Anne Crichton Lecture


Anne Crichton Lecture

As part of the 36th annual UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research health policy conference, Dr Katherine Boothe delivered the second annual Anne Crichton Lecture. Watch the lecture recording here.


Pharmacare in 2024: Learning from the Past, Looking to the Future

Speaker: Katherine Boothe, Associate Professor, McMaster University

Dr Boothe discussed the current situation for pharmacare in Canada, in the context of a long history of policy proposals and limited reform. What is and is not surprising about pharmacare policy debates and developments in 2024, and how might a better understanding of how we got here affect our thinking about the future?

The Anne Crichton Lecture is supported by the Crichton Health Systems and Policy Learning Fund. This fund was created in honour of Dr Crichton and her immense contributions to the wellbeing of Canadians. The fund honours Dr Crichton’s commitment to improving BC and Canada’s health care systems by funding an annual prize and lecture by an outstanding scholar, on the health system and policy challenges that remain key to health promotion and the prevention of illness. Learn more about Anne Crichton and give to the fund.

Dr Katherine Boothe is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and a member of the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis at McMaster University. She studies health and social policy in established welfare states, with a focus on pharmaceutical policies and public and patient engagement in health policy. Her book, Ideas and the Pace of Change, compares the development of public pharmaceutical insurance programs in Canada, Australia, and the UK to explain Canada’s lack of broad public pharmaceutical insurance. Her current research focuses on the role of patients and the public in health policy decision making, and the role of ideas about evidence and legitimacy in health policy decisions, especially during times of crisis.

Dr Fiona Clement delivered the inaugural Anne Crichton Lecture on March 10, 2023. Watch her lecture here.