Honourable Dr. Arthur Thomas Porter,
MA, MD, DBA, DMRT, FRCPC, FACR, FACRO, FAAMA, PC
Dr. Arthur T. Porter brings a unique blend of medical practice, finance and business experience to healthcare leadership.
After attending the University of Sierra Leone, he transferred to Cambridge University in England, where he received his bachelor of arts in anatomy, master of arts in natural sciences and his medical degree.
Later, Dr. Porter earned his master of business administration from the University of Tennessee and certificates in Medical Management from Harvard University and the University of Toronto. He received his Diplomate Status and Fellowship in Health Care Administration from the American Academy of Medical Administrators.
Following his training in Medical and Radiation Oncology, Dr. Porter assumed several senior positions in Canada, including that of Senior Specialist at the University of Alberta, Chief of Radiation Oncology at the London Regional Cancer Centre and Chairman of Oncology at Victoria Hospital in Ontario.
Dr. Porter’s extensive international background includes medical practice, business and academic leadership positions in Canada, Europe, Africa and the United States. He has also served as a Consultant to the World Health Organization, and has worked to establish international research and treatment programs in Turkey, Yemen, Bahamas, Brazil, Liberia and throughout Europe.
In 2005, Dr. Porter was appointed President of the Quebec provincial government’s new Réseau Universitaire Intégré de Santé (RUIS). The plan divides the province of Québec into four geographic regions – to be served by McGill and the Universities of Montréal, Sherbrooke and Laval – with tertiary services, education and research coordinated by each university’s faculty of medicine and its associated teaching hospital.
In February 2004, Dr. Porter was appointed Director General and CEO of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) in Montréal. With six teaching hospitals affiliated with McGill University, the MUHC is one of the most comprehensive academic health centres in North America with over 1,300 clinicians and some 14,000 healthcare professionals, researchers and other other personnel.
Dr. Porter also continues to teach at the University of Tennessee, McGill University, and University of West Indies.
Honourable Carol Skelton, P.C.
Carol Skelton is currently a partner with her husband Noel in a consulting business.
Carol was born in Biggar, Saskatchewan, and was raised in Biggar and on the family farm in the Lizard Lake District. She attended Wilson Lake and Lizard Lake schools, and Biggar Composite High School. Carol married Noel Skelton and moved to the family farm at Harris. She and Noel have three grown children and five granddaughters.
Carol was first elected to the House of Commons in 2000. In February 2006, she became the first elected female Minister for the province of Saskatchewan. She was appointed Minister of National Revenue, Minister of Western Economic Diversification and Regional Minister for the Province of Saskatchewan. She did not seek re-election in the last federal election. Prior to her election, Ms. Skelton was a coordinator for the Canadian Blood Services. She has served in organizations from 4-H to the Royal Canadian Legion.
Honourable Dr. Philippe Couillard, M.D.
Born in 1957, Dr. Couillard completed his secondary and pre-university studies at Collège Stanislas in Montréal in 1974. He was admitted to the Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Montréal the same year, obtaining his doctorate in medicine (M.D) in 1979. Postgraduate studies in neurosurgery led to his obtaining his specialist status in 1985.
While a consulting neurosurgeon at Hôpital St-Luc in Montréal, Dr. Couillard was appointed department head in 1989 and senior lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine. In 1992, he was recruited to found a neurosurgery department in Dhahram, Saudi Arabia.
In 1996, he was recruited by the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke. He was successively assistant professor, training program director and associate professor, being appointed surgeon-in-chief and department head at the university in 2000. As a member of the Council of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, he took part in the public debate about this country’s healthcare system.
In April 2003, he was elected a Member of the National Assembly for the riding of Mount-Royal, under the banner of the Quebec Liberal Party. He was appointed Minister of Health and Social Services and Chair of the Ministerial Committee on Social, Educational and Cultural Development. After being re-elected in 2007 in the riding of Jean-Talon, in Quebec City, he was appointed Minster responsible for the Quebec City region and Chair of the Priorities Committee.
In 2006, he received the Medicine, Culture and Society Prize from the Faculty of Medicine at the Université de Montréal, and he received the Jacques Cartier Medial at the 2007 Entretiens Jacques-Cartier conference in Lyons.
On June 25, 2008, after more than 5 years of public service, Dr. Couillard announced that he was leaving politics. He embarked on a new career in business, joining Persistence Capital Partners LP, Canada’s first private equity fund dedicated to healthcare, as a partner. In 2009, he was appointed Senior Fellow in Health Law at McGill University, a cross-appointment between the Faculties of Medicine and Law. In this capacity, he teaches health care governance and participates in related activities.
On June 11, 2009, Philippe Couillard was nominated to the Board of Canadian Royalties Inc., a mining company traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (T.CSS). In October 2009, he became a director of Amorfix Life Sciences, a publicly traded (T.AMF) biotechnology corporation.
Dr. Couillard also sits on the international advisory board of the Minister of Health of Saudi Arabia.
