Michelle Gagnon
Healthcare
Michelle L. Gagnon, MBA, PhD joined StrategyCorp as a Senior Advisor in 2020. To this role she brings many years of experience working with a variety of prominent organizations in both the public and private (philanthropic) sectors including the Policy Research Initiative in the Privy Council Office, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Alberta Health Services, Strategic Clinical Networks, the Public Health Agency of Canada and as President and CEO of the Palix Foundation. Michelle is also co-founder and COO of a science forward biotech start-up, Pemi31 Therapeutics Inc., focused on immune therapy for inflammatory diseases.
Combining a health professional (she began her career as a registered nurse), academic and executive background, Michelle’s career has focused on the health and social sectors, in particular on generating and mobilizing knowledge to inform policy, practice and program innovations. Michelle is a social scientist with an interdisciplinary doctoral degree in population health, a Master of Business Administration and undergraduate degrees in liberal arts and nursing. She is also a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), and obtained the ICD.D designation in November 2018.
Throughout her career, as a credible thought leader with a broad perspective, Michelle has led, collaborated, and built bridges across sectors, cultures and disciplines at the municipal, provincial, national and international levels to deliberate and find evidence informed solutions to important and complex public policy issues. Such issues include population and public health, health services quality and access, mental health and addiction prevention and treatment, early childhood development and supporting family and community resilience. Over the years, she has regularly negotiated and been involved in public / private collaborations and worked with high-ranking leaders from a variety of organizations, including in the community, business, post-secondary institutions and government. She enjoys contributing to governance related matters and participating on Boards and committees.