Board Chair welcomes five new board members

 Alberta Health Services Board Chair Ken Hughes welcomes and congratulates the five new Board members announced today by Health and Wellness Minister Gene Zwozdesky.

The appointments are effective immediately, and are for terms that will run until March 31, 2014.

The new board members are: Ray Block (Edmonton/Athabasca), Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai (Edmonton), Don Johnson (Barnwell), Dr. Eldon Smith (Calgary), and Sheila Weatherill (Edmonton).

“On behalf of Alberta Health Services I would like to welcome five new members to our Board of Directors,” Hughes said. “The new members expand on the Board’s essential skills and experience, including impressive backgrounds in community service and clinical and organizational leadership.

“They join us at a time when AHS is building on the platform of the Five-Year Health Action Plan and the five-year funding plan to take major steps forward in increasing access and reducing wait times.”

The Board’s leadership has guided Alberta Health Services through a critical time of amalgamation and transition, to emerge where we are today with a solid financial foundation supporting innovations and initiatives that are now well underway, including new hospital and continuing care beds, more surgical services and new capacity around the province of Alberta.

“Working in partnership with Alberta Health and Wellness, the five new Board members, along with our current board members, have the depth and vision needed to guide and support AHS in its next stage of growth, as we progress toward becoming Canada’s best performing, publicly funded health system,” Hughes said.

“I’d like to add that I’m personally delighted with the appointments of these new members and appreciate their important contribution and commitment to public service.”

Ray Block is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Alberta Mental Health Board. He is the Vice-President, Finance and Administration at Athabasca University and has a PhD in Public Health Sciences from the University of Alberta.

Dr. Collins-Nakai has worked as a cardiologist, researcher, and professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta.  She previously served as President of the Alberta Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association, and received the CMA 2008 Medal of Service for contributions to the medical profession. She is currently Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee at Exciton Technologies Inc.

Don Johnson is a councillor with the Municipal District of Taber and spent six years as the president of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties.  He also served as a member of the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Health.

Dr. Smith is Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary, where he served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He has also served on hospital boards and on the board of the former Calgary Health Region.

Sheila Weatherill served 10 years as President and CEO of Capital Health. She served as a board member of the Canadian Institute for Health Information and is Past Chair of the Association of Canadian Academic Health Organizations.