Les Vertesi

An emergency physician for over 35 years in one of British Columbia's primary trauma hospitals, Les Vertesi has a proven track record for leadership and innovation in health care. With a Masters' degree in epidemiology and a passionate interest in political science, economics and international relations, Les's research has focused on understanding and solving the shortages within the Canadian health care system, using both economic analysis and computational modelling to better inform resource allocation within the public health care system. His book, Broken Promises: The Trouble with Canadian Medicare ... and How to Fix It, has been widely applauded by Canadian policy-makers for its innovative application of market principles to support the public health care system.

Dr. Vertesi took on a leadership role in health care in Canada soon after acheving his M.D. from the University of Toronto. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, he reformed the BC Ambulance Service by implementing the first paramedic training program - turning ambulance drivers, formerly hospital chauffeurs, into highly trained primary medical caregivers. In addition to founding the Advanced Life Support program, he was also the founding chairman of the Canadian Medical Association's accreditation committee that set national standards for ambulance training in Canada. In 1978 he published the first Canadian research article proving that paramedic skills really saves lives. He became the first recipient of the Justice Institute of BC's Joseph Cohen Award for Outstanding Contributions to Public Safety (1999) for this work. The paramedic training system, as well as his wait-list modelling and his implementation of a home-grown hospital patient information computer system at Royal Columbian and Eagle Ridge Hospitals as early as the 1980's, has been widely applauded and imitated across Canada.

Beyond solving problems for Canadian health care on the ground, however, Les is also passionately engaged in the bigger picture. As a Health Research Consultant at Simon Fraser University since 2003, Dr. Les Vertesi is currently pursuing his research on hospital waitlists using computational modelling to simulate patient flow in order to better allocate hospital resources. His book, Broken Promises, explores how to reform the health care system such that it may remain publicly funded but may achieve economic sustainabiliy and control skyrocketingy costs. During 2002 he served on Senator Kirby's advisory panel during the preparation of his report on Canadian health care. In December 2003 he was named BC's representative member on the Health Council of Canada. And Dr. Vertesi has also consulted not only for hospitals across Canada, but also for the World Bank on assignments in Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria. During all of these years, Dr. Vertesi has maintained his clinical practice and continues to work in the Emergency Department at Royal Columbian Hospital, where he sered as Head of the Department of Emergency Medicine from 1989 to 2001 and as Medical Administrator of that hospital until the end of 2003.