Building health and care system resilience and recovery
Building health and care system resilience and recovery
31 August 2022 – 12 December 2022
In April 2020, one month after many countries across the world went into lockdown and health and care systems in many countries were dealing with the consequences of the pandemic, the International Foundation for Integrated Care launched a webinar series over five months. We convened integrated care practitioners from across the world to share their immediate experience of coping with this challenge and the effect it was having on care and outcomes.
The International Foundation for Integrated Care are revisiting some of the webinars from the original series in the Autumn 2022. We will be bringing together international panels to explore the experience of integrated care in the context of the pandemic response, what we learnt and are taking forward to build health and care system resilience and recovery in different countries and what still needs to be learnt. We will link this to the Foundation’s 9 pillars of integrated care with a particular focus on workforce, communities and digitalisation.
Wednesday, 31 August 2022 – 4pm CET
IFIC LatAm in partnership 
with the International Foundation for Integrated Care hosted this webinar that considered the “Strengths and Challenges of Integrated Care and Person-Family-and-Community-Centre Care in Latin America”. The webinar was organised from the perspective and complexity of the Latin American context within the framework of the launch of the International Foundation for Integrated Care in Latin America – IFIC LatAm.
In Latin America, a participatory process has been developed, driven by an enthusiastic group of people with diverse academic and professional backgrounds, with experience in integrated care and health systems, from various universities, research centres, foundations, associations, networks, as well as other people who get involved as independent professionals. IFIC LatAm contributes decisively to the strengthening of health services and systems from the perspective of the Latin American region, and its headquarters are currently in Costa Rica.
Please note this webinar is in Spanish without translation.
Chaired by:
Senior Consultant, Ministry of Health of Mexico, IFIC Board Member and Convenor of IFIC LatAm
Panellists Include:
Dr. Osvaldo Artaza Barrios
Deputy Director of Clinical Care Management, Surgeon, Paediatrician, Child Cardiologist and Master in Management of
Health Institutions of the University of Chile and Convenor of IFIC LatAm
Dr María del Rocío Sáenz Madrigal
Professor of Health Promotion, University of Costa Rica and Convenor of IFIC LatAm
Dr James Fitzgerald
Director, Health Systems and Services at PAHO/WHO
Director of Communications, International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC)
Wednesday, 19 October 2022 – 2pm CET
Community resilience is the 
sustained ability of communities to withstand, adapt to, and recover from adversity. The COVID-19 pandemic has put serious strain on individuals, families and the communities they live, and their ability to withstand the impact of the pandemic from a health and care, economic and pyscho-social perspective has been a key factor in individual outcomes. In this webinar we will hear from several examples to understand better how communities responded, how services evolved, the response of the workforce, what lessons were learned and, how we can take that knowledge forward to further strengthen systems of health and care and improve outcomes for people in the future.
Chaired by:
Director of Communications, International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC)
Panellists include:
Wendy Robertson
Deputy CEO, Thurrock and Brentwood Mind, UK
Dr Antoine Boivin
Family Physician and Chairholder of the Canada Research Chair in Partnership with Patients and Communities
Working as a family physician in the community of Center-South Montreal, he completed his MSc and PhD in health services research in the United Kingdom and Netherlands. His research program for the past 15 years has focused on patient and citizen engagement in community care, health services delivery, science and policy. Co-founder and scientific director of the Center of excellence for partnership with patients and the public, he is also co-director of the Quebec SPOR Unit for Learning Health Systems, where he leads national initiatives on patient and public engagement evaluation. In 2020, he was awarded the Donald I. Rice award for vision and leadership by the Canadian College of Family Physicians.
Ghislaine Rouly
Patient Partner
Ghislaine Rouly has been a patient since birth, living with two orphan genetic diseases. Ghislaine has always been working in the health sector and has acquired a unique level of experiential knowledge. For the past five years, at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal, she has been at ease within the DCPP (Patient Partnership Collaboration Directorate) team, where patient partnership has become her passion. She participates in mentoring, ethics courses, the three CSS courses on collaborative practices and also sits on the expert patient committee.
Tessa is the founding CEO of Health Justice Australia, established in 2016 as the national centre of excellence for health justice partnership. Originally a criminologist, she has worked in health, criminal justice and human rights organisations in Australia and internationally. She was previously Deputy CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service and was the inaugural Fulbright Professional Scholar in Nonprofit Leadership, the report of which was published as Lead or be left behind: Sustaining trust and confidence in Australia’s charities. Tessa’s PhD on the detention and release of mentally disordered offenders was published as a book, Protecting the Public? Detention and Release of Mentally Disordered Offenders by Routledge in 2010. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors; on the Advisory Committee of the Sydney Institute of Criminology; the Board of Gondwana Choirs, the leader in Australian choral performance; and plays ultimate Frisbee.
Daniel Turgeon
Peer Helper / Research Assistant
Daniel is a certified Peer Helper. He is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. After his company closed after 10 years he lost his condo, car and alienated his surroundings. He then found himself with severe alcoholism and was in a situation of homelessness in the streets of Toronto. After seeking help, he later started in the long chapter of recovery. With the help he received, he now has a vocation to helping others in achieving normality in their life and having individual empowerment. Daniel graduated from Concordia and speaks French, English and Spanish.
Tuesday, 8 November 2022, 7pm CET
A competent and
integrated workforce is the key mechanism through which models of integrated care are delivered. In this webinar, our panellist will reflect on the impact of the COVID pandemic in the workforce integration and what are the main challenges and priorities for the future.
Chaired by:
Senior Researcher, Faculty Lead of the Integrated Care Academy (ICA),
Joint Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC),
International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC)
Jacqui Browne
Chair, The DPO Network
Jacqui Browne is a member of the Disability Advisory Committee of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. IHREC is the Independent Monitoring Mechanism for the implementation of UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities in Ireland. Jacqui is a Thalidomide survivor, not a victim and has over 30 years of experience as a disability equality activist and consultant. With a BA Degree in Economics & Politics from UCD and a Masters’ degree in Education from Trinity College Dublin she has many years of experience working at local, national, European and International levels. She is a former member of Commission on Status of People with Disabilities whose report A Strategy for Equality was a blueprint for disability rights in Ireland.
Jacqui is Chairperson of DESSA – the national Disability Equality Specialist Support Agency, a board member of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind and the Irish Thalidomide Association. Jacqui is also actively involved as a patient advocate in IPPOSI – the Irish Platform for Patient Organisations, Science and Industry and is a EUPATI Fellow – European Patient Advocacy Training Initiative.
Panellists include:
Ana Aldea
Member of the Healthcare Quality Committee of SUMMA (Outpatient Medical Emergency Service of the Community of Madrid)
Ana Aldea has over 30 years of experience as a nurse (hospital emergency and mobile units). She is a member of the Healthcare Quality Committee of SUMMA (Outpatient Medical Emergency Service of the Community of Madrid). She held a master’s degree on “Interventions in emergencies, disasters and international cooperation” and she defended her research entitled “Ethical dimension in emergencies, disasters and international cooperation”. She collaborates as researcher in European projects, and she has participated in conferences regarding nursing, having experience as trainer and facilitator in several courses (nursing). She belongs to the School of Rescue and Detection with Dogs (ESDP), a non-profit organisation dedicated to the search and rescue of missing persons or victims of disasters.
Clinical Lead Speech & Language Therapist at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (Wales, UK)
Sheiladen Aquino is the Clinical Lead Speech & Language Therapist from the Community Integrated Health and Social Care Services in Bridgend, Wales UK. She has initiated multiple projects on dementia centred care, patient empowerment and most recently, digital health application to promote integrated care in the community.
Emeritus Professor and Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, Department of Public Health and Primary Care – Ghent University
Prof. Dr. Jan De Maeseneer is an Emeritus Professor and Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, Department of Public Health and Primary Care – Ghent University. His research focuses on health promotion, equity in health care, health professional education and PHC in Africa. He was Chair of European Forum for Primary Care between 2005-2017 and is the Chairperson of the Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health advising the European Commission since 2013.
Senior Medical Director for Health System Integration for Alberta Health Services, Canada
Dr. Richard Lewanczuk is the Senior Medical Director for Health System Integration for Alberta Health Services, the healthcare delivery arm of the province of Alberta, Canada. The vision of his portfolio is to “Help Albertans be as healthy, well and independent as they can be in their homes and communities”. To achieve this vision, Alberta Health Services is working towards shifting its focus from facility-based care to community-based care, and from reactive illness care to maintaining health and wellness. In this endeavour he works across Alberta Health Services as well as with external stakeholders such as government ministries, the Volunteer sector, municipalities, primary care and business.
CEO of General Practice New Zealand
Maura Thompson is the CEO of General Practice New Zealand, which is the national membership body for primary care organisations which are responsible for core primary care services, mainly through general practices. She has spent her entire career in health with many years working in communications and engagement both in the UK and New Zealand. This has included senior advisory roles in the health departments in both countries, leadership roles in national health membership organisations and contract roles with a number of health providers. Her particular areas of interest are workforce and primary care.
Tuesday, 29 November 2022, 7pm CET
Digital Tools for healthcare 
provision experienced an unprecedented expansion during COVID-19, thus accelerating the digital transformation of the World’s usage of digital solutions for healthcare provision. Rapid adaptation involved in some cases advancing integrated care programmes to increase people centered, continuity and coordination, supported by digital tools. What has happened with these remarkable initiatives beyond COVID-19? This webinar will share knowledge from different world experiences on how digital solutions are being used to promote the integration of care beyond COVID-19.
Chaired by:
Pilar Gangas
Senior Researcher at IFIC
Pilar Gangas (female) is Senior Researcher in IFIC since March 2021 and EU portfolio coordinator. She has participated in a number of EU funded projects involving digital tools development for data and images sharing and thus promoting the integration of care and self-management of people living with different conditions. Increased coordination, continuity, people centeredness, involving the community, can be promoted using digital tools. Developing ICT tools requires to involve the people living with conditions, particularly chronic ones, their caregivers and healthcare professionals in all the phases of the technology development, to make sure that their respective needs are gathered and integrated into the future technology. Working in multidisciplinary teams has given her the opportunity to design and participate in different technology testing protocols and pilots, combining UX research with socio-professional assessment applied research for adequate technology testing and piloting. Technology as such is not enough to promote change management, being personalized training, revised cared pathways and processes, together with cultural changes, to be often addressed along with digital solutions. PhD in Political Sciences, Master in Social Sciences.
Panellists Include:
Moira Mackenzie
Deputy Chief Executive/Director of Innovation at Scotland’s Innovation Centre for Digital Health and Care (DHI)
Moira Mackenzie is the Deputy Chief Executive/Director of Innovation at Scotland’s Innovation Centre for Digital Health and Care (DHI). DHI plays a pivotal role inspiring, enabling and combining world-leading industry and academic expertise with service, business and technical innovation to create person-centred digital health and care innovations which positively impact society.
Moira is a member of the Scottish Government’s Digital Citizen Delivery Board, SHTG MedTech Forum, and national groups including Digital Telecare Steering Group, Digital Social Care Delivery Board and the Digital Mental Health Programme Board. She works closely with senior strategic stakeholders across the digital health and care landscape, collaborating effectively with the Scottish Government, Local Government Digital Office, NHS and Social Care Innovation Leads, third sector, academic and industry partners. Prior to DHI, she held senior roles within the NHS and Local Government, and led the successful Scottish Government National Telecare Development Programme.
Carolyn Steele-Gray
University Professor and Researcher in Toronto University, in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation
Carolyn Steel-Gray is University Professor and Researcher in the University of Toronto, in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Dr. Steele Gray’s program of work focuses on the role of health information technology in supporting patient-centred care delivery for patients with complex care needs. Among the areas of focus are to explore how technology can be leveraged to enable implementation and sustainability of innovative models of care as a means to support health system transformation. Her current area of focus in on technology use in primary care and integrated primary care models.
Tara French
Programme Lead for Digital Inclusion within the Digital Health and Care Directorate, Scottish Government
Dr Tara French is Programme Lead for Digital Inclusion within the Digital Health and Care Directorate, Scottish Government. Tara is passionate about design-led change across health and social care and has an interdisciplinary background in academia, policy and practice. She is known for her thought leadership in digital social care and health, and her work on co-design and human rights based approaches in Scotland. Tara has expertise in facilitating transdisciplinary collaborations in the context of care and wellbeing, with experience of working at local and national levels. Her approach focuses on creating and enabling a culture of opportunity and empowerment through creative engagement and genuine co-design.
Lutz Kubitschke
Senior Research Consultant at empirica
Lutz Kubitschke Lutz Kubitschke is senior research consultant at empirica. He holds an interdisciplinary degree in social research, economics and law (Diplom-Sozialwirt) from Göttingen University. Since he joined empirica in 1993 he has mainly been concerned with investigating the potentials generally provided by digital technologies for supporting vulnerable population groups and older citizens. He has a long-standing track record in socio-technical and policy related research, and he has coordinated a range of high-profile projects in this field, the most recent one being a Europe-wide pilot project with a focus on better joining-up existing social and health care services with help of ICT.
Martin Curley
Director of the Digital Transformation and Open Innovation at the Health Service Executive (HSE)
Martin Curley Martin Curley is Director of the Digital Transformation and Open Innovation at the Health Service Executive (HSE), helping enable the digital transformation of Ireland’s health service. Most recently Martin was Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the HSE. Prior to joining the HSE Martin was Senior Vice President and group head for Global Digital Practice at Mastercard. Previously Martin was Vice President at Intel Corporation and Director/GM of Intel Labs Europe, Intel’s network of more than 50 research labs which he helped grow across the European region. He also served as a senior principal engineer at Intel Labs Europe leading Intel’s research and innovation engagement with the European Commission and the broader European Union research ecosystem. Prior to this Curley was Global Director of IT Innovation and Director of IT Strategy and Technology at Intel. Earlier in his Intel career, he held a number of senior positions for Intel in the United States and Europe. He also worked in research and management positions at GE in Ireland and Philips in the Netherlands.
Monday, 12 December 2022, 4pm CET
In this final webinar in the series,
our panellists will share their thoughts on how the pandemic accelerated change in health and care and what this means for the future of integrated care across the world.
Chaired by:
Chief Executive, International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC)
Dr Niamh Lennox-Chhugani is Chief Executive of the International Foundation for Integrated Care. She has over 30 years experience in evidence-based transformation in healthcare internationally as a clinician, academic and consultant. Her practice experience includes leading the integration of health and education service design and provision for children in the NHS in the early 1990’s and implementing new care models in the NHS over the last 8 years. Her policy experience with the World Bank, WHO and DfID includes health system policy reform in post-conflict Bosnia-Herzegovina, advising on health system reform in the Russian Federation and advising on scaling up infectious disease programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. As a subject matter expert on integrated care as part of wider healthcare reform, she has spoken at conferences, on panels, written papers, contributed as part of international teams to health system reviews. She has a PhD from Imperial College London in organisation change in healthcare.
Panellists include:
Emeritus Professor and Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, Department of Public Health and Primary Care – Ghent University
Jan graduated from Ghent University (Belgium) as MD in 1977. He defended the first PhD-thesis on Family Medicine in Belgium in 1989. From 1978-2017 he worked as a part-time Family Physician in the inter-professional Community Health Centre Botermarkt-Ledeberg. He was HOD in Family Medicine and PHC at Ghent University from 1991-2017. His research focuses on health promotion, equity in health care, health professional education and PHC in Africa. He was Chair of European Forum for Primary Care 2005-2017. Since 2013, he is the Chairperson of the Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health, advising the European Commission. Since October 2019, he is an International Member of the National Academy of Medicine (Washington, USA). Since April 2020, he is the Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, Department of Public Health and Primary Care – Ghent University. In 2017 he published the book: ‘Family Medicine and Primary Care at the Crossroads of Societal Change’. During the Covid-pandemic in Belgium, he was a member of the Federal Taskforce Vaccination Strategy (2020-2022).
Dr. Rocío Saenz Madrigal
Executive Director of the Health Equity Network of the Americas (HENA)
Dr Saenz is a former Minister of Health of Costa Rica and Former Executive President of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund. Dr. Saenz has also supported the monitoring and evaluation system of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), coordinated the first progress report and was counterpart of the projects aimed at children with UNICEF. She was also a member of the PAHO-WHO emergency and disaster response teams in Latin America and the Caribbean, with emphasis on Central America.
Dr. Saenz has worked as researcher in undergraduate and graduate programs at the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health and the School of Nursing at the University of Costa Rica, and in the Public Policy Coordination of the Health, Labor and Environment Program for Central America (SALTRA). She is currently the Executive Director of the Health Equity Network of the Americas (HENA), leads the team on integrated care in Latin America from IFIC LatAm and the development of the Systems Thinking Accelerator (SYSTAC) initiative in the Americas.
Prof. Dr. Volker Amelung
Institute for Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health Systems Research at Hannover Medical School
Prof. Dr. Volker Amelung holds a professorship for International Health Systems Research at the Institute for Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health Systems Research at Hannover Medical School. Volker Amelung was from 2007 till 2022 the President of the German Managed Care Association (BMC) in Berlin. BMC – a leading platform for health care innovations – elaborates innovative concepts in health care management and policy. In 2011, he founded the Institute for Applied Health research (inav) in Berlin, where he advises national and international companies and conducts studies of applied health services research.
Volker Amelung is a member of several national and international health care associations and internationally affiliated with health care management professionals. He is a prolific author on issues of managed care, health care policy, new technologies and integrated delivery systems. Professor Amelung has co-authored more than 20 books and published more than 150 papers. He studied Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen and Paris-Dauphine. After completing his doctorate, he worked at the Hamburg School of Economics and Politics and was a visiting researcher at Columbia University in New York. He lectured at the Medical University and Economy University of Vienna, at Columbia University (NY, USA), at TIAS School for Business and Society (NL), at the advanced technical college of Carinthia (AT), the European Business School and the Technical University of Braunschweig (DE). In 2001, Volker Amelung has been appointed Professor at the Medical University of Hannover.
Chief Technology Officer, the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre, Scotland
Chal leads on digital strategy for DHI and a range of partners and initiatives. He is an expert in leveraging digital technology to support service transformation and in applying systems thinking in these activities. He is devoted to the idea that citizens can be empowered to take an active role in their own care and wellbeing. Chal believes that digital health and care offers the tools to achieve this, and the DHI has the fresh perspective necessary to reconceive the relationship between the citizen and those who might care for them. He brings a range of skills including a Master’s in Healthcare Management & Leadership and a Master’s in Public Health Policy: Health Systems. He has spent nine years working in digital innovation, seven years working in Scottish Government public policy and health and care service delivery and has led the design, development, integration and roll out of many digital health and care services with several now in use at scale across Scotland.