CFHI appoints Leslee Thompson as board chair

OTTAWA – The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement has announced Leslee J. Thompson (pictured), President and CEO of the Kingston General Hospital, as the new Chair of its Board of Trustees, with Tom R. Closson, former President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association, now serving as Vice-Chair. The Board thanked outgoing Chair Dr. Brian Postl and trustees Antonia Maioni, Pat Martens, and Nancy Roberts for their service.

“I am pleased to be named Board Chair of the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, an organization that shares my commitment to patient and family engagement,” said Ms. Thompson, who served on the Board for two years, the latter year as Vice-Chair. “Meaningfully partnering with patients and families to drive quality improvement has the potential to transform healthcare for Canadians and I look forward to what we can achieve.”

Leslee Thompson started her career as a critical care nurse, rising to the position of President and CEO of Kingston General Hospital. She has served in executive roles at Cancer Care Ontario, Sunnybrook & Women’s Health Science Center, Toronto Western Hospital, Royal Alexandra Hospital in Capital Health (Alberta) and, in the private sector, at Medtronic, a global medical devices company. Ms. Thompson is also incoming Chair of the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario.

“CFHI’s strength is supporting Canadian provinces and territories in learning from each other regarding the best ways for healthcare to be funded, organized, managed and delivered,” said Mr. Closson, who has also served on the Board for two years. “Helping leaders make improvements and supporting the spread of these improvements to other jurisdictions is crucial to ensuring high quality patient care.”

Tom Closson was most recently President and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association. He was previously chief executive of the University Health Network (Toronto), Capital Health Region (BC) and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Toronto). In addition to private sector experience, his government experience includes roles at Ontario’s Ministry of Health, Ministry of Community and Social Services and Management Board. He is currently on the Board of Directors of LifeLabs and Health Quality Ontario.

“The Board has led CFHI’s transformation into an organization that works shoulder-to-shoulder with leaders to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare,” said CFHI President Maureen O’Neil. “I want to thank our outgoing Trustees for their years of service.”

The Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to accelerating healthcare improvement by working with provinces, territories and other healthcare partners to promote efficient healthcare that delivers better outcomes. With a $10 million annual federal investment, CFHI supports the development of innovations that could save provincial-territorial healthcare budgets over $1 billion per year. CFHI is funded through an agreement with the Government of Canada.