Dr. Rick Glazier

A family doctor and leader in his field, Dr. Rick Glazier investigates primary care through a health-equity lens: revealing gaps in care, and examining the implications of primary-care reform for traditionally under-served groups. He is an expert in linking geographic methods with administrative health data to help identify priority areas for services and care.

Dr. Glazier’s research has led to several significant policy negotiations related to physician reimbursement and the organization of primary care teams. His research and tools linking socioeconomic factors, health resources and neighbourhoods include the groundbreaking 2007 Toronto Diabetes Atlas, which strongly informed the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s 2008 Chronic Disease Strategy. He is also the creator and lead of the Ontario Community Health Profiles Partnership (OCHPP), a publicly accessible and searchable health-data database and service. Many health and community organizations, including Toronto Public Health, depend on OCHPP to help plan and evaluate their programs.

In 2014, Dr. Glazier was named a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, one of the highest honours in the Canadian health-sciences community. He also received the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s W. Victor Johnston Award for continuous and enduring contributions to the specialty of family medicine, and was named a Top 20 Pioneer in Family Medicine Research in Canada.

Dr. Glazier is a scientist with MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital. He is also a St. Michael’s Hospital family physician and the scientific director of the CIHR Institute of Health Services and Policy Research. A senior scientist with ICES, Dr. Glazier is a research scholar and professor with the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Family and Community Medicine, cross-appointed to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. He is also a core faculty member in the University of Toronto’s Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research Program in the Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation.