The Collaborative Centre has developed its first 5-year strategic plan to shape the health sector response to the profound health and health system challenges of climate and environmental change and the demands of sustainability.
The Future is Change: The world faces an era of multiple intersecting, socio-ecological challenges.
CLIMATE CHANGE is a key global environmental challenge, alongside biodiversity depletion and ecosystem decline. Impacts are already being felt. Those rendered more vulnerable by social and structural factors face the greatest threats, highlighting the central imperative of environmental and climate justice.
GLOBAL environmental change is a critical challenge to health in the 21st century. Health systems must adapt to new health risks, build resilience to growing shocks and stresses, and deliver high quality and equitable care while reducing resource use and pollution.
Changing the Future: The Collaborative Centre has been formed to help change this future.
We aim to shape the health sector response to the profound health and health system challenges of climate and environmental change and the demands of sustainability. The Collaborative Centre draws on diverse knowledge systems in doing so, including through transformative approaches to knowing and acting in the world.
Highlights from Our Strategic Plan
Our Purpose
The Collaborative Centre’s purpose is to catalyze climate & sustainability action for health & health systems through research, education, and practice & policy change.
Our Values
As a mission-driven academic unit, we value:
Rigour and integrity: Conducting work to the highest standards of intellectual honesty and humility, transparency, and accountability, ensuring independence and integrity.
Boldness and pushing boundaries: Addressing structural and root causes, and creating space for critical and heterodox scholarship.
Equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility & Indigenous reconciliation: Prioritizing equity and environmental and climate justice, elevating the expertise of socially and structurally marginalized communities and working in allyship with Indigenous scholarship and praxis.
Strategic Planning Process
In its first year of operation, the Collaborative Centre engaged in a transparent and participatory strategic planning process, reaching out to colleagues, cognate units, leadership in the four partner faculties, students, and expert observers to co-develop our first five-year plan.
A scan of cognate units confirmed our commitment to align with leading international units in delivering:
A comprehensive academic mandate for research, education, and practice & policy change
A membership program and regular activities to support faculty, students, and community & health sector partners.
As well, this scan made clear that our interdisciplinary and interprofessional foundation is distinctive, marked by the commitment of the Collaborative Centre’s four founding faculties.
Research
A scan and consultation on research needs identified opportunities to:
Catalyze research
Integrate trainees
Strategically support funding acquisition
Education
A scan of activities and consultation on needs identified opportunities to:
Support health professions education
Support graduate and research-oriented health sciences education
Practice & Policy Change
Strategic priority-setting and consultation identified opportunities to:
Strengthen the TAHSN Sustainable Health System Community of Practice
Engage WHO Collaborating Centres
Support knowledge mobilization
Consultation and development of strategies for core cross-cutting activities:
Communications: to assess needs and develop a communications strategy
Network building & knowledge exchange: to engage and strengthen the network through events and recruit members to the Collaborative Centre
Capacity strengthening: to clarify needs for capacity strengthening within the network, including opportunities for career development and trainee integration
We launched a seminar series, co-hosting discussions on key topics, and facilitating network building. We co-hosted visiting experts, and co-sponsored research workshops with other academic units with shared interests at UofT and across TAHSN. (see table below)
For upcoming events, visit our events calendar. (LINK)
Date
Seminars
Partners
February 4, 2024
Climate Action Cannot Succeed Without Older People: Exploring the Intersection of Aging and Climate – Speakers: Ross Upshur & Ito Peng – Moderator: Jane Zhao
Massey College
March 20, 2024
Climate & Ecology in Health Professions Education: Transforming Learning for a Hopeful Future – Speakers: Carlos Sanchez Pimienta & Maria Mylopoulos – Moderator: Ashley Aimone
Wilson Centre
April 4, 2024
Pharmaceuticals in the Environment – Speakers: Gillian Parker & Gigi Wong – Moderators: Annalise Mathers & Colin Sue-Chue-Lam
Centre for Practice Excellence
April 9, 2024
The Environmental Co-Benefits of Deprescribing – Speakers: Gillian Parker & Stephanie Garland – Moderator: Brian Wong
CQuIPs
April 23-24, 2024
Sustainable Digital Cardiology Visiting Scholar: Gabrielle Samuel, Kings College London City-wide Cardiology rounds 1.5 day international symposium, with 6 international guests
TRANSFORMHF, H Ross (PI)
May 3, 2024
Indigenous Planetary Health Keynote: Nicole Redvers – Discussants: Carlos Sanchez Pimienta & Dominique Charron – Moderator: Ashley Aimone
Centre for Global Health
May 23-24, 2024
Pharmaceuticals & The Environment Visiting Expert: Stefan Berggren, Swedish Medical Products Agency Research roundtable Meetings with Health Canada, Environment & Climate Change Canada, & the Canadian Drug Agency
WHO Collaborating Centre for Governance, Accountability and Transparency in the Pharmaceutical Sector, Q Grundy (Director)
May 27-29, 2024
Sustainable Clinical Care Visiting Professor: Forbes McGain, University of MelbourneCity-Wide Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine Rounds: “Being sustainable: a journey ongoing…”Virtual One on One Sessions for Fellows & ResidentsMeetings with Sustainable Health System Community of Practice OR Working Group, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre’s President Green Task Force, SickKids’ / Toronto Critical Care ICU trainees and faculty
Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, Temerty Medicine
July 17, 2024
Exploring the Impacts of Climate Change on Apartment Building Residents – Speaker: Marianne Touchie – Moderators: Stephen Hwang & Fiona Miller
MAP Urban Health Solutions, Unity Health
Throughout the strategic planning process we hosted consultation meetings, including individual consultations with members, key partners, and other stakeholders. We also hosted a series of general strategic planning meetings and multiple, focused and topic-specific meetings. The Draft Strategic Plan was circulated to strategic planning meeting attendees for review.
