LSIPR 50 2017: Jane Philpott
Name: Jane Philpott
Organisation: Canadian government
Position: Minister of health/head of Health Canada
Health Canada has certainly played a prominent role in numerous matters touching the life sciences industry, including the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations, which link Health Canada’s approval of generic products to patents listed on the patent register,” says Gunars Gaikis of Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh.
Jane Philpott, head of federal agency Health Canada, has been nominated for her involvement in the development of the regulations.
Gaikis adds: “Regardless of what IP counsel may think about various Health Canada initiatives, the reality is that it plays a vitally important role in the intersection of life sciences and IP in Canada.”
Philpott was elected as MP for Markham-Stouffville in October 2015 and appointed minister of health in November the same year. Before her political career, Philpott focused on family medicine, public health, medicinal education and global advocacy for HIV/AIDS.
"Philpott is an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Family & Community Medicine."
She studied medicine at the University of Western Ontario, and completed a family medicine residency at the University of Ottawa and a tropical medicine fellowship in Toronto. In addition, she earned a master’s degree in public health at the University of Toronto.
Philpott lived in Niger between 1989 and 1998, practising general medicine and helping to develop a training programme for village health workers. After working in Niger, she practised as a family physician at Markham-Stouffville Hospital for more than 15 years. She led the opening of the Health for All Family Health Team, a care home for 10,000 patients in Markham-Stouffville, as well as the Markham Family Medicine Teaching Unit, which has trained 45 new family physicians in the community since 2010.
Along with her political role, Philpott is an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Family & Community Medicine. In 2014, she founded a movement called Give a Day to World AIDS, which raised over $4 million to help HIV/AIDS-affected individuals in Africa. She also helped Addis Ababa University to develop Ethiopia’s first training programme for family medicine.
