Appropriate Use Advisory Committee

The Appropriate Use Advisory Committee’s mandate is to advise Canada’s Drug Agency and provide recommendations for our appropriate use strategy and program, identify priorities, ensure alignment and maximum efficiency, share information, and champion our appropriate use program work to system partners. With input from the committee and partners, including the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, Canada’s Drug Agency will establish a pan-Canadian appropriate use and prescribing program that supports local implementation and improves the safety and quality of care.

Co-Chairs

Stephen Samis

Stephen Samis is a health policy consultant and an associate scientific director of policy and partnerships, and director of the Centre for Health Policy, O’Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary. He was deputy minister of health and social services for the Government of Yukon from 2017 to 2022. Previously he worked for the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, and the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Stephen has extensive experience in federal, provincial and territorial government relations, health policy, population health, and health program delivery.

Dr. Jim Silvius, BA (Oxon), MD, FRCPC

 Dr. Jim Silvius is the co-founder of the Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network (CADeN) and is a clinical professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary. He is also the provincial medical director for Provincial Seniors Health & Continuing Care at Alberta Health Services.

Members

The rest of the committee members will be appointed this summer. Watch this page for more information.