within your organization and across the broader health system.
By the end of the program you will:
- Understand and utilize different frameworks to address complex problems in your organization
- Improve your ability to self-manage and build meaningful engagement with others
- Enhance your skills to understand and tackle complex problems overcoming barriers to execution
- Improve your ability to partner across multiple internal and external boundaries
- Be an integral part of a national network of like-minded leaders seeking to affect change in our healthcare system
- Contribute to the future of health leadership in Canada through co-creation and design of future iterations of the program and Health Leadership Academy activities.
I think one of the unique aspects of the health fellows program and one of the unique value propositions or opportunities in front of us is because this is a coast to coast to coast group of people working across the health system in different capacities.
The Experience
A truly transformative experience – a nominated cohort of national health leaders working together to solve complex health challenges…
- Support organizational renewal and greater agility to confront ongoing change
- Engage and empower all stakeholders to deliver high-quality coordinated care outcomes
- Reduce health inequalities and address the social determinants of health
- Ensure high quality health services that are efficient and accessible, while working under constraints.
The Format
3 x 4-day modules delivered over 6 months in a highly interactive format.
Learning is collaborative and creative, and includes co-consulting sessions, mentoring, individual challenges and group projects. Each module builds on what you’ve learned and prepares you for your role as a National Fellow.
The 3-module, 6-month journey will culminate with a national Health Forum Dialogue where you and your colleagues will share your learnings with health policy leaders from across the country.
**Module content subject to change
You will be challenged to raise your leadership thinking in order to assess current and envisioned future states of your organization and the broader health system.
*curriculum is subject to change
Module 1 Sessions*:
- Why Do We Always Do it This Way: A conversation with Health System Innovators
- My Organization’s Biggest Challenges: A Health Forum Dialogue
- The Art of Seeing
- Systems Leadership: Moving From Knowing to Doing
- How Do We Build Organizational Resilience Now: Scenario Planning and Strategic Foresight
- My Leadership Action Plan for Change
Expand your views on the art of the possible and the forces that are disrupting health care: from AI, VR/AR, to emerging public/private partnerships and innovative new models of healthcare.
Module 2 Sessions*:
- The Art of the Possible & the Future Forces Disrupting Health Care
- Cases Studies in Transformational Systems Leadership
- Innovative New Models of HealthCare
- Emerging Public/Private Partnerships
- Leveraging New Models, Mindsets and Partnerships for Good: A Health Equity Discussion
- Navigating through a Future Ready, Physical and Virtual, Health Care Environment
- Designing for the Future State of Health Care
Engage in highly interactive sessions focused on influence, networking and political acumen as you prepare for a policy dialogue with fellow health leaders from across Canada.
Module 3 Sessions*:
- Developing Your System Leadership Capabilities: From Coaching-Self to Mentoring Others
- Activating Your Community of Influencers
- A Policy Dialogue with Health Leaders in partnership with The McMaster Health Forum
Work with personal coaches on your leadership development plans and participate in an ongoing series of knowledge exchange events with participants from across Canada and around the globe.
Once delegates have graduated from the program they will begin a lifelong relationship with McMaster’s Health Leadership Academy. Fellows will be asked to mentor, coach, facilitate and speak to future cohorts.
Fellows will play an active role in co-creating future offerings of NHFP and alumni and public events of the HLA.
It’s been one of the most humbling and impactful leadership experiences of my career.
The Differences
What makes the National Health Fellows Program design and delivery approach unique is its emphasis on:
- A pan-Canadian health perspective
- A focus on systems thinking leadership and change
- A focus on exposing health leaders to best practice approaches from both within and outside the Canadian health system
- Its engagement with Canadian policy leaders to inform substantive systems change
- Its commitment to supporting leadership communities that are open, participatory and peer-driven.
For those that are considering joining this future cohort of the Health Fellowship, I have to tell you it’s worth the time, it’s worth the effort, it’s worth it to step back from your day-to-day. Imagine the impossible, to think outside the box, and to learn and grow with other like-minded individuals.
Illustrative Faculty
Program Directors/Developers:
- Dr. David Price, Co-Director HLA, McMaster University
- Prof. Michael Hartmann, Co-Director HLA, McMaster University
- Jodeme Goldhar, National Health Fellows Tri-Director
Tentative Module 1 Faculty*:
*subject to change
- Brenna Atnikov, Sr. Consultant, Reos Partners
- Dr. Joyce Zazulak, Emeritus Professor, McMaster University
- Nicole Knibb, Senior Education Officer, McMaster Museum of Art
- Dr. Greg McQueen, NHFP Coach
- Dr. John Lavis, Director, The McMaster Health Forum
- Karel Vredenburg, Global VP, Clients Insights and Research, IBM
Tentative Module 2 Faculty*:
- Dr. Mike Evans, Special Projects Apple Health
- David Grandy, VP, Garfield Innovation Group, Kaiser Permanente
- Dr. Nirav Shaw, Sr. Scholar, Stanford’s Clinical Excellence Research Ctr., Stanford University
- Rob Siegel, Lecturer, Stanford School of Business
Tentative Module 3 Faculty*:
- Dr. Bernice Downey, Associate Dean, Indigenous Health, McMaster University
- Dr. John Lavis, Director, The McMaster Health Forum
- Prof. Rick Hackett, Cdn. Research Chair, McMaster University
- Adam Kahane, Director, Reos Partners
*
National Health Fellows Program
Ideal Candidate
- Senior-level health leader (i.e. C-level leader and their direct reports) from across the country
- With a demonstrated commitment to health equity and leading change
- Ready to connect with other accomplished leaders from diverse backgrounds, experiences and organizations
- Open to our non-traditional approach to leadership development, and have a desire to make a difference
- Nominated and supported by a member of your senior leadership team (i.e. CEO, Board Chair, Chief of
Staff). Please note that self nominations are welcome
Recognizing that our health leaders tend not to reflect the diversity of the populations they serve, we also invite applications from across the broader health system who represent and/or serve traditionally underrepresented or marginalized populations.
Apply NowDates
Now accepting applications for 2024!
Application Period:
October 30, 2023- March 1, 2024
Program Virtual Orientation:
Date TBA
Module 1 – April 14-18, 2024 (Burlington, ON, Canada)
Module 2 – June 9-13, 2024 (Palo Alto, CA, USA)
Module 3 – September 22-26, 2024 (Burlington, ON, Canada)
Fees and Bursaries for 2024
CAD $29,500 + HST (Early Bird, prior to December 31, 2023). $31,000 + HST (after January 1. 2024). Program cost excludes airfare. Includes 3 x 4-day residency meals and accommodation. A $2,500, CAD non-refundable tuition deposit is required upon acceptance into the program.
Financial Support
- The program has made available substantial bursaries for qualified individuals enrolling in the 2024 cohort.
- Bursaries will be distributed through a competitive application process and granted by the HLA Governance Committee.
- To be considered for a bursary, you must be a Canadian citizen or resident, occupying a leadership role within a publicly funded healthcare or social services sector organization.
Connect with Us
Do you have questions related to the program specifically or regarding eligibility? Please let us know by filling out the form below.