Women’s College announces new President & CEO

TORONTO – Wendy Cukier, Chair of the Board of Directors of Women’s College Hospital and Chair of the CEO Selection Committee, is pleased to announce that Heather McPherson (pictured) has been appointed as the hospital’s new President & CEO, effective April 1.

“Women’s College Hospital has a bold new strategy focused on developing new approaches and technology-enabled models of care to improve treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction. The hospital is breaking new ground in virtual care and developing solutions for the most urgent issues facing our health system,” said Cukier. “We are confident that Heather is the right leader at the right time to ensure we realize that vision. She is a collaborative and strategic leader who has led the establishment of innovative clinical services for patients and the integration of programs across the system and community.

“She can both see the future for WCH – Healthcare Revolutionized – and lead us there. As WCH’s Executive Vice President of Patient Care and Ambulatory Innovation, Ms. McPherson has deep roots in the hospital and a proven track record.”

Over the past five years, Ms. McPherson has led some of Women’s College Hospital’s most transformative and challenging initiatives, including the operationalization of the new hospital building, the implementation of an electronic health record and the evolution of the Acute Ambulatory Care Unit (AACU).

She is a registered Occupational Therapist; holds a Master of Science from the University of Toronto, and is an adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

“I am looking forward to building on the legacy of the hospital’s current president and CEO, Marilyn Emery,” said Ms. McPherson. “WCH is a world leader in the health for women, health equity and health system solutions. It is a hospital designed to keep people out of hospital. Our ground-breaking innovations address the most pressing issues related to population health, patient experience and system costs. The environment is challenging but our future is bright.”

About Women’s College Hospital
Women’s College Hospital (WCH) is a leader in health for women, health equity and health system solutions – a hospital designed to keep people out of the hospital. Guided by our strategic plan, Healthcare Revolutionized 2018-2022, we are setting a new pace for radical redesign in our health system, anchored by our bold vision to revolutionize healthcare for a healthier more equitable world. We are transforming the patient experience, creating new models of virtual care to improve access, pioneering system solutions that drive efficiencies and leading world-class research. As an academic hospital, fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, we are training the healthcare providers of the future. Our world-class Women’s College Research Institute (WCRI) is bringing a sex and gender lens into health research, so that the known gaps in diagnoses and clinical treatments for women can be fixed. Our researchers are uncovering breakthrough discoveries that are transforming knowledge and practice. The WCH Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care (WIHV) is developing innovative approaches and virtual care solutions to improve critical issues such as wait times, variation in quality of care and the optimization of services.