HealthyOntario.com is owned by the Government of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and is supported by an Advisory Group of medical and healthcare experts. It is independent of corporate interests, and is not partnered with private companies.
The Advisory Group is comprised of medical experts and practitioners, social welfare, ethical practices, technology and business experts, and officials from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. These experts provide healthcare and medical expertise, advice, and strategic counsel to ensure that HealthyOntario.com meets the needs of all Ontarians.
The HealthyOntario.com Advisory Group provides expertise and consultation on:
- Specific health content and writing
- Editorial themes and focus
- Use and involvement of medical experts in the delivery of online health information and services
- Site design and functionality
Advisory Group Bios
Dr. Michael Evans, Chief Medical Editor, HealthyOntario.com
Alan C. Middleton, PhD, Schulich School of Business, York University
Faith C. Donald, RN(EC), MS, PHCNP, Ryerson University
Dr. Hugh Ian MacDonald Gemmill, Medical Officer of Health, Kingston
Rana Khan, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
John Dalla Costa, PhD, Centre for Ethical Orientation
Rick Broadhead, Technology Consultant
Dr. Michael Evans, Chief Medical Editor, HealthyOntario.com
Dr. Michael Evans is a family doctor with a busy, urban practice at Toronto Western Hospital. A widely respected and award-winning family healthcare provider, Dr. Evans is an associate professor in the Department of Family & Community Medicine at the University of Toronto and the chief medical editor of HealthyOntario.com.
His current positions include Director of Patient Education in the Faculty of Medicine, Director of the Health Knowledge Lab at the Centre for Effective Practice, and Investigator in the Knowledge Translation Program, all at the University of Toronto. In 2004, Dr. Evans launched the renowned Mini-Med School at the University of Toronto, a six-week interactive program which educates and graduates 1,000 lay people a year.
A regular columnist for the Globe & Mail and commentator on the CBC morning news, Dr. Evans was appointed Chief Medical Editor of HealthyOntario.com, the Province of Ontario's healthcare information website.
Dr. Evans' academic work has focused on methods for making evidence based decisions easier for both patient and primary care providers. He founded, and continues to edit, the Critical Appraisal Section of Canadian Family Physician, which summarizes important research for busy family doctors. Dr. Evans is the Scientific Officer for Knowledge Translation and Exchange at the Canadian Institute for Health Research. As well, he was appointed to the new Canadian Expert Drug Advisory Committee recommended by Ray Romanow and the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada. He also chaired of the Ontario Program for Optimal Therapeutics, a provincial guideline initiative.
In addition to publishing two books, he is the Chief Editor of the Mosby Family Practice Sourcebook 2006, and edited the 2005 edition of the Complete Canadian Health Guide.
Dr. Evans speaks internationally on topics like primary care, knowledge management and evidence-based medicine.
Alan C. Middleton, BSc, PhD, Schulich School of Business, York University
Alan Middleton is the Executive Director of the Schulich Executive Education Centre at Schulich School of Business, York University. An internationally recognized advertising, communications and marketing expert, he was an Assistant Professor of Marketing and Associate Director International Executive Development at York University, as well as a marketing consultant for Bell Canada, Manulife Financial, Molson International, Ontario Hydro, Pfizer Warner-Lambert and Quaker Canada.
Alan co-founded the Canadian Advertising Success Stories ('Cassies'), wrote the report on Improving Marketing Communications Organizational Effectiveness for the Association of Canadian Advertising and co-authored Advertising Works with John Dalla Costa.
Born in London, England, Alan graduated from the London University with a B.Sc. Honours Sociology. His began his career with the J. Walter Thompson (JWT) advertising agency in London. After moving to Canada, he was president of JWT subsidiary operations including Enterprise Advertising Associates and JWT Japan before being appointed Executive Vice President and a Board Director of the worldwide company.
