At a ceremony in Victoria in May of this year, Courtyard Managing Partner, Dave Wattling, presented $50,000 to the Denis and Pat Protti Endowment Fund, a fund designed to support the University of Victoria's School of Health Information Science.

This commitment by Courtyard was in recognition of the leadership of Denis Protti, founder of the University of Victoria’s School of Health Information Science. Courtyard's donation will help to build the future of healthcare transformation in Canada and will also support the University of Victoria’s School of Health Information Science to attract graduate students to build future capacity in the healthcare industry. The fund is specifically designed to help students in the program develop their health informatics expertise, whether through enabling them to attend conferences they otherwise could not attend or by giving them direct financial support so they can complete their studies.

From an impressive group of applicants, four students have been selected to receive the inaugural awards.

Fourth year student Julia Yinxin Zhu received the Endowment Fund’s Student Enrichment Award. This award is given to an undergraduate student for the purpose of facilitating an external educational experience such as a conference or seminar. Julia plans to attend the ITCH conference in Victoria this coming February.

Graduate students Tyrone Austen, Anjum Khamisani, Mu-Hsing Kuo and Felicia Pantazi received the Fund’s Graduate Student Awards in recognition of their commitment to advancing the field of health informatics. These winners combine a passion for health informatics with a desire for continued learning, and between them bring impressive experience to the program from healthcare venues in Canada and abroad.

Courtyard Group would like to extend sincere congratulations to this initial group of Endowment Fund recipients. The healthcare community in Canada and beyond looks forward to the transformational impact they will have in their chosen disciplines.

Says Wattling, “Courtyard believes that the future of healthcare transformation lies in the hands of the young people that we entice into our industry and train for the task. To the first group of worthy recipients, you have set the bar for future applicants - well done!”

About Courtyard Group – www.courtyard-group.com

Courtyard Group is a healthcare transformation company. Working with and for clients in the healthcare industry is all we do. We combine a deep, core knowledge of healthcare systems management and planning, change management, information management and technology with the disciplines of systems engineering, law, business, operations management and several areas of clinical practice. Our team is diverse and 170 consultants strong, operating from offices across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. We are united by a common mission and singular, unwavering focus on delivering practical, concrete results.

Courtyard Group is passionate about healthcare. We are dedicated to our clients. We do whatever it takes to enable their success.