Dr. Robert Cushman

Previously he was the Senior Medical Advisor at Health Canada as well as the Director General, Biologics & Genetic Therapies from 2012 to 2015.He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Champlain Local Health Integration Network from 2005 to January 2011. In that role, he focused on reducing surgical and diagnostic wait times, funding and promoting ‘aging at home’ projects, expanding addiction treatment programs, and completing groundwork for a regional hospital laboratory system. Earlier Dr. Cushman was the Medical Officer of Health for the City of Ottawa, where he was instrumental in bringing in smoke-free legislation. Dr. Cushman has worked as a primary care physician in a variety of healthcare settings, including the emergency room of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Somerset West Community Health Centre in Ottawa, and along the James and Hudson Bay coasts serving Cree and Inuit populations. Early on in his career, he worked at a large African mission hospital for three years. Dr. Cushman received his undergraduate degree in economics at Harvard University before studying medicine at McMaster University. He also earned an MSc in epidemiology from McMaster and an executive MBA from the University of Ottawa.