The Institute of Public Administration of Canada (Manitoba Region) is pleased to announce that the 2019 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration will be Dr. Brian Postl.
Dr. Postl has had an exceptional career in public administration in the field of medicine and has made many contributions to healthy public policy and all aspects of healthcare at the local, regional and national level. He is noted as being an exemplary leader with a reputation for integrity and for having enormous credibility as a clinical leader, an academic administrator and a senior healthcare executive.
Dr. Postl spent the first part of his career in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg as well as travelling to northern Manitoba to provide services to Indigenous children and communities. He assumed leadership roles early on in his career and became the first Head of the then newly created Department of Community Health Sciences within the Faculty of Medicine quickly followed by becoming the Head of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at the University of Manitoba and the Child Health Program at the Health Sciences Centre. In 2000, Dr. Postl became the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. His leadership style was credited for successfully amalgamating 2 different authorities and work cultures into an integrated organization that launched innovative initiatives in Indigenous health, wait list management, service integration, community outreach and clinical research.
Dr. Postl is noted for his leadership style that is adept at bringing together different cultures to obtain the benefits from collaboration and integration. This is exemplified as well in his current position as the Dean and Vice-Provost, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba.
Under Dr. Postl’s leadership, the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences amalgamated the health faculties into a single faculty and now includes the Colleges of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Rehabilitation Sciences. Dr. Postl recognized that in order to improve individual patient and public health outcomes, interprofessional health education required a platform. The new Faculty continues to move forward with enhanced collaboration in teaching, research and other areas.
Throughout his career, Dr. Postl has promoted equity, inclusion and integration. In his current role, he has led policy changes to student admissions criteria and processes to create a student body that more closely reflects the demographics of Manitoba’s population and that has resulted in more equitable, diverse registrants. Some examples include the creation of a French/English bilingual stream that better represents Franco-Manitobans and the streamlining of admissions process for First Nations, Metis and Inuit applications from across Canada.
He has also spent much of his career as an advocate for the health and well-being of Indigenous children and communities. He has advocated, through his policy and public service work for improved access to equitable and comprehensive health care in the far north and in First Nation and Metis communities in Manitoba. This commitment is currently reflected in his support for, and the success of, Ongomiizwin – Indigenous Institute of Health an Healing at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences.
Dr. Postl has served on numerous boards at the provincial and national level. A few examples include Co-Chair, Premier’s Economic Advisory Council; Co-Chair, Minister’s Advisory Panel on Manitoba’s Regulated Health Professionals Act; Chair, Manitoba Health Research Council; Chair, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy Advisory Committee. He was instrumental in establishing the Western Canadian Children’s Heart Network. Nationally, Dr, Postl was a founding board member of the Health Council of Canada and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute. He is a past Chair of the Canadian Institute for Health Information and the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement. In 2005, Dr Postl was appointed the Federal Wait Time Advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada. He continues to be active on many boards provincially and nationally including his position as co-chair of the CD Howe Institute Health Policy Council.
He has been recognized for his many contributions including the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres Child Health Award, in recognition of outstanding leadership and dedication to improving the health and well-being of children and youth. He was inducted as a fellow in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and in 2012 he received the Order of Manitoba.
Dr. Postl has a strong sense of social responsibility and is known for his ability to engage at multiple levels to influence public sector policy and enhance the role of public administration to continue to improve the quality of healthy public policy. He also continues to prepare the next generation of health care providers.
He has been at the centre of change in health care and health care education where his leadership style has been sited as managing idealism and realism, substantive knowledge and skill to guide the many changes and improvements in the health care field over the past 3 decades that has benefited the people of Manitoba and Canada.
Dr. Postl will be presented with then2019 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration during a noon-hour ceremony on Thursday, April 25, 2019 at Government House.
Invitations are forthcoming. Please note that IPAC members will receive preference.
(If you are not a member of IPAC now would be a great time to join or renew your membership! Please email Manitoba@Ipac.ca.)
IPAC Manitoba Region 