Toronto Alumni Compare Canadian and US Health Care Systems

In partnership with the Cleveland Clinic Canada, the HBS Club of Toronto hosted 40 alumni on September 12 for a lively panel discussion exploring the future of health care in Canada, and comparing Canadian and American health care systems.

Toronto Club President Kazi Ahmed (MBA 2011) US: Public and Private Paradigms,” and featuring panelists Cleveland Clinic Canada CEO Mike Kessel and Chief Medical Director Khalil Sivjee, M.D.

L-R: Khalil Sivjee, Medical Director, Cleveland Clinic Canada; Mike Kessel, CEO of Cleveland Clinic Canada; and Panel Moderator Kazi Ahmed (MBA 2011) President, HBS Club of Toronto

“They talked about both the current and future states of medicine,” says Ahmed. “We had an informal Q & A format, and the group talked about a wide range of topics, including the politics of private versus public health care, skyrocketing costs of prescription medications, and how AI-assisted personal medicine is coming in the future.”

Ahmed says the Cleveland Clinic Canada (CCC) represents one of the growing patient-centric models of care providing select private and public services to complement Canada’s public healthcare system.

Kessel cofounded the Center for Partnership Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, while Dr. Sivjee, a respirologist, is a fellow with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and with the American College of Chest Physicians.

“Through their experiences, Mike and Khalil have significant exposure to both the US and Canadian health care systems,” and talked about the key differences, similarities, and advantages/disadvantages of each.

Healthcare Alumni Association Holds First Global Networking Night

The HBS Healthcare Alumni Association (HBSHAA) launched its inaugural Global Healthcare Networking Night (GHNN) on September 19, with a coordinated night of social/ happy hours held at the same time in multiple cities.

According to Nicki MacManus (MBA 2009), who helped produce the event, the idea for HBSHAA members to gather at multiple locations at once was modeled after the larger annual HBS Global Networking Night (coming up on October 16).

“We wanted to provide an opportunity for alumni in the HBSHAA to connect within each city and on the same night across the participating cities,” she says. “We were emulating the HBS Global Networking Night by highlighting the importance of networking, but also emphasizing the club’s interests and brand.”

Facilitated with the help of several geographic HBS alumni clubs and associations, HBSHAA regional leads in several cities including Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Sao Paolo, Brazil, organized the casual networking gatherings at local pubs and restaurants.

“We had a great turnout, about 25 people, join us at Meadhall in Cambridge,” says MacManus, the vice president for Transformation at CVS Health. “We had some recent HBS grads, as well as a retiree, investors, and entrepreneurs; alumni working in a range of health care sectors, from biotech and research to pharma and the provider side of it as well. It was a chance to get connected. There was no agenda and no speaker. We wanted to start simply.”

About a dozen alumni gathered in New York City at 5^th & Mad for drinks and conversation, and another half dozen alumni got together at Punch Bowl Social in Minneapolis. In Los Angeles, nine alumni enjoyed drinks and appetizers at 1212 Santa Monica.

“It was a chance for people to connect with other new local contacts in health care,” says Charles Huang (MBA), who coordinated the LA gathering. “Industries represented included health care investing and finance, pharma, and technology startups. We started planning other get-togethers so pharma folks could meet other pharma folks, and investors could meet other investors, and so on. We also talked about planning a service day in the community.”

HBSHAA Program Coordinator Susan Calcio says the GHNN will be an annual event and will expand to include more locations.

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