MacNaught–Taillon Leadership Award in Health Policy, Health Information & Health Informatics

The MacNaught-Taillon (M&T) Award was established to honour the outstanding and lasting contributions of Don MacNaught and Serge Taillon to the Canadian health care system.

Beginning in the mid-1980s in the Health Information Division of Health Canada, Don and Serge worked side by side to contribute their leadership in a spirit of cooperation to initiatives such as the National Health Information Council and the National Health Information Task Force. Their vision, stamina and perseverance contributed significantly to the realization of the Canadian Institute for Health Information in 1994.

The 2011 award winner is Richard Alvarez (right), who currently serves as the President and CEO of Canada Health Infoway, where he has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the area of expanding the use of electronic health records across Canada.  The MacNaught-Taillon Award was presented to Mr. Alvarez at the 2011 Canadian Association for Health Services and Policy Research (CAHSPR) Annual Meeting in Halifax on behalf of the Justice Emmett Hall Memorial Foundation and CHLNet.  His dedicated high potential, high performance mentee is Simon Hagens, Director Benefits Realization and Quality Improvement, Canada Health Infoway and he received a $1,000 award to help him along his leadership journey.

The inaugural award was presented to Denis Protti at the 1st Annual Canadian Health Leadership Network Symposium (September 10-12, 2008, Montebello, Quebec). The award is accompanied by a bursary to support further training, research or education in health informatics and/or health policy that will be presented to an up and coming leader who will be designated at the discretion of the M&T Award recipient.