International community role in addressing healthcare challenges to be explored at global health lecture

March 14, 2011 - An international healthcare leader who works to increase the power of the community in shaping healthcare will be the speaker at the next presentation in the McMaster Health Forum’s Global Health Lecture Series.

Jacqui Lunday, the Chief Health Professions Officer for Scotland’s health department, will focus on opportunities and challenges facing the international community in meeting global health needs. She will address issues such as health workforce capacity and development, and the provision of affordable, sustainable health care services for the future. The lecture will be held on March 23, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the McMaster Health Forum DialogueSpace on the fourth floor of Mills Memorial Library.

Lunday will explore the potential for networking, interprofessional collaboration and communities of practice to have a significant impact on healthcare. She will present examples of recent developments brokered through the World Health Organization and 60 international health professional bodies as evidence of the use of community in global health advocacy.

Lunday is based within the Directorate of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions and works closely with colleagues from across a range of departments including health, education and social care. She provides advice to ministers and the government on professional matters affecting all 60 health professions, adult rehabilitation and the development and implementation of related policy areas.  She has a professional leadership and policy lead role for the nine allied health professional groups and the 51 healthcare science professions in Scotland.

In 2007 she was appointed as technical advisor to the World Health Organization and has led an international program of work on virtual networks for health professionals to support interprofessional learning and collaboration. This includes the establishment of a Global Community of Practice for Rehabilitation and also the Health Professions Global Network, across 60 international health professional bodies. She previously led the introduction of Scotland’s Patient Experience program from 2006 to 2008. 

Lunday is passionate about the human dynamic of care and is currently leading work for the Scottish Government on person-centred and relationship-based care in the context of professional practice for nurses, midwives and other allied health professionals. In July 2010, she was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of the University from Queen Margaret University in recognition of her significant contribution to education and public service. 

The Forum’s Global Health Lecture series is organized under the coordination of Steven Hoffman, an adjunct faculty with the Forum who teaches the Forum’s Global Health Advocacy course, and with the support of McMaster’s Bachelor of Health Sciences program.

If interested in attending, please RSVP to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , with ‘Lunday talk’ in the subject line.