Frank Markel has had a long and varied career as a leader in health services, including having held senior positions at several hospitals and healthcare organizations. From 2006 to 2011, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Trillium Gift of Life Network, Ontario’s organ and tissue donation organization, where his leadership led to a major increase in both organ and tissue donation. While at TGLN, Frank sat on the Boards of Donate Life America and of the Canadian Blood Services National Council on Organ and Tissue Donation.
As President of Hillcrest Hospital, he played a key role in the merger of that hospital with the former Queen Elizabeth Hospital to create what is now Toronto Rehabilitation Institute(TRI), the teaching and research hospital for rehabilitation in Toronto. Frank was TRI’s first Executive Vice President. Earlier in his career, Frank served as Vice President, Planning and Development at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Toronto, where his responsibilities included facilities construction and maintenance, but also strategic planning and community relationship building.
In addition to his experience as a senior hospital and health services executive, Frank has, at different times in his career, led policy organizations in health. From 1998 to 2006, he was Executive Director of the Joint Policy and Planning Committee (JPPC) a partnership between the Ontario Hospital Association and the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care of the Government of Ontario. In that role, Frank led the development of the first accountability agreements between hospitals and government. He also was responsible for the further development of equitable funding methodologies for hospitals, an interest he has held for many years. Earlier in his career, Frank had been Executive Director of the Ontario Council of Administrators of Teaching Hospitals, where he combined research activity with advocacy to advance the interests of Ontario’s teaching hospitals. Frank began his career at the Toronto General Hospital, where he undertook groundbreaking research on patient specific costing methods.
Throughout his career, Frank has maintained an affiliation with the University of Toronto, first with the then Department of Health Administration, more recently with the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME). For many years, Frank taught in the Master’s degree program in health administration. He now holds the title of Senior Fellow at IHPME. He has a long history of mentoring students, both formally and informally. Frank served as the head of the Financial Quadrant research development project, as part of the development of the Ontario Hospital Association’s Balanced Scorecard initiative.
Since leaving TGLN, Frank has held a number of positions. He was Executive Director of JVS, an employment agency serving immigrant, poor and disadvantaged communities. Until January 2020, he was Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Health Services, Planning and Research (CAHSPR). He has worked for the last three years in the field of executive recruitment, in partnership with Joan Green.
Frank has both a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Toronto. He taught Mathematics at the University level in Chile and in Alberta. He studied in the Master’s Degree program in Health Services Administration at the University of Alberta. His undergraduate Bachelor’s of Arts Degree is from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude, with Distinction in Mathematics, and became a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi honorary societies.