Faith C. Donald, RN(EC), MS, PHCNP, Ryerson University
Faith Donald is an assistant professor of Primary Health Care at the Ryerson Polytechnic University School of Nursing in Toronto. She received a Primary Health Care Nurse Practitioner Certificate from Ryerson University and has expertise in clinical practice, health assessment, program development, education, training, research and management.
Faith works with community health and social networks to develop effective systems for client referral. She is also a founding member of Voices for a Healthy Community, a community-based group that promotes health, safety and community awareness to youth in southeast Mississauga, Ontario.
Faith has a Bachelors and Masters in Science specializing in Community Health Nursing from D'Youville College in New York and is completing her PhD in Clinical Health Science at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Dr. Hugh Ian MacDonald Gemmill, Medical Officer of Health, Kingston
Dr. Ian Gemmill is a Medical Officer of Health in Kingston, Ontario at the Frontenac and Lennox & Addington Health Unit. He is a clinical associate professor of the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology and the Department of Family Medicine at Queen's University and taught at Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine at the University of Ottawa.
Ian is a member of many boards and committees devoted to public health, including the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), the Ontario Advisory Committee on Communicable Disease and the Canadian Public Health Association.
From 1981 to 1997, he was an associate medical officer of Health at the Ottawa-Carleton Health Department, including working as director of the Sexual Health Centre and medical advisor to the Ottawa-Carleton Home Care Programme, before returning to work in the Kingston area.
Ian received both his Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
Rana Khan, LLB, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Rana Khan is a lawyer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), responsible for the Ontario region. In private practice, she focused on human rights law and she has provided counsel at the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
She is the UNHCR lead in Canada on Gender and Children issues and was an ex-officio member of the Immigration and Refugee Board's Working Groups on Gender and Children's issues. Her recent efforts in that capacity include helping draft the Protocol for the Care of Unaccompanied Refugee & Migrant Children in Ontario and developing the Working Group for Separated Children over 16 years of age.
Rana is also actively involved in providing training on refugee protection issues to government officials, military and academic institutions, and members of the NGO community. She is a current and former member of many boards and committees including the Ontario Legal Aid Immigration and Refugee Advisory Committee, the Advisory Committee of the International Bureau for Children's Rights Focal Point on Separated Children Project, the Refugee Information Centre and the Working Women Community Centre.
John Dalla Costa, Centre for Ethical Orientation
John Dalla Costa is the founder of the Centre for Ethical Orientation which provides business ethics, branding and reputation consulting to a variety of private sector and not-for-profit clients, including Motorola, CIBC, Shell (Canada), RBC, Kellogg's, the Anglican Diocese of Toronto and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
John is the author of many books including The Ethical Imperative. Why Moral Leadership is Good Business, Working Wisdom: The Ultimate Value in the New Economy, and Advertising Works, co-authored with Professor Allan Middleton.
Born in Toronto, John received his Bachelors degree at Rosary College, Chicago, Illinois. He later attended the Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Owner/President Management (OPM) program. In 2001, he attained a Master of Divinity at the Regis College of the University of Toronto. He is on the Board of the Catholic Biblical Society of Canada.
Rick Broadhead, MBA, Technology Consultant
Rick Broadhead is a respected expert, consultant and analyst for the e-business and e-commerce industries.
An internet pioneer and technology veteran, Rick co-wrote one of the first books on the internet. He is the author of 30 books, including Good Health Online, the first book in North America to comprehensively examine how the internet can be used as a health resource for consumers.
Rick's technology industry expertise is called upon by numerous corporations, including Microsoft, IBM, Rogers AT&T; Wireless, Travelodge Hotels, Canada Post Corporation and Manulife Financial; and associations and government organizations including the Canadian Real Estate Association, the Association of Crafts and Creative Industries, the National Utility Contractors Association and the Canadian Meat Council.
Rick has an MBA in marketing from Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto and was awarded the George A. Edwards Marketing Medal for demonstrated excellence in marketing.
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