Research Oversight

Inaugural Scientific Director:
Dr. Gregory Marchildon

• PhD (London School of Economics and Political Science), 

• 
MA (University of Regina), 


• JD (University of Saskatchewan), 

• 
BA (University of Regina)

A scholar-practitioner with a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Greg has received wide acclaim for his research, which focuses on the history of public policy, with a particular emphasis on comparative health systems and policies and universal health coverage. During his career, he has gained extensive experience in establishing and working in national and international research and policy networks.

Greg has worked in three professions in his lifetime: lawyer (criminal prosecution and defence); academic (London School of Economics, Johns Hopkins University, University of Regina, and University of Toronto); and public servant (Deputy Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Deputy Minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary in Saskatchewan, as well as Executive Director of the Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, which reported in 2002).

He has written extensively on twentieth-century Canadian history and contemporary public policy including comparative health politics and policy. His latest book, T.C. (Tommy) Douglas and the Quest for Medicare in Canada in the 20th Century (University of Toronto Press), is the culmination of many years of research and writing.

He has also done consulting for governments and international organizations on cabinet systems and decision-making, public policy capacity building, and health system restructuring.

Greg is Professor Emeritus, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) at the University of Toronto and is affiliated with the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.

A member of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, he is Director of the North American Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (NAO). In addition to his scholarly pursuits, he is an avid canoeist and cyclist.

Inaugural Research Director:
Dr. John Church

• PhD (University of Western Ontario), 


• MA (University of Waterloo), 


• BA (University of Guelph)

With academic preparation in the areas of Canadian government and politics, local government, public policy and administration, John is widely respected for his expertise and measured, insightful commentary on health policy issues and the development of primary health care and citizen participation in Canada. John is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta. In addition to his academic work, he has led and participated in numerous applied research and program evaluation projects.

His extensive experience as a collaborator and board member includes past service as President of the Alberta Mustang Owners Association and current service as a Public Board Member for both the Ancient Rivers Family Practice and the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College.

John is co-author/editor of the book Paradigm Freeze: Why It Is So Hard To Reform Health Care In Canada (with John Lavis, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2013), and lead author (with Neal Smith) of Alberta: A Health System Profile. (University of Toronto Press, 2022).

Most recently, he contributed a chapter entitled “Alberta is Open for Business: The Renewed Push for Privatization of Health Services” to the book Anger and Angst: Jason Kenny’s Legacy and Alberta’s Right (T. Harrison and R. Acuna, Eds, Black Rose Books, 2023). He is currently at work on another book on health policy in Alberta to be published by the University of Alberta Press.

Between 2014 and 2018, John was Principal Investigator in a project funded by an operating grant awarded by the United Nurses of Alberta to examine accountability failure in health care catastrophes in the U.K. and Canada. Results of this work were published in an international peer-reviewed journal in 2018 and have continued to attract the interest of scholars worldwide.

Now living in Ontario, John is committed to to continuing with this program of research (now branded Decision-Making and Accountability Projects or D-Map) and serves as Inaugural Research Director of the PSCP.