Durham College and Lakeridge Health have signed a five-year collaboration agreement focused on growing experiential learning, applied research and innovative education to address issues in health care.

“Durham College and Lakeridge Health have a long history of working together and this agreement illustrates the ways in which our values so closely align,” said Debbie McKee Demczyk, dean of the college’s Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE). “This is an exciting new chapter in our relationship – one that will provide exceptional opportunities for our students and faculty and make positive impacts on the quality of health care our community receives.”

Under the agreement, the college and hospital will collaborate to explore and pursue the following five objectives:

• Identify and develop initiatives focused on creating practical, scalable and sustainable solutions to health care issues.
• Work with companies to develop, disseminate and potentially commercialize technologies.
• Develop and coordinate joint experiential learning opportunities, applied research and innovative educational activities.
• Contribute to seminars, workshops and academic initiatives that drive the business goals of both organizations.
• Share access to facilities, equipment, systems, information and data within the boundaries of protecting confidentiality and personal information.

The collaboration agreement supports two specialized areas of research for ORSIE and Durham College: enabling technologies of the future and cultivating healthy lives and resilient communities. It also aligns with the college’s first degree program, the Honours Bachelor of Health Care Technology Management (BHCTM), announced earlier this year. The first program of its kind in Canada, the BHCTM program aims to address an identified need in the health care sector for professionals with a hybrid skill set of expertise in medical technologies, life sciences and business practices.

Lakeridge Health is a five hospital health system with approximately 15 community locations across Durham Region and 6,000 employees dedicated to providing excellence – every moment, every day. For Lakeridge Health, this partnership supports a pathway to innovation with a focus on excellent patient care and the potential to increase opportunities for experiential learning and applied research.

“Innovation is one of the core values of Lakeridge Health, and we are looking forward to working in partnership with Durham College to develop innovative health care solutions while working with students, faculty and community partners,” said Len Kleine, director of Business Development, Lakeridge Health, and one of the organizational leads for Innovation.