Rebuilding Health Systems Through Indigenous Governance
Schedule
Fri Apr 24 2026 at 10:00 am to 11:30 am
UTC-04:00Location
Askaakamigokwewigamig (Mother Earth Teaching Lodge, 20 Willcocks St., Courtyard, University of Toronto). | Toronto, ON
About this Event
Wayne Inuglak Clark, EdD, MBA, MA, is an Inuk-Canadian health systems researcher and academic leader whose work centers on Indigenous-governed health systems transformation. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Alberta and executive director of the Wâpanachakos Indigenous Health Program within the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. He has also served as a visiting assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Centre for Indigenous Health Research.
With over 17 years of experience spanning Indigenous health leadership and academic research, Dr. Clark’s scholarship advances Inuit- and distinctions-based governance models in population health research, clinical trial design, and implementation science. His work integrates community-defined priorities, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, and Indigenous data sovereignty into the design of large-scale population health infrastructure and institutional systems. He has partnered with Inuit and other Indigenous communities across Canada and internationally to advance culturally grounded models of care, medical education reform, and Indigenous-led clinical research infrastructure.
Location: This is a hybrid event being hosted in person at Askaakamigokwewigamig Mother Earth Learning Lodge (20 Wilcocks St., Toronto, ON M4S 1C6) and online via Zoom.
Topic: Dr. Wayne Clark: Rights Holders, Knowledge Holders: Rebuilding Health Systems Through Indigenous Governance
Time: Apr 24, 2026 10:00 AM America/Toronto
Join Zoom Meeting
https://phesc.zoom.us/j/84852531466
Rights Holders, Knowledge Holders: Rebuilding Health Systems Through Indigenous Governance: Transforming Population Health Research and Public Health Systems
This presentation advances the idea that governance is a determinant of public health outcomes. Drawing on Inuit administrative data linkage activities, distinctions-based clinical trial design, and implementation science frameworks, the talk examines how embedding Indigenous governance within health systems infrastructure strengthens analytic capacity, enhances ethical oversight, and improves policy translation.
A central case example details the development of an Inuit-controlled identifier within linked provincial datasets, enabling population-level measurement of service utilization, mental health program access, and COVID-19 testing. By shifting authority from advisory consultation to formal governance, the initiative produced measurable improvements in data specificity, interpretive validity, and provincial planning processes.
Situated within the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, this Chair vision outlines a roadmap for integrating Indigenous governance across northern and urban Inuit research platforms, MPH and doctoral training, cross-faculty collaboration, and implementation science networks to advance Indigenous-governed health systems transformation.
Where is it happening?
Askaakamigokwewigamig (Mother Earth Teaching Lodge, 20 Willcocks St., Courtyard, University of Toronto)., 20 Willcocks Street, Toronto, CanadaEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
CAD 0.00
