Francesca Grosso 

Francesca, is a principal at Grosso McCarthy, a health policy, strategy and communications firm. She has been a health care strategist and thought leader for over 20 years, first serving as the executive director at the Institute of International Research where she created accredited health system forums for international health leadership. She then became the vice president of health care at Environics Research Group and later served as director of policy to an Ontario minister of health. Francesca helped establish three federal agencies, the Health Council of Canada, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer and the Mental Health Commission and was a member of the strategic planning steering committee of Health Sciences North.

Her volunteer work has included vice chair of the board of Walrus Magazine, vice chair of the board of Patients Canada, a not-for-profit, charitable group that brings the patient voice to public policy, and, policy reviewer for CIHR’s innovations projects. Francesca is a caregiver and a patient navigator.

In 2016, Francesca was appointed co-chair of the PC Party’s Health Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) along with Jeff Yurek MPP (currently minister of transportation). Together they presided over the development of the health policy platform for the 2018 election, then titled “The People’s Guarantee”. Many aspects of this work have been adopted into the Ontario government’s health care strategy. Post-election, Francesca was reinstated as PC Party co-chair for the PAC for health and the environment with MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos, parliamentary assistant to health minister Christine Elliott.

Along with numerous policy papers, Francesca has co-authored the Canadian bestseller with Michael Decter, Navigating Canada’s Health Care System, a user guide for Canadians and authored The History of Sunnybrook Hospital: Battle to Greatness, published by Dundurn Press, November 2014.

Francesca is a regular commentator on health issues for both television and print media.