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Dr. Garry Aslanyan: Au Revoir, Ct'esutyun, Auf Weidersehen, Goodbye…
by Garth Hardie
Dr. Garry Aslanyan vividly remembers Christmas thirteen years ago when, as a resident in dental public health, public health nurse Jean Lilley welcomed him to her office on Queen Street East in Toronto by buying him a special gift membership in the OPHA. This Christmas, as he prepares to pass the mantle of leadership on to President-Elect Carol Timmings on January 1, 2008, Garry says the past three years he has spent as President of the OPHA have challenged and inspired him in ways he could never have anticipated. But the experience has given him a new perspective on some of the issues of organizational leadership and infused him with focus and energy for the next phase of his career.
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| Dr. Garry Aslanyan prepares to pass the gavel to President-Elect Carol Timmings during the Annual General Meeting at OPHA's Annual Conference in Toronto. |
"Jean's gift to me all those years ago was a pivotal point in my career journey," Garry said during a recent telephone interview from his home in Ottawa. "My membership and later involvement with the OPHA solidified my commitment to Public Health as a career choice and to the organization itself as the voice of the people of Ontario on matters of health and social justice."
Advocacy
Garry says he saw in the OPHA an opportunity to be effective at one of his long-standing passions — advocacy. The need to be able to question existing rules, regulations and polices that affected people's everyday lives, to articulate the need for change, and to guide the direction of the change away from narrow bureaucratic and political concerns towards a broader, more inclusive conception of the public interest.
"The need for effective advocacy existed long before the SARS outbreak and Walkerton disaster," Garry says. "These incidents served as a wake-up call for everyone — the public and the policy makers — and opened up opportunities and new channels for change. Before that, advocacy was really difficult. OPHA was one of the most experienced and effective advocacy organizations in the health sector."
In 2001, Garry accepted a job with CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) which focused on global health issues, especially in developing countries. OPHA became Garry's best link to health issues in Ontario and the rest of Canada.
"I soon realized that my paid job was benefiting from my voluntary role as a member of the board of the OPHA and my voluntary job was also benefiting from my paid job,” Garry said. “I was living in the best of both worlds."
Leadership and Credibility
The symbiotic relationship blossomed for a while. Garry became more involved in global health issues and maintained his connection with OPHA. Then the unexpected happened. Garry was called upon to fill a leadership vacuum that had developed at the OPHA. The presidency became vacant one year earlier than expected and Garry (who then held the position of Vice-President) was asked to fill the position.
"I am the first OPHA president to serve a three-year term — not by choice but by circumstance," Garry says. "I took on the challenge because I felt that without consistent leadership of the public health profession, advocacy and the other elements needed to maintain a strong voice for the people would be threatened."
But the question of credibility needed to be answered. Garry posed a sensitive question to his colleagues at the OPHA: "How do you feel about an OPHA president who does not work in Ontario to represent the Public Health interests of the province?" The answer he consistently received from both the board and the membership gave him the confidence he needed to face the issues head-on: "While you may not be working directly in Public Health in Ontario, we appreciate the broad view and international experience you bring to the table."
In day-to-day practice, this "international experience" meant running the affairs of OPHA from a variety of locations around the world. Returning e-mails, reviewing position papers, and his calls to OPHA's Executive Assistant Nolly Baksh-Singh were often accomplished from Geneva during a break between international meetings, or from a health post in Africa, or while walking down the streets of Buenos Aires, or from the Great Wall of China.
"The standard conversation opener between us was never 'What are you calling about?' but 'Where in the world are you calling from?',"said Nolly.
Learning on the Job
Then came the surprises. Garry says he learned all about the intricacies of running a not-for-profit organization in a way that not many other OPHA presidents have had to do before him. For example, the role of Executive Director needed to be filled.
"We had times when we did not have an Executive Director. The Executive Committee of the Board and me played all our roles and that of the Executive Director all in one group effort, by phone, from Ottawa," Garry mused. “By the time we got around to writing our current Executive Director's contract I was so versed in the details of labour law I was raising very sophisticated issues with the OPHA lawyer. She was impressed by how much I knew about labour and not-for profit law, but she billed us anyway!”
Garry says it is easy to make assumptions about OPHA and what it takes to lead and manage the organization from the outside, but a different picture emerges the moment one assumes responsibility for leadership. Because OPHA is a not-for profit organization, resources are limited so a lot of really hard work gets done as labours of love. The organization is small but its impact on the Public Health sector is significant, so it is important that the expectations that the outside world has of the organization be met consistently.
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OPHA has been the voice of Public Health since 1949 and that fact — proud as we are of it — carries a weight of responsibility that the organization must fulfill if credibility is to be maintained.
"The number and complexity of the issues requires that responsibilities be divided carefully between the President and the Executive Director," Garry says. One strategy for managing this when dealing with policy makers is for one person to focus on the broader policy goals — the vision and values that are being articulated, while the other person tackles the more pragmatic management issues such as funding that are a natural consequence of policy discussions. "That way the entire issue is addressed with the proper emphasis appropriately placed."
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| OPHA Executive Director Connie Uetrecht presents a parting gift to Dr. Garry Aslanyan. |
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"The number and complexity of the issues requires that responsibilities be divided carefully between the President and the Executive Director," Garry says. One strategy for managing this when dealing with policy makers is for one person to focus on the broader policy goals — the vision and values that are being articulated, while the other person tackles the more pragmatic management issues such as funding that are a natural consequence of policy discussions. "That way the entire issue is addressed with the proper emphasis appropriately placed."
