External Advisory Committee

A partner in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office, Daniel is a key member of the firm's Advocacy Group. His practice focuses on health law and medical defence, including acting as counsel to the Canadian Medical Protective Association and the physicians. He also provides advice in matters of commercial litigation and constitutional linguistic issues. Daniel has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada. Daniel is a part-time professor, teaching evidence law and trial advocacy at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. He also lectures on evidence law, advocacy skills and health law with various organizations.

Dr. Liu joined the Ottawa Heart Institute as Scientific Director in 2012. Formerly, as the inaugural Director of the Heart & Stroke/Richard Lewar Centre of Excellence at the University of Toronto, Dr. Liu successfully fostered collaboration amongst researchers from various institutions, while increasing the impact of publications. Subsequently as Scientific Director of the Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Dr. Liu launched national networks in imaging, clinical trials and knowledge translation and fostered national and international research networks. Well known for his contributions to heart failure and cardiac inflammation research, Dr. Liu discovered how viruses can enter the myocardium and trigger inflammation, and how innate and acquired immunity contribute to cardiac remodeling and heart failure progression following injury. His laboratory currently focuses on innovative proteomic biomarkers to detect early and personalize treatment for cardiac diseases, and elucidate novel mechanisms of disease. Dr. Liu has been recognized with numerous awards, including both the Research Achievement Award and the Life Time Achievement Award of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.

Maureen McTeer is a lawyer who has held academic appointments at both Canadian and American universities. As an expert on health and medical law and policy, she has lectured at universities across North America and has presented at conferences on the relevant legal and policy issues raised by science and technology. She is the author of four books, including “Tough Choices: Living and Dying in the 21st Century”. She was a member of the Global Commission on Pollution, Health and Development, whose report appeared in the Lancet in 2017. She has served in many other volunteer capacities, e.g. as a founding member and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Shirley E. Greenberg Women’s Health Centre in Ottawa, a lay member of the Accreditation Committee of Canadian Medical Schools, Co-Chair of the National Experts Commission of the Canadian Nurses Association, etc. She has been awarded four honorary degrees from universities in Canada and the U.K.

An economist by training, Marcel Saulnier is the Associate Assistant Deputy Minister of the Strategic Policy Branch at Health Canada. He played a key role in supporting the work of the federal Advisory Panel on Healthcare Innovation, which released its report in June 2015. Marcel’s career has included policy leadership positions at the Canadian Medical Association, the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Canada, the National Forum on Health, and Health and Welfare Canada. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Patient Safety Institute and sits on the National Steering Committee for Canada’s Strategy on Patient-Oriented Research.

Sharon Sholzberg-Gray is a lawyer by profession. Over the years she served as CEO of a number of national health and social sector organizations, with responsibility for the management of their national offices and policy and advocacy activities. Between 1998 and 2008, she was President and CEO of the Canadian Healthcare Association (CHA), and in that capacity she was the spokesperson for the publicly funded health system in our country. Since her retirement from the CHA, she has worked as a health policy advisor and served as Vice Chair of Associated Medical Services. Sharon is a retired member of the Quebec Bar, has science and law degrees from McGill University, a B.A. from Concordia University and a graduate diploma in public law from the University of Ottawa. She remains active in a wide range of community activities and speaks and writes extensively about legal, health and social issues.

David's primary policy involvement has been in spearheading the development of efforts to reduce cigarette smoking in Canada and globally. This has been done as legal counsel to health activist groups, an advisor to a wide range of entities and in numerous publications, media interviews and speeches. He has worked with such bodies as the World Health Organization, World Bank, Pan American Health Organization, International Union Against Cancer and numerous governments, foundations, law firms and non-governmental organizations. His efforts have encompassed taxation policy, advertising restrictions, package warnings, protection from environmental tobacco smoke, smoking cessation interventions, litigation, product regulation and harm reduction initiatives. He has testified before Parliamentary committees federally and provincially in Canada as well as in other countries, and before both Senate and House committees in the United States of America. He has also received various awards for his work, including a "Public Health Hero" lifetime achievement award from the Pan-American Health Organization. David lives in Ottawa, and engages in extensive volunteer and philanthropic work that is focused on an eclectic range of issues, but dominated by an interest in public policy interventions that increase the length and quality of life.