Our leadership team and board of directors guide ABJHI core responsibilities through policy and strategic planning.
Charitable registration number: 132314154 RR 0001
©2023 Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute. All rights reserved.
Dr. Rick Anderson has recently retired after a long career with many leadership roles in Emergency Medicine, Medical Administration and Medical Professional Affairs. During his career he was an early leader and adopter of performance metrics for Physicians and for monitoring and planning health care delivery models.
His long term interest in the challenges associated with the documentation of, and the associated research with respect to individual patient care clinical outcomes are what attracted him, when asked to offer his experience to the pursuit of this objective underway at the Institute for Improved Health Outcomes.
Martin is responsible for setting strategic objectives, securing the resources ABJHI requires to meet its long-term priorities, and building productive, mutually beneficial relationships with stakeholders in bone and joint health care. These stakeholders are diverse and numerous, and include surgeons, physicians and other health care providers, patients, researchers, educators, Alberta’s Bone and Joint Health Strategic Clinical Network, Alberta Health Services, and Alberta Health.
He works with ABJHI’s Board of Directors to set business priorities that are aligned with our mission and mandate. He also ensures ABJHI has effective financial controls and meets all regulatory requirements related to our work and to our status as a charitable organization.
Martin is a biomedical engineer and credentialed clinical scientist. In addition to his role with ABJHI, he holds senior administrative and academic positions at University of Alberta, including Vice-principal, Peter Lougheed Leadership College, Vice-provost (Strategic Initiatives), and Professor in Rehabilitation Medicine. His academic career has centred on studying secondary complications of physical disability and their causes to reduce their incidence.
Martin holds a BSc in physics from Exeter University and a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Strathclyde in the United Kingdom.
With a deep understanding of healthcare technology, Christopher oversees the processes and sophisticated information systems that support innovative change in healthcare service delivery, guiding organizational efforts to support service providers and administrators in implementing change.
Christopher is charged with ensuring continued operational excellence for all technical aspects of organizational operations, including its information systems, measurement and analysis functions, data security and governance, as well as internal and external reporting.
Christopher works with Dr. Jason Werle (Executive Director) and Liz Rowan (Chief Operating Officer) to align organizational strategies and operational goals with innovative technology solutions. He holds an MBA from the University of Calgary and has spent over two decades driving quality improvement in health care in Alberta.
Liz is a results-driven leader with expertise in developing and executing company strategies, managing human resources, and overseeing budgeting processes. With strong skills in government relations and fundraising, Liz ensures organizational growth and financial sustainability while fostering a positive workplace culture and maintaining strategic partnerships.
Liz works with Dr. Jason Werle (Executive Director) and Christopher Smith (Director of Operations [Technical]) to align organizational strategies and operational goals with innovative technology solutions.
Prior to joining the organization in 2010, Liz coordinated the deployment of electronic medical records in clinics across Alberta. She has experience in managing client relations, implementing business solutions, and fostering customer loyalty.
As the Honorary Chair of Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute, Ann is committed to continuing the work of her late husband, J.R. (Bud) McCaig, who founded ABJHI in 2004 with a donation of $10 million. Ann and Bud were married for 21 years and shared a vision to build a world-class health and medical system in Calgary.
Ann is well-known for her commitment to the not-for-profit sector and, in particular, her passion for youth, education and health. She serves as Chair Emeritus of the Calgary Health Trust and the Calgary Stampede Foundation and as Chair of the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre (AARC). She is also Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Calgary, a Director of the Gairdner Foundation, and a former Trustee of the $400-million Killam Estate.
Over the past two decades, Ann has led several large capital campaigns for major institutions in Calgary. She was Co-chair of the Alberta Children’s Hospital campaign, helping to raise more than $52 million to build a state-of-the-art pediatric facility in Calgary, and chaired a campaign that raised $9.6 million for AARC.
Ann is a Member of the Order of Canada and has received an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. She is one of the inaugural recipients of the University of Calgary Education Partnership Award and was recognized by the University of Saskatchewan with an Alumni Humanitarian Award. She has received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Award, the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Award, the Alberta Order of Excellence, the Alberta Centennial Award, the Rotary Integrity Award, the Paul Harris Fellowship Rotary International Award, the YWCA Woman of Distinction Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Award of Exceptional Recognition from Calgary’s Chief of Police. In June 2012, Ann received the Grant MacEwan Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of Calgary in honour of her contributions to the community.
With more than a decade in executive leadership positions in the public and post-secondary sectors, Karen had led and championed complex initiatives, guided organizations through transition and change, and built long-lasting local, national and international relationships rooted in multi-sector engagement. Karen was a key driver in the realization of Edmonton’s Health City, a multi-stakeholder economic development initiative launched in 2017. Over the course of her career, Karen has worked to advance the provincial and national science, research, and innovation agenda and has secured funding for new national programs and major capital projects. Karen has also served as Associate Vice-President (Government & Corporate Relations) for the University of Alberta and was seconded to the Government of Alberta to serve as Assistant Deputy Minister (Operations and Machinery of Government) in Executive Council.
Karen is currently the CEO of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board where she works with the 13 member municipalities that make up the Board to implement the region’s 30 year growth and servicing plans. She is also the Founder of Deep Strategies Inc. Karen serves on the Glenrose Hospital Foundation Board, ST Innovations Business Advisory Board and Covenant Health’s Growth and Innovation Board.
Jason grew up on a farm near Langenburg, SK, and believes this taught him the importance of hard work and a sense of optimism for the future. He is an ardent Saskatchewan Roughrider fan which has definitely taught him patience! His orthopaedic surgery practice is focused on lower extremity arthroplasty (joint replacements) and single limb trauma surgery. He enjoys golf, curling, hiking, biking, boating, and Flames Hockey when he’s not in the OR or at a meeting.
Dr. Lauren Beaupre is a physical therapist and epidemiologist who is a professor and Dr. David Magee Endowed Chair in Musculoskeletal Research in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Alberta. She also holds a joint appointment in the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Alberta. Her research interests are in outcome and health services research for people who live with musculoskeletal conditions and are recovering from orthopaedic surgery. Dr. Beaupre leads the Collaborative Orthopaedic Research (CORe) group at the University, which is a multidisciplinary research unit.
Dr. Beaupre has published extensively in the areas of hip fracture recovery and secondary fracture prevention, total joint arthroplasty surgery and rehabilitation, and upper extremity research. She is also interested in Implementation Science Research and has worked closely with the Alberta Bone and Joint Strategic Clinical Network and Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute to implement and evaluate provincial bone health programs to improve secondary fracture prevention. Dr. Beaupre was the first Canadian and physical therapist to lead the Fragility Fracture Network (FFN) (2022-23). The FFN is an international organization of almost 15,000 members that seek to improve the lives of people experiencing a fragility fracture anywhere in the world, including preventing the next fracture.
