How Our Small Team of Trailblazers Tackles Public Health, Nanotechnology
and Other Major Issues Early, Either Prior or During the Incubation Cycle?
John Brian Morrissey
Faculty Member (Retired)
Throughout his career, Dr. Morrissey has been recognized as a man of vision with the
leadership and management skills needed to put progressive ideas to work. He was a major
proponent of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada′s Matching Investment Initiative, an innovative
partnership program that has expanded Canada′s research and development potential. Under this
initiative, the Department pays up to 50 per cent of the cost of collaborative research
projects with industry. This leading-edge program is used as a model by other departments and abroad.
Dr. Morrissey has also worked hard to attract and retain top scientists from Canada and around
the world. As a manager, his support for professional development and recognition of
employees′ successes is well known and widely respected. His personal dedication to lifelong
learning in governance, negotiation, strategic leadership and advanced technology,
is an example to his staff and to all public servants.
Dr. John Brian Morrissey has applied business principles to science management to gain greater
efficiency and to ensure the continued protection of Canada′s food supply. In light of his
firm belief that our country has a great deal to share and to gain on the international stage,
he has played a major role in positioning Canada as a world leader in agricultural and food safety and
research.
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Dr. John Brian Morrissey Wins the Canada′s Public Service Outstanding Achievement Award
This award, which is the highest commendation in the public service, was presented at Rideau
Hall on October 16, 2001 by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor
General of Canada, and by Canada′s Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien. Dr.
Morrissey was recognized as a man of vision with the leadership, dedication and skills that
put progressive ideas to work.
Throughout his distinguished career in the federal government, Dr. Morrissey played a major
role in positioning Canada as a world leader in agricultural and agri-food research. His
achievements include establishing partnerships with industry and education, applying business
principles to science management, promoting efficiency and innovation and ensuring the
protection of Canada′s food supply. Under his direction, AAFC earned a reputation as one of
the finest research organizations in the world.
As Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said, Dr. Morrissey has "earned the respect of co-workers, the
admiration of peers and the gratitude of the nation."
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Dr. Morrissey has an outstanding track
record in managing research teams and complex issues, as Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM)
of the Research Branch in the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and as ADM for Science
at the Department of Fisheries & Oceans.
In Agriculture Canada, Dr. Morrissey was ADM for
Food Production & Inspection Branch (now the Canadian Food Inspection Agency), Director
General of its Food Inspection Directorate, and Director of Canada′s Animal Health Division,
where he was responsible for Canada′s animal disease control programs.
For three years, Dr. Morrissey has lectured in the Executive MBA program of the University of Ottawa. He was
received as a member of the United Kingdom′s Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1965. He
holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Warwick University, England, and a
diploma in Public Policy and Public Administration from the University of Guelph, Ontario.
Alain Paul Martin worked as a management consultant for Dr. Brian Morrissey. Together, they incubated the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency,
improved airport inspection to protect Canada from epizootics, other agricultural pathogens
and illicit imports of harmful substances and organisms.
Alain was also assigned to improve the effectiveness of agricultural research laboratories across Canada,
as well as the post-entry diagnostic
laboratory for virus testing fruit-bearing trees, grapevines and small fruits.
Alain also served as non-partisan
executive member of the Prime Minister′s Committee on the Federal Government Reform, a pro bono function.
Armed with first hand experience at Agriculture Canada and other government agencies, education
in leadership in crisis, governance and organization design, at Harvard University, MIT and the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland,
Alain was eager to apply the governance lessons learned and the practical tools he developed, including
Harvard University Global System™ (HUGS). The first initiative was a seminar titled Building a Great Nation
and a shorter version, which was attended by senior public-sector leaders, including the Prime Minister of Canada, and over 300
members of Parliament from the Senate and the House of Commons.
In the meantime, major public-health issues left a dire footprint of destruction in several countries,
long before their epizootic pathogens hit our shores.
It was natural for Alain to call on Dr. Brian Morrissey who retired from the public service,
to prepare Canada, among other countries, with a strategy to prevent or, at least mitigate, the adverse consequences of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
and the human counterpart Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). Dr Morrissey conducted research and drew governance lessons from the British exposure to BSE and vCJD.
For this purpose, Dr. Morrissey applied, among others, the HUGS framework on issue incubation, and created a case study, titled "Mad-Cow Issue Incubation Lessons",
to illustrate the incubation cycle of policy issues that required major changes in government machinery in the United Kingdom. The case study is featured in the book
Harnessing the Power of Intelligence, Counterintelligence & Surprise Events.
Dr. Morrissey and Alain Martin subsequently teamed up with the scientists and executives of Health Protection Branch at Health Canada (Government of Canada) to
prepare a strategy to address BSE and the human counterpart vCJD, nine months the pathogen hit our shores.
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