Patrick Clifford

Background

About Patrick Clifford

Patrick recently retired as Director from dual Research and Innovation portfolios at Southlake Regional Health Centre (now Southlake Health). As Director of Research, he oversaw the Research Institute, elevating clinical trials and expanding patient access to cutting-edge treatments. He managed 260 REB-approved research protocols and established a Permission to Contact Program enabling future patient recruitment. Patrick developed partnerships embedding faculty from two GTA Universities at Southlake to collaborate with clinicians on investigator-initiated research and Tri-Council funding applications. These faculty served as brokers between University faculty/researchers and Southlake clinicians, exploring research opportunities and hospital data repositories. He created a summer research volunteer program for undergraduate students to support clinician research projects and strove to develop focus on community hospitals' untapped potential as clinical trial sites and real-world data repositories. Leading the Innovation Portfolio, Patrick advanced commercialization activities through strategic collaborations with industry, academia, and funders. He directed CreateIT Now, Southlake's on-campus health innovation center, developing the hospital's innovation agenda and commercialization strategy. During his decade-long tenure, Patrick assessed 350 early to mid-stage ventures across medical devices, digital health, AI/ML, diagnostics, mobile health, RMTs, health assistive and adaptive technology products, and data analytics sectors. He established partnerships with startups and SMEs, creating pipelines for hospital access to co-develop technologies. Patrick viewed innovation not as standalone products but as enablers to clinical care supporting improved patient access, care quality, evolving care delivery models and outcomes aligning with the Quintuple Aim. His approach emphasized technology integration with existing processes, supported by health technology assessments and value-based healthcare outcome data. Key achievements included overseeing $12 million in innovation funding and leading horizon scanning teams. Patrick drove real-world validation through implementation science grounded in Value Based Healthcare principles and innovative procurement practices including competitive dialogue, design contests and VOR's. After 34 years in healthcare, including 22 years as an emergency mental health clinician at Markham Stouffville Hospital, Patrick now consults and serves on various NFP boards while providing Patient Relations support at Southlake.