Christa Harstall

2013 Award of Excellence

Dr. Brian O’Rourke, President and CEO of the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH), is pleased to announce that Christa Harstall, Director of Health Technology Assessment at the Institute of Health Economics, has been selected as the 2013 recipient of the Dr. Jill M. Sanders Award of Excellence in Health Technology Assessment (HTA).

“For the last 25 years, Christa Harstall has been a leader in the production of health technology assessment and a champion for its use in policy-making in Alberta, in Canada, and internationally,” said Dr. O’Rourke. “Through her efforts, she helped establish — and continues to foster — the culture of evidence-based decision-making in health care.”

Ms. Harstall’s involvement in HTA started in 1988 when she led the HTA initiative at the Ministry of Health in Alberta. Later, she served as Director of the HTA Unit at the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (now Alberta Innovates — Health Solutions). In her current role with the Institute of Health Economics, she is responsible for the management and administration of the Provincial HTA Program and the Alberta Ambassador Program, a knowledge translation strategy to improve the use of best evidence in the treatment of chronic pain.

Ms. Harstall is an ex-officio member of the Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi) Board of Directors and the founding chair of its Interest Sub-Group on Ethical Issues in HTA.

The Dr. Jill M. Sanders Award of Excellence in HTA will be presented to Ms. Harstall during an Awards Luncheon at the 2013 CADTH Symposium in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. The luncheon will be held on Tuesday, May 7 from 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The selection of Ms. Harstall as the award recipient was made by a distinguished selection committee comprising: the Chair of the CADTH Board of Directors, the President and CEO of CADTH, a representative of the international health technology assessment community, a representative of the Canadian health technology assessment community, and two previous recipients of the Dr. Jill M. Sanders Award of Excellence in HTA.