Faculty, students and the Saskatoon public were treated to an engaging and thoughtful presentation by Professor Uwe Reinhardt, PH.D. on the evening of September 26^th at the KW Nasser Centre.

Dr. Uwe Reinhardt is the JAMES MADISON PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY and  PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS from Princeton University, New Jersey.  He spoke on “Values in health care reform: Canada vs. the United States” to an audience of students from the Edwards MBA program and the Business Administration Certificate Human Resources class,  members of the School of Public Health and Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, and numbers of faculty and friends.   Associate Dean Keith Willoughby introduced Professor Reinhardt by referencing a distinguished career that included the University Saskatchewan Governor General’s Gold Medal from his Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1964.  Since his undergraduate days in Saskatchewan, Dr. Reinhardt has made his home in the United States where he is recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on health care economics.  

Dr. Reinhardt is a past president of the Association of Health Services Research. From 1986 to 1995 he served as a commissioner on the Physician Payment Review Committee, established in 1986 by Congress to advise it on issues related to the payment of physicians. He is a senior associate of the Judge Institute for Management of Cambridge University, UK, and a trustee of Duke University, and the Duke University Health System. Reinhardt is or was a member of numerous editorial boards, among them the Journal of Health Economics, the New England Journal of Medicine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Professor Reinhardt clearly demonstrated why his audiences find him so captivating.  His presentation covered the underlying values-based philosophy of public policy that shapes our political systems, our nations’ economies and certainly our health care systems.  He was both thought provoking and humorous providing a history lesson, ethics and philosophy commentary,  and his view as to what is needed in health leadership and the future in health care reform.