Patrick Nelson

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT PATRICK NELSON

Patrick is a Managing Partner at Santis Health, Canada\'s leading health-focused public affairs and communications consulting firm. At Santis Health, Patrick works with health care organizations to influence government, grow stakeholder support and build and protect their reputations. He has decades of experience in strategic communications, crisis communications, government relations, public affairs and in board governance. Since 2014, Patrick has also served as the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Physician Assistants.Prior to joining Santis Health, Patrick served as the Executive Director of Public and Corporate Affairs at the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), the voice of the province’s physicians. Over almost ten years with the organization, he led the OMA through several strategic communications campaigns, a comprehensive governance review, as well as a major rebranding. Under his tenure, member satisfaction with the OMA doubled to a record high while over the course of a five-month advocacy campaign the profession witnessed a remarkable 12% increase in public trust.From 1998 to 2003, Patrick worked in senior communications roles in the Ontario government for the Ministers\' of Health, Environment and Education. Patrick also volunteers his time as Past-Chair of the Board at ALS Canada. Patrick also serves on the Board of the Pine River Institute, a treatment centre for youth and teens struggling with addiction and mental illness. He also served for 6 years on the Board of Trustees at the Hincks-Dellcrest Centre, the largest children\'s mental health treatment facility in Toronto. During that time, Hincks-Dellcrest presented him with an Award of Appreciation for his work in getting additional funding from government to support mental health services for kids with mental illness.