OPHA has been the voice of Public Health since 1949 and that fact — proud as we are of it — carries a weight of responsibility that the organization must fulfill if credibility is to be maintained.
"The number and complexity of the issues requires that responsibilities be divided carefully between the President and the Executive Director," Garry says. One strategy for managing this when dealing with policy makers is for one person to focus on the broader policy goals — the vision and values that are being articulated, while the other person tackles the more pragmatic management issues such as funding that are a natural consequence of policy discussions. "That way the entire issue is addressed with the proper emphasis appropriately placed."
But Garry says the primary task facing him when he assumed the presidency was to create a structure — policies and procedures that would help the organization achieve the level of openness and accountability that is desired.
"If the outside world does not see a complex but well oiled machine, it will never listen to what we have to say, and will never trust us with any significant projects or programs that have the potential to improve the health of all Ontarians," Garry says. "Relationships between the various parts of OPHA — collaborations, constituent societies, workgroups and the administration — must be seen to function seamlessly in order to protect the external credibility of the organization."
Perhaps the most significant accomplishment of the last three years has been the streamlining of the governance of the OPHA, the updating of the bylaws, and the focus on organizational accountability.
"This accomplishment is a testament to the commitment of the Board of Directors and the hard work of specific individuals such as Ian Johnson, Brian MacKay, Peter Wiebe, and Cindy Scythes," Garry said. "We did not pretend to be experts. We got the help we needed and we abstained from voting when necessary to avoid even the appearance of conflicts of interest when topics such as the presidency were under discussion."
Accomplishments
Despite the challenges of managing a small not-for profit organization, Garry says there are number of accomplishments of which OPHA can justly be proud. Some of these are more easily recognized by people who are outside the organization. For example Garry cites OPHA's policy development process.
"Our member-driven policy development by position papers and resolutions is second to none among public health associations in this country," Garry said. "CPHA (Canadian Public Health Association) our national counterpart is actually reviewing the OPHA model as they seek to improve their own policy development process. I think we should be very proud of that."
Another major accomplishment is the strength of OPHA's relationship with alPHa (Association of Local Public Health Agencies), which represents public health management.
"The Executive Directors of both organizations were encouraged to work together and this has resulted in a highly productive and collegial collaboration," Garry said. "We have held one conference together and another joint conference is being planned for 2008. We should explore further areas of co-operation because we cannot afford segmentation of our voice or our role in promoting Public Health in Ontario."
The next strategic challenge for OPHA is to demonstrate its ability to maintain objectivity while engaging governments and balancing the interests of the membership. Great strides have been made in strengthening the credibility of the organization. But the ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of our multi-disciplinary consensus-building approach will be key to future success.
"OPHA has succeeded in gaining an increased level of acceptance in recent years," Garry said. "There is greater acknowledgement that OPHA and public health practitioners know something about public health and are skilled at articulating coherent positions to policy makers. We are demonstrating capacity to identify and fill gaps in the entire system. A prime example of this is the articulation by OPHA's Environmental Health Workgroup of policy positions on key environmental health issues."
Certification of Public Health Professionals
Despite the importance of stabilizing governance issues at OPHA, Garry wishes that he’d had the time and the opportunity to explore the possibilities of certification of Public Health professionals in Ontario.
"I think this is an idea whose time has come, and OPHA definitely has a role to play in it," Garry said. "OPHA has played a lead role in the development of core competencies in Ontario and then in Canada. This next step, certification, is definitely something that should be explored with the government."
While public health professionals all have discipline specific credentials, a very good case can be made for public health certification. A great deal of care is taken to ensure that doctors and dentists, for example, are well qualified, and that each member of the public is protected from unqualified quasi-professionals. If a doctor or dentist makes a mistake, the casualty count is limited to one or two people. Public health professionals, by contrast work with entire populations. The potential for widespread harm is greater. Why would we not exercise the same degree of care in certifying our professionals?
New Challenges
When asked about the next steps in his career, Garry says his foray into leadership at OPHA has prepared him to move from CIDA and tackle fresh challenges at the newly established International Public Health Division of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
"I will combine my knowledge of Ontario's and Canada's public health system with my immersion in global health affairs", Garry said. "I am looking forward to this experience."
For OPHA, Garry says the next major challenge is coping with the winds of change as the creation of the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion ushers in a new era in Public Health and creates a three-way relationship between the Ministries (Health and Long-Term Care, and Health Promotion) and the OPHA which must be carefully balanced to be effective.
"It will be important for OPHA to work closely with the Ministries and the new agency to make sure that the roles of governing and policy making (Ministries), knowledge production and translation (the Agency), and advocacy and professional development (OPHA) are clearly articulated and that the synergistic relationships between the three angles of this triangle are realized," Garry said. "My advice to the new president is to use the power in the image of a volunteer president to build relationships for the OPHA. Embrace the challenges that each new day brings. Despite the multitude of detailed tasks that may be involved, rest assured that the effort pays off in the end."
To the Board and Staff
Garry acknowledges that the OPHA is a very different place today from what it was a few years ago. But he says none of the changes would have been possible without the constant support of the Board of Directors and the willingness of the OPHA staff to go the extra mile to accomplish whatever seemed impossible.
"My sincere thanks to all who have helped to strengthen the OPHA in these years," Garry said. "Good things are happening for public health in this province, But this is no time for complacency. We must continue to work together to deliver on the mission of OPHA. Connect with the membership. Engage new members, at Christmas, and throughout the year."
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