The National Health Fellowship is the start of a challenging and transformational learning journey.
Transformation. Impact. Community. Canada’s health system leaders are looking for ways to revitalize, re-imagine and retool for a changing world. Building new skills honing existing capabilities is critical in the ever-changing business landscape.
The National Health Fellows Program connects talented leaders, representing all parts of the health system, 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.
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.
Program Details
Do you have further questions about the program or application process? Please review our FAQ | Health Leadership Academy
2026 Program Dates (Tentative) Application Period*: May 15, 2025 – February 28, 2026 *applications with bursary requests will be held and reviewed on September 30, 2025. Notice of bursary funding will be provided by October 30, 2025. Program Virtual Orientation: TBA Module 1 – April 19 – 23, 2026: Burlington ON Module 2 – May 30 – June 3, 2026: Vancouver BC (TBC) Module 3 – October 4 – 8, 2026: Burlington ON
Three 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. 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. Module 1 Sessions*: 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*: 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*: 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.Module 1: Navigating New Paths – (Burlington, ON, Canada)
*curriculum is subject to change
Module 2: Expanding Perspectives – (Location TBD)
Module 3: Getting the Right Things Done Together (Burlington, ON, Canada)
Knowledge Exchanges (The Fellowship)
Sector Early Bird Rate (before Nov 30) Regular 2026 Rate (after Dec 1) Not for Profit $29,500 + HST $32,500 + HST For Profit $39,500 + HST $43,000 + HST 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. *Admission to the program is contingent upon an interview with an NHF Program Director, designed to ensure that the program aligns well with the applicant’s goals and needs.
Financial Support
Strong candidates for the National Health Fellows program are typically: 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.
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 Difference
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.
