Sessional Lecturer- MHI2024H-S: Advanced Topics in Data Governance in Health Informatics

Sessional Lecturer Position

Posting Date: October 6, 2025

Program: Executive Master of Health Informatics (eMHI) 

Sessional Dates of Appointment: Winter 2026, January to April 

Course Description:

Data are increasingly being collected digitally throughout our healthcare system. New sources and uses of data could help improve patient outcomes, lower health system costs, and improve health care provider productivity (aka health system transformation). They also present challenges: 

• New types of data, (e.g., from DNA testing) may increase risk to privacy. 
• Modern data analytics methods commonly link multiple datasets, sometimes from multiple jurisdictions, to achieve sample sizes appropriate for analytics needs. This creates challenges with data security and data flows (due to legislative restrictions). Further, data science approaches to analyses challenge current data minimization principles. 
• Many entities would like to monetize health data or use them for commercial purposes. The public are uneasy over this. Commercial interests must be balanced with public interests. 
• Governments and payers want access to data to develop better policies and allocate resources more effectively. 
• Healthcare organizations will need to share data more frequently to provide care to complex patients whose needs cannot be met by a single entity. 
• Patients are increasingly asking for access to their data for personal use. 

Current policies and mechanisms for data governance struggle to meet these challenges, as there are no simple solutions. 

The fundamental theme of this course is how the health care system can optimize and leverage the information collected to meet our evolving need for data to be used (and re-used) by and across organizations while meeting our legal and privacy obligations. We will consider both theoretical/conceptual and operational aspects of data quality, responsible use of data, and outcomes assessment using real-world applications. We will also provide case examples of initiatives leading the way in this new data environment. The course will identify emerging frameworks and technological solutions for solving key data governance issues. 

The course will be run in seminar format with a maximum of 16 students. Students are expected to come prepared to actively participate in class sessions, based on readings and pre-recorded lectures. 

Objectives:  

• Identify the multiple objectives served by data governance; 
• Describe the key approaches to governing data flows in Western societies; 
• Identify and diagnose data governance gaps in their organization; 
• Identify, critically appraise, and apply the appropriate data governance tools to facilitate intra- and inter-institutional data flows appropriate to the context. 
   

Course Details: 

Class schedule: Weekly 

Estimated enrolment: 10 (combination of the MHI and EMHI cohorts and IHPME/Dalla Lana students) 

Estimated TA support: based on enrolment - None 

Qualifications:

• A PhD or Masters level education with experience in health informatics, preferably in the areas of data governance and interoperability 
• A robust understanding of the principles of data governance within and across organizations 
• A publication record in health data governance 
• Past teaching experience related to health informatics, preferably at the graduate level; 
• Prior experience in curriculum development and adult teaching-learning methods; 
• Comfortable with electronic teaching tools such as Learning Management Systems (e.g., Quercus), PowerPoint, as well as on-line collaboration tools (Blogs, Wikkis, Discussion Boards, Webinars, or Video-conferencing)

Duties:

• Sessional Lecturer for a professional graduate course using competency-based learning and assessment methods.

• Must be accessible to students outside of classroom hours.

• Available evenings and weekends. 

Course Description Details:  

Salary: Commensurate with experience

How to submit an application: Please send your CV and cover letter, outlining additional value you will bring to teaching the course via e-mail to  

Closing Date: October 27, 2025

This job is posted in accordance with the CUPE 3902 Unit 3 Collective Agreement. 

It is understood that some announcements of vacancies are tentative, pending final course determinations and enrolment. Should rates stipulated in the collective agreement vary from rates stated in this posting, the rates stated in the collective agreement shall prevail. 

Preference in hiring is given to qualified individuals advanced to the rank of Sessional Lecturer II or Sessional Lecturer III in accordance with Article 14:12 of the CUPE 3902 Unit 3 collective agreement. 

Please note: Undergraduate or graduate students and postdoctoral fellows of the University of Toronto are covered by the CUPE 3902 Unit 1 collective agreement rather than the Unit 3 collective agreement, and should not apply for positions posted under the Unit 3 collective agreement.