Dr. Dhruv Nayyar was excited to join the IHPME community after learning that his most instrumental mentors were past graduates. Interested in gaining a deeper understanding of system innovation within healthcare, Nayyar decided to pursue the System Leadership and Innovation (SLI) program at IHPME.
“I saw that they were doing impactful work in policy, research, and health systems leadership alongside their clinical careers,” says Nayyar. “I think that seeing this common thread of IHPME training among all these people who I really looked up to professionally made me want to study at IHPME as a complement to my clinical training.”
Nayyar shares the main highlight of the SLI program was the versatility of course offerings and teachings.
“We gained a broad skill set ranging from leadership training, to economic analysis, to on-the-ground innovation and change management, from the most respected health system leaders in the field,” says Nayyar. “This broad-based training prepares us for a variety of leadership roles in healthcare no matter what our specific fields of interest may be.”
Nayyar completed his SLI degree alongside the final year of his clinical residency training in General Internal Medicine and shares this duality helped springboard his career in academic medicine.
“The courses I took in the SLI program, as well as my capstone project, gave me a deep understanding of health systems, and how to drive innovation within our healthcare institutions,” says Nayyar. “These skills ended up being the perfect complement to my clinical training in General Internal Medicine, and I use them now on a daily basis in my role as a Clinician in Quality and Innovation at the University of Toronto.”
Currently, Nayyar is an academic General Internal Medicine Physician at St. Michael’s Hospital. Nayyar is working to improve patient care experiences at the institution, with a focus on underserved patient populations. He feels the learnings from the SLI program continue in his everyday professional practice.
“I definitely use the knowledge and skills I honed in the SLI program on a daily basis as a really natural and essential part of the work that I do,” says Nayyar.
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