Dr. Charlyn Black is Director of the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research and Professor in the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. A nationally recognized health services researcher, Dr Black’s research focuses on the creation of population-based information systems, the use of administrative data to monitor the quality and effectiveness of medical care, and the development of data-driven tools to improve health care delivery. She serves on the Board of Directors of Saskatchewan’s pioneering Health Quality Council, an independent agency that reports on quality, promotes improvement, and engages partners in building a better health system. Dr Black was recently invited to provide input into a US report outlining a comprehensive framework for restructuring the American system of health statistics.

Prior to her appointment at UBC, Dr Black was a founding member of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy at the University of Manitoba. Over a 12-year period—as a senior researcher and then as co-director of the centre—she played a key role at the interface between research and policy, in developing the centre’s data resources, and in ensuring the ongoing relevance of the centre's work.

Dr Black obtained her medical degree from the University of Manitoba and her doctorate in health services and policy research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.