Board of Directors

Board Members

Helen Angus, Board Chair

Helen Angus (B.A., MScPl, University of Toronto) has worked for 30 years in the public sector, including 20 years working in the Government of Ontario and ten years at Cancer Care Ontario. From 2018 to September 2021, Helen served as Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Health, including leading the health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and acting as the Co-Chair of Ontario’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force. She is currently a distinguished fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Prior to her role as Deputy Minister of Health, Helen served as Deputy Minister in Treasury Board Secretariat, Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade, Seniors Affairs and Women’s Issues Ministries. She was also Co-Chair of the Council of Deputy Ministers of Health. Helen’s previous board experience includes the Canadian Patient Safety Institute, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, Canada Health Infoway and the Canadian Cancer Society (Ontario).

Dr. Isra Levy, Vice Chair

Dr. Isra Levy (MB BCh MSc FRCPC FACPM) is the Vice President of Medical Affairs and Innovation at Canadian Blood Services (CBS), where he focuses on operational and policy issues in the areas of national transfusion and transplantation. He is an adjunct professor of public health at the University of Ottawa. Prior to his role at CBS, Isra served as Medical Officer of Health for Ottawa Public Health for close to 10 years, where he guided local public health programming including infection control, tobacco control and mental health and addictions.

Isra has worked as a clinician and public health physician in South Africa, England and Canada, including as an epidemiology consultant to Health Canada and the founding director and chief medical officer of the Office for Public Health at the Canadian Medical Association. His work has been published in numerous scientific journals and he currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Isra is physician who is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand and has completed postgraduate studies in Epidemiology and Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Ottawa.

Harpreet Bassi, Director

Harpreet Bassi (Ph.D. Western University) is the Vice President, Strategy, Planning and Engagement at Niagara Health. Her previous roles include Director of Policy for Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and key leadership positions at Health Quality Ontario, Cancer Care Ontario, the Centre for Effective Practice and The Change Foundation.

Harpreet holds a Ph.D. in Health and Rehabilitation Science from Western University, a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Queens University and an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto. She also holds an Adjunct Faculty position with the School of Health Sciences at Western University and has taught courses on health policy and leadership. 

Cat Criger, Director

Cat Criger is an Indigenous Elder, Traditional Teacher and Knowledge keeper. He is from the Cayuga Nation, Turtle Clan, as well as having German and English ancestry. Cat has been working as an Indigenous Teacher and Knowledge Keeper for almost 30 years. Cat has worked as an Elder and advisor in many Indigenous Agencies, Government Ministries, Non-Profit Organizations and Corporations. Cat was taught traditional ceremonies, teachings, circles, counselling, healing, plant medicines, Indigenous philosophies and pedagogies by an Indigenous Anishnawbe Elder and uses these gifts to help all people.

Cat served on the board of Anishnaabe Health Toronto. He also contributed to the development of the Office of Indigenous Medical Education at the University of Toronto (UT) and was a frequent guest lecturer in the Faculty of Med-Sci. He is recently retired from the UT, where he last held the position of Indigenous Advisor at the Mississauga Campus within the offices of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Cat continues to work at providing Indigenous inclusion, curriculum development and student success to younger students, their teachers and the staff at several secondary schools in the Toronto area. He remains active as a guest speaker, lecturer and consultant in cultural competency and Indigenous perspectives of wellness at major financial institutions and health organizations.

Frank Davis, Director

Frank Davis (B. Comm, LL.B.) is the Canada Country Head and Senior Legal Counsel for Pattern Energy Group LP, an independent renewable energy generation and operations company. His responsibilities in this position include market development, government relations, community engagement, joint venture partnerships and relationships with customers. He previously worked as an associate lawyer at the national law firm, McCarthy Tetrault LLP.

Frank currently sits on the executive committee and board of directors for the Canadian Wind Energy Association, and is the legal representative/member of the Harbord Village Residents Association. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Memorial University of Newfoundland and a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University.

Martina Dwyer, Director

Martina Dwyer (B.Sc.N., R.N., c. Ped. (c), J.D.) has more than 30 years of experience in the health care field. She has held nursing positions in a range of hospital departments such as Neonatal Intensive Care, Cardiology, Occupational Health, Labour and Delivery, and Adult Intensive Care. She has completed studies in Perinatal Intensive Care (George Brown College) and Public Health Nursing (University of Windsor). Martina is also an accredited Pedorthist and owned and operated a pedorthic clinic for many years.

Following her graduation from the University of Windsor's Faculty of Law in 2011, Martina articled and then practiced as an associate with a medical malpractice firm, Sommers, Roth & Elmaleh Professional Corporation, in Toronto. Presently, Martina operates her own legal practice that focuses on family law and medical malpractice law in Hamilton.

Margaret Flynn, Director

Margaret Flynn (RN, Non-Practising) has been employed in nursing in both rural and urban communities. Throughout her career, she has held frontline, senior and middle management level positions in both the private and public sectors. She has training and experience in nursing, management, education, health promotion, primary care and addiction treatment.

Margaret most recently served as the Director of Primary and Community Health at Belleville and Quinte West Community Health Centre. Prior to that, she was Patient Care Coordinator at Gateway Community Health Centre. She has served as the Director of Nursing at a long term care facility and a community nursing agency. Her work in addiction treatment included serving as the Director of Nursing and Patient Care at Bellwood Health Services, and Nurse Counsellor at the Donwood Institute. She also had the opportunity to assess the performance of health organizations and identify opportunities to improve patient safety and promote quality improvement as a surveyor with Accreditation Canada. Since her retirement in January 2018, she has remained interested in quality improvement activities.

Bill MacKinnon, Director

Bill MacKinnon was the CEO of KPMG for nine years before his retirement in 2008. He has a wide variety of corporate and non-profit board experience. He is the current Chair and Board member at the Woodgreen Foundation.

Bill’s previous Board appointments include the Toronto Board of Trade, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants, Michael Garron Hospital, Toronto Foundation, Telus, Osisko Mining Corporation, Novadaq Technology, Pioneer Petroleum, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board and the Corporation of Roy Thompson Hall and Massey Hall. Bill completed his Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Manitoba and was appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario in 1994.

Ian McKillop, Director

Ian McKillop (MASc, PhD, FRSPH) is an Associate Professor with the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo. Ian was appointed to the University’s inaugural JW Graham Research Chair in Health Information Systems in 2004. He works in the fields of management and systems assurance with a particular focus on issues related to incident response, information security and performance management. Ian is actively engaged in educating tomorrow’s leaders in public health.

Ian’s work has contributed to a number of standards and best practice recommendations in Canada as well as to national and provincial commissions and inquiries. He has lived and worked internationally and brings those experiences to his work in Canada.

Terri McKinnon, Director

Terri McKinnon (B.A., CPA) recently retired as a partner at PwC Canada in its assurance practice, where she served clients in the not-for-profit and public sectors. Her area of specialty was in the health care sector, with a specific focus on hospitals. Terri led teams for many hospital financial statement audit, internal audit and risk management engagements. In the past, she also facilitated and developed learning materials for Ontario Hospital Association seminars on funding reform, governance and financial reporting.

Terri currently serves as the Chair of the board of Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto. She has previously served on the Boards of Directors of Scarborough Health Network, Junior Achievement of Central Ontario, Trafalgar Castle School and Girl Guides of Canada in various roles.

S. F. (Ford) Ralph, Director

Ford Ralph (M.B.A. York University) is a retired vice-president of Petro-Canada, where he was responsible for retail and wholesale operations across Canada. In a previous role as Vice-President refining and supply, Ford initiated the development of Petro-Canada’s Corporate National Emergency Response Team and Corporate Crisis Management Team and acted as National Incident Commander for the Team. He holds the Professional Engineer (P. Eng.) designation and the Professional ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Ford recently served on the Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc. Board of Directors and was a member of the Audit Committee, the Investment Review Committee and the Strategic Investments Oversight Committee. He is a past governor on the Shaw Festival Board of Governors and was a member of the Finance and Audit Committee, Governance Committee, and Strategic Planning Committee.

Dr. Andy Smith, Director

Dr. Andy Smith (MD, MSc, FRCSC, FACS, University of Toronto) is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto and a Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto. He currently sits on the Board of Directors at Ornge, Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners and HealthCareCAN. Andy has previously served as Head of the Division of General Surgery at Sunnybrook, Chair of General Surgery at the University of Toronto, Chief of the Odette Cancer Program, and Regional Vice President for Cancer Care Ontario. He has also served as Sunnybrook’s Executive Vice President, Chief Medical Executive. He is passionately interested in health care leadership and the evolution of the health care system in Canada.

He completed a Master of Science, medical school and General Surgery residency at the University of Toronto. He also completed a Surgical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.