Posted on March 5: Visiting Hooker professor examines health care policy

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March 5, 2003

Andy Oxman, a Hooker Distinguished visiting professor in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, will examine the “Unbearable Lightness of Health Care Policy”, today (March 5) from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Health Sciences Centre, Room. 1A6.

An international leader in developing, teaching, researching and applying evidence-based health care, Oxman is the director of Health Services Research in the Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social Welfare.

His talk will be based on Milan Kundera's book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

“The underlying argument of my talk is that health-policy making is doubly unbearably light because not only is it often impossible to compare alternative policy options, many policies are never properly implemented, however well informed they are,” Oxman says.

Oxman will describe his experience working with key stakeholders in Norway to evaluate an implementation strategy for a broadly supported health policy: active sick leave; use case studies from six countries on the use of research to inform drug policy to better understand this experience; expand on a systematic review of interviews with policy makers about the use of research in health policy; draw some conclusions and engage the audience in a discussion about the implications of this in the Canadian context.

Oxman's publications include systematic reviews, meta-analyses, methodology development, quality of life, community-health practice guidelines, and educational strategies for health-care providers and users. He is a leader in the Cochrane Collaboration and an active participant in the Evidence Based Medicine Working Group.

After completing his MD at Michigan State, Oxman earned a Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety, a Masters degree in Design, Measurement and Evaluation, and Community Medicine Certification at McMaster in the 1980's. He is now the director of Health Services Research in the Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social Welfare.