Chief of Pathology and Medical Director of Laboratory Medicine

The Position
The position is comprised of Chief of the Department of Pathology and Medical Director of Laboratory Medicine. The Chief works closely with the Administrative Director of Clinical Diagnostics and the Managers of the Laboratory Medicine Program. This position reports jointly to the Chair of MAC as Chief of Pathology, and to the Vice President, Medical and Academic Affairs and Vice President, Planning, Redevelopment and Clinical Support as Medical Director of Laboratory Medicine.

The Department of Laboratory Medicine includes 10 FTE physicians and 100 FTE technical staff.  It provides services in Hematology, Transfusion Medicine, Biochemistry, Diagnostic Surgical Pathology and Cytology, as well as Autopsy Services for perinatal deaths. The outpatient laboratory serves specific subsets of patients, including Chemotherapy patients.  A busy point-of-care testing program provides the necessary quality structures to supervise bedside testing across all sites of NYGH. Microbiology services are provided exclusively by the Shared Hospital Lab at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, run in collaboration with three other hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

The highly sophisticated genetics lab is the dominant provider of Maternal Serum Screening for various congenital abnormalities in Ontario, as well as providing services nationally. The genetics lab is staffed with two full-time Lab Geneticists who report to the Chief of Laboratory Medicine and 50 FTE technical staff.

Key Leadership requirements for the new Chief/Program Medical Director:

• Align with NYGH’s strategic mandate while continuing to build on the Department’s clinical and academic strengths.
• Demonstrate a commitment to quality healthcare delivery and patient safety, and actively promote and support the academic mandate of the organization.
• Foster collaborative relationships with academic partners to maintain excellence and ensure ongoing innovation.
• Promote a culture of collegiality and collaboration by partnering with external laboratories and referral centers to provide the highest quality and safest care to patients and families.
• Maintain an organized and systematic approach for professional quality control.

Key roles for the new Chief/Program Medical Director:

Clinical Care

• Responsible for the quality of care provided by the clinicians in the Department.
• Participate as an active staff member in the Department of Laboratory medicine, including a clinical case load as part of the regular schedule.
• Ensure the clinical laboratory practice is in accordance with best evidence.
• Oversee the introduction and implementation of new equipment and techniques.

Administrative

• Review the credentials and recommend privileges for Departmental members.
• Manage physician/professional staff scheduling, expenses, and payroll within the Department.
• Ensure compliance with by-laws, policies, objectives, and rules. 
• Effectively manage any performance or professionalism issues that may arise among the credentialed medical staff.
• Work with the Program director and Laboratory managers for program planning and development, budgets, and capital equipment.
• Represent the Department on the Medical Advisory Committee and the Program Leadership Committees.

Education & Academic Development

• Coordinate the academic program and establish a process for continuing medical education within the Department.
• Ensure staff participation in hospital initiatives such as professional development, physician engagement, and other projects and programs.
• Be actively involved in the University Department and encourage and support academic promotion and advancement of members of the Department.
• Encourage and support teaching, education, and research initiatives in keeping with NYGH’s strategic plan.

Health Human Resources

Recruit physicians and technical staff as appropriate.

Conduct regular performance reviews and evaluations for all medical staff within the respective department.

Encourage staff participation in Hospital initiatives such as professional development, physician engagement, and other projects and programs.

Leadership & Community Engagement

• Understand the needs of the communities surrounding NYGH and support programs to create health equitably across the community.
• Foster collegial and constructive relationships with other leaders at NYGH and in the broader health care system.
• Continue as a leader in the Shared Hospital Lab to ensure ongoing access for our patients to the highest level of care available in Ontario.
• Facilitate effective communication within the Program and with other programs and services in the hospital, other Chiefs, the hospital Foundation, external stakeholders, and with the broader healthcare system.
• Foster a culture of safety, teamwork, and learning at NYGH.

Experience/Competencies

• Possess a high level of professional competency with both clinical and leadership experience.
• Champion service excellence, patient and laboratory quality of care and safety.  
• Adapt to continually changing priorities.
• Be aware of program planning and evaluation.
• Demonstrate the ability to achieve goals and objectives within specified time frames.

The Organization
North York General Hospital (NYGH) is a community academic hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. In 2023, NYGH was named #1 community academic hospital in Canada by Newsweek Magazine for the fifth year in a row and named one of Canada’s Best Employers by Forbes Magazine. NYGH was most recently recognized as one of the World’s Best Smart Hospitals for adopting advanced technologies for patient care. Through partnerships, collaboration and academic endeavors, NYGH fulfills its purpose of Making a World of Difference. With a strong financial track record over the last 10+ years, NYGH continues to advance excellence in care while ensuring fiscal accountability and efficiency.

NYGH serves a local population of approximately half a million people in North Central Toronto. The 2022-23 services
included:

• 110,558 Emergency visits
• 27,795 inpatient visits
• 480 acute care beds
• 4,233 live births
• 192 long-term care beds
• 29,707 surgical procedures including endoscopy
• 248,764 outpatient visits

In 2022-23, we had 4101 staff, 931 physicians, 287 volunteers, and 27 patient experience partners. North Central Toronto is one of the city’s most diverse and rapidly growing areas. Our catchment area is comprised of a growing seniors population, with more than 50% of people being immigrants to Canada. Additionally, 53% of our catchment population are considered visible minorities and 20% struggle with financial insecurity.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion are a core part of the culture at NYGH. In keeping with our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Framework, we encourage applications from people who reflect the population we serve.

North York General’s 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, Thinking Beyond
NYGH is guided by a transformational five-year Strategic Plan, Thinking Beyond. This Plan will place NYGH at the forefront of quality, equity, and safety, enabling exciting new partnerships to drive improvements in population and community health. Integrated care is central to our Plan, with an ambitious Clinical Services Plan, Digital Health agenda, and NYGH’s leadership in North York Toronto Health Partners, one of the province’s first and largest Ontario Health Teams (OHTs). The Plan enables NYGH to shape the health system of tomorrow through a commitment to exceptional learning and world-class, applied health research. Over the next five to 10 years, we will embark on the most significant expansion and modernization in the organization’s 50 plus history. Here are our four Strategic Directions:

People come first in everything we do. At NYGH, we view people in the broadest sense – patients, families, caregivers, community members, physicians, staff, learners, and volunteers. We are proud to have a comprehensive framework for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion to guide our actions. Our Wellness framework, based on international best practices,
cultivates the health and wellbeing of our team. We seek empowerment for all in an environment of discovery and development.

Driving the future of integrated care. Partnerships and collaboration are vital to our work and to our pursuit of continuous improvements for our people and patients. We are part of the Toronto Region, and our broad partners
include North York Toronto Health Partners, our local Ontario Health Team; Ontario Health; the Ministry of Health of Ontario; and City of Toronto. We partner with Sinai Health through the Schwartz/Weisman Emergency Medicine
Institute, a not-for-profit research, education, and health policy institute. We have expanded our digital platforms and virtual care to help achieve health and wellness throughout our communities.

Being an exceptional learning community. With a passion for learning and teaching, we provided clinical placements for over 1500 learners in 2022-23. We have five on-site Research Chairs guiding us to leverage data and analytics and carry out applied community health research on a provincial, national, and international scale. The University of Toronto is a significant partner in our scholarly endeavors.

Investing in a better tomorrow. We are undergoing the largest expansion in our history, with a new, advanced inpatient care tower and a new long-term care home and integrated seniors’ campus of care, across the road from the hospital. These are being designed with the guidance of our Patient Experience Partners and our Environmental Sustainability
Committee.

For more information about NYGH, please visit our website at: http://www.nygh.on.ca.

Qualified applicants are encouraged to respond in confidence to Dr. Amanda Murphy – Chair of the Chief of Pathology and Medical Director of Laboratory Medicine Search Committee, c/o Rachel Younker via email to Rachel.Younker@nygh.on.ca