Healthcare as an Economic Driver, Not a Drain (Winnipeg)

Growing the asset - Medicare as a generator of wealth for Canada ...

Guest Speaker: Dr. Henry Friesen, Chair of Genome Canada

One of the themes that came through very clearly in the Romanow report on health care was the whole notion of stewardship. When most people think about stewardship Dr. Friesen believes they see it in terms of preserving and protecting what has been given to them. But he suggests there is another aspect to stewardship - to take the system and not simply preserve it, but pass on even more of the assets to those who follow. He believes the only way we're going to grow the asset is to see the health sector in a whole new way - not simply as a provider of health for Canadians, but as a generator of wealth for Canada. He proposes to mine the potential that exists in the health sector, to build an industrial enterprise larger than the auto sector. What would that mean in terms of jobs and growth here in Canada and in Manitoba? What would that mean in terms of winning new markets abroad? So what would it take to unlock the potential of this sector?

About the Guest:Dr. Henry Friesen is an internationally renowned medical scientist and discoverer of the human pituitary hormone Prolactin. He is a past president of the Medical Research Council of Canada and has been at the forefront of the effort to expand the health research base in Canada. Dr. Friesen has published over 400 papers in scientific journals and served as a mentor for more than eighty post-doctoral fellows and graduate students, many of whom today are in leadership positions around the world. He has received many distinguished awards, including a Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1977 and 2001, the McLaughlin Medal of the Royal Society of Canada, the Koch Medal: the highest award of the Endocrine Society, the Order of Canada (promoted to Companion in 2001), eight honorary degrees, and was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2001. He is also a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. He is currently Chair of Genome Canada, a corporation created to spearhead the development of genomics research and its impact in Canada as well as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Medicine.

Henry Friesen's Brave New World

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