CADTH Recognizes Outstanding Leaders in Health Technology Assessment

Today CADTH presented Recognition Awards to two scientists to honour their exceptional contributions to the field of health technology assessment (HTA) — one as a pioneer who has pushed the boundaries of economic evaluation in child health and the other as a rising star who is advancing the use of real-world evidence in drug funding decisions in Canada.

Both recipients were nominated by their peers and celebrated at the 2020 CADTH Symposium, our annual must-attend conference for the Canadian and global HTA community.

Dr. Wendy Ungar received the 2020 Dr. Jill M. Sanders Award of Excellence, which honours individuals whose outstanding achievements have significantly advanced HTA in Canada. Dr. Ungar is an internationally recognized academic leader and her large body of work is considered seminal to understanding the unique issues surrounding HTA in the pediatric context. She is widely known for pushing methodological boundaries in economic evaluations and advancing frameworks that address the complex evidentiary, economic, and ethical considerations of child health.

Dr. Ungar is a Senior Scientist in Child Health Evaluative Sciences at SickKids and the founding Director of Technology Assessment at SickKids (TASK), the world’s leading research unit devoted to pediatric HTA. She is also a Professor in Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. In 2019 she was appointed the Canada Research Chair in Economic Evaluation and Technology Assessment in Child Health.

Dr. Kelvin Chan received the Dr. Maurice McGregor Award, which honours rising stars early in their careers. Dr. Chan is widely known as a skilled and compassionate medical oncologist at the Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, and a highly accomplished scientist and methodologist. He co-leads the Canadian Centre for Applied Research in Cancer Control (ARCC), a network devoted to health outcomes and economic research, and he launched the Canadian Real-World Evidence for Value of Cancer Drugs collaboration to develop a framework generating and using real-world evidence for cancer drug funding decisions.

Dr. Chan is also an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and an Associate Scientist at the Sunnybrook Research Institute.

“We are proud to honour Dr. Wendy Ungar and Dr. Kelvin Chan for their immense scientific achievements,” said Suzanne McGurn, CADTH President and CEO. “Credible evidence matters now, more than ever, and their individual contributions have significantly advanced the field of HTA and improved the quality of evidence that underpins sound decision-making in Canadian health systems.”

More Information:

• Video tribute to Dr. Wendy Ungar
• Award presentation to Dr. Kelvin Chan
• Biography of Dr. Wendy Ungar
• Biography of Dr. Kelvin Chan
• About the CADTH Recognition Awards

About CADTH

CADTH is an independent, not-for-profit agency funded by Canadian federal, provincial, and territorial governments (except Quebec) to provide credible, impartial advice and evidence-based information about the effectiveness of drugs and other health technologies to Canadian health care decision-makers.