I am pleased to announce the appointment of Barb Lawrie as Vice President of Professional Practice and Chief Clinical Information Officer to the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Senior Executive Team. Barb, who commences her new responsibilities on Monday, February 23, is taking over the position from Susan Wannamaker who is leaving VCH to take on a new challenge in Ontario in mid-March.

About Barb

Barb Lawrie is already well known across VCH through her current position as Executive Director of Clinical Education and Collaborative Practice since 2011, as well as at Providence where she was Director of Professional Practice and Nursing for four years. A Registered Nurse by profession and Adjunct Professor with the School of Nursing at UBC, Barb’s health care career has taken her across a spectrum of clinical roles in different settings throughout the Lower Mainland. Along with time as a Critical Care Nurse at BC Children’s Hospital and Cardiac Nurse at St. Paul’s, she broadened her clinical skills in a variety of roles at GF Strong before entering the corporate realm as the Regional Manager of Program Development and Learning & Career Development at VCH.

Since then, Barb has focused on professional practice and nursing, leading the implementation of collaborative practice; Care Delivery Model Redesign; as well as the Electronic standardized interdisciplinary care guidelines, pathways and standards across Providence. After returning to VCH in 2011, Barb developed and implemented LEAN processes in all nurse specialty areas to reduce vacancies; co-led and implemented the new Experienced Resource Nurse Teams at Richmond and Lions Gate hospitals; and negotiated the transition of the Internationally Educated Nursing curriculum from regional to provincial platforms. She has also been instrumental in supporting the Clinical and Systems Transformation (CST) project and its learning deliverables. Barb has also received numerous professional accolades and honors including the College of Registered Nurses of BC Award of Distinction in Nursing; and the “Excellence in Spinal Cord Injury Clinical Performance Award” from the American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Nurses.

Barb’s new role

In her new role, Barb will oversee Professional Practice across VCH and work in close partnership with Paul Brownrigg, the Vice President of CST and Special Projects, to provide leadership to clinicians to achieve the essential “clinical transformation” within the CST project.  She will also take on the Executive Lead role for the Regional Surgical Program, working with the Surgical Medical Directors and Operational Directors to advance surgical access and quality across VCH and Providence.

It is important to me that Vancouver Coastal Health has the right leadership team in place to help us all do amazing things in sustaining our healthcare system. One of the things I pride myself on is building great teams of high performing leaders and with smart people who question and challenge, who take calculated risks, who will raise original ideas and take action to make them reality, and who are excited about life-long learning. Barb Lawrie is a passionate, results driven leader who shares those values and strives to promote and advance VCH’s strategic vision through effective and collaborative engagement with staff, clinicians and stakeholders. I am delighted to have Barb join the Senior Executive Team and encourage you to join me in welcoming her to the position.

Mary Ackenhusen
President and CEO