By Mary Ackenhusen

Since becoming CEO, I have encouraged the voice of physicians across VCH to ensure their knowledge, expertise and ideas are part of our strategic discussions. This has also been true at the Senior Executive Team (SET) where one of my first steps was to bring the Chair of the VCH Medical Advisory Committee (HAMAC) – currently Dr. John Maynard – to the table. I now believe we can strengthen that voice even more and bring an enhanced physician perspective to SET through the following changes I am announcing today.

Vice President of Quality & Safety

Firstly, I am welcoming Dr. Dean Chittock to the SET as Vice President of Quality and Safety with responsibility for the quality, safety, risk, client relations and infection control portfolios. Dean is no stranger to VCH, having been a senior leader of the medical team at Vancouver Acute for over a decade. Dean has co-chaired the VA Quality Council with Vivian Eliopoulos since 2010 and is Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at UBC.  His unique role as Senior Medical Director for both VA and Providence means he not only brings another extremely valuable physician voice to SET, but a broader view that reflects the strategies and philosophies of both organizations. As a member of the Vancouver Acute Surgical Executive and a member of the SPH renewal team, he is closely aligned with our regional surgical plan and will therefore also take on the role of Executive Sponsor for the VCH/PHC Surgical Program.  This will allow Barb Lawrie, Vice President of Professional Practice & Chief Clinical Information Officer and the current executive sponsor of the regional surgical program, to focus on the standardization of clinical practice in preparation for our Clinical & Systems Transformation project, as well as her many direct areas of clinical leadership.

Vice President of Medicine

As a result of Dean’s arrival at the SET table, Dr. Patrick O’Connor will vacate the role of VP Quality and Patient Safety and continue in the role of Vice President of Medicine. Leading the medical affairs portfolio with a special emphasis on partnerships with physicians to drive excellence, Patrick will work with the Ministry of Health and UBC in developing the Academic Health Sciences Network/Center and seek to develop novel compensation models for physicians with the Ministry. He will also continue his current regional executive sponsor roles for Critical Care, Medicine, Cardiac program, Laboratory and VCHRI.

With the redistribution of responsibilities into these two roles, the Community Engagement function will now shift from Quality & Safety to Communications & Public Affairs, under Clay Adams. This will strengthen the synergies that exist between the public engagement work of that team and the stakeholder relations responsibilities within C&PA. All these changes are effective immediately.

With Dr. Chittock joining Doctors Daly, O’Connor and Maynard on the SET, I am confident VCH SET has committed and competent medical leadership as part of the team. Please join me in welcoming Dean to SET and thanking the others for taking on their changed roles. I encourage you to support them and their teams moving ahead.

Mary Ackenhusen
President and CEO