Dr. Eyal Cohen of @SickKids_TheHospital Wins Prestigious @harknessfellows @CFHI_FCASS Award - Recipient of Commonwealth Fund's Canadian Harkness Fellowship

MONTREAL, May 28, 2015 /CNW Telbec/ - The 2015/16 Canadian Harkness Fellowship, co-funded by the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement and The Commonwealth Fund, was today awarded to Dr. Eyal Cohen, Staff Physician in the Division of Pediatric Medicine at The Hospital for Sick Children, also known as SickKids. Dr. Cohen will participate in The Fund's prestigious 12-month Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice.

During his fellowship, Dr. Cohen will expand on his foundational work to better serve the growing number of children with complex medical conditions, who represent less than one percent of all children but account for one-third of health spending on children. A relatively small 'incubator' program with 50 children has grown to the largest structured pediatric complex care program in Canada, which has applied research findings and quality improvement methodologies in a robust model of care currently servicing over 400 children at SickKids as well as five community sites. Ontario is about to launch a province-wide initiative informed by this model, which has also influenced the development of numerous other complex care programs nationally and internationally.

Longer term, Dr. Cohen aspires to use his Harkness experience to further develop his research program focused on applying and evaluating policy interventions for people with complex chronic conditions, and to help build much-needed healthcare capacity for children with complex chronic diseases.

Dr. Cohen is also an Associate Scientist at SickKids' Research Institute for Child Health Evaluative Sciences. Additionally, he is Associate Professor in the University of Toronto's Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Health Policy and The Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing.

Dr. Cohen's other current appointments include Scientist at the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research at McMaster University and Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences at the University of Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Facts

The Harkness Fellowships, modeled after the Rhodes Scholarships, were established by The Commonwealth Fund in 1925.

They aim to produce the next generation of health policy leaders in the nine participating countries -- Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Mid-career professionals spend a year in the United States to study healthcare delivery system reforms and critical issues on the health policy agenda in the U.S. They also take part in organized high level policy briefings and site visits in the U.S. and Canada.

CFHI has brought a Canadian perspective to the program since 2001 and, in 2012, began co-funding a full-time Canadian Harkness Fellowship.

Since 2001, 25 Canadian Harkness Fellows have been appointed.

All Fellows take part in a four-day Canadian Harkness Policy Briefing Tour organized by CFHI, where they gain a fuller understanding of how healthcare in Canada is organized, financed, managed and delivered.

The application deadline for the 2016/17 Canadian Harkness Fellowship is November 16, 2015.

Quotes

"I'm honoured to receive the Harkness Fellowship and thank the Commonwealth Fund and the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement for the incredible opportunity that I have been given."
- Dr. Eyal Cohen, Staff Physician, Division of Pediatric Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

"Support for the Harkness Fellowship provides opportunities for Canadian healthcare professionals to develop innovative approaches to pressing healthcare challenges by working in the United States with some of the best minds in the world. Dr. Cohen's work will help Canadian organizations better care for children with complex chronic conditions."
- Maureen O'Neil, O.C., CFHI President

"We are pleased to appoint Dr. Eyal Cohen a 2015-16 Harkness/CFHI Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice. He will have the opportunity to work with leading U.S. experts to study a critical issue high on the health policy agenda in both the U.S. and Canada, and explore firsthand some of the delivery system innovations underway that are changing the U.S. health care landscape as the Affordable Care Act is implemented. We value the rich experience and expertise that Dr. Cohen will bring to the program."
- Robin Osborn, Vice-President and Director of the International Program
in Health Policy and Practice Innovations, The Commonwealth Fund

SOURCE Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement

Image with caption: "Dr. Eyal Cohen (CNW Group/Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20150528_C6627_PHOTO_EN_17076.jpg

For further information: Paulette Roberge, Senior Communications Specialist, Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, W: 613-728-2238 ext. 288, C: 613-790-1070, E: [e-mail]