VHA names new president & CEO

TORONTO – The Board of Directors of VHA Home HealthCare (VHA) has named Dr. Kathryn Nichol (pictured) as its new president & CEO, effective March 1, 2021. Dr. Nichol joined the organization in 2016 as vice president, Quality, Best Practice, Research and Education and Chief Nursing Executive.

“It is my honour and privilege to assume the role of CEO at VHA,” said Dr. Kathryn Nichol. “I am excited about the opportunities ahead to advance our goals to make care better for the clients and families we are proud to serve, to ensure our team has the support they need and to champion home care during this time of change, while continuing to focus on keeping everyone as safe as possible during the pandemic.”

Throughout her career, Dr. Nichol has demonstrated a commitment to client and family-centred care; an engagement in building partnerships; a focus on supporting and inspiring teams; and an effective advancement of research, innovation, best practice and service excellence.

Examples include: designing strategies with caregivers and families to help improve home safety for clients living with dementia; working collaboratively with Ontario Health Team partners to drive system transformation through quality and infection prevention and control best practices, and leading research on the health and wellness of nurses and interprofessional teams.

This past year, Dr. Nichol led VHA’s organization-wide crisis response to the pandemic with unwavering, cooperative and solution-focused leadership.

She has collaborated with partners to drive knowledge-sharing and best practice as home care lead at the Toronto Regional Ontario Health Pandemic Planning and Preparedness Table, as co-lead for the Toronto Service Provider Organization Pandemic Stakeholder group, and as co-chair for Sick Kids Hospital’s development of return-to-school guidelines for children with complex medical needs.

She also Chairs the Research Advisory Council for The Institute for Education Research at the Michener Institute at University Health Network (UHN), is an Assistant Professor in the Masters of Public Health program at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, and prior to joining VHA, she directed research and innovation at UHN and Sunnybrook.

The VHA recognized and expressed its appreciation for the accomplishments of its outgoing CEO Carol Annett. Through her time as CEO, VHA has become a force of positive change in Ontario’s home and healthcare sector, an organization that is well known for its great care, for being a collaborative trusted partner and a champion of amplifying the voices of clients and families in care design and delivery.

“Having worked with her for the past four-and-a-half years, I know Kathryn is passionate about making our vision a reality – high quality care delivered with great heart for every person, every time, everywhere,” said Carol Annett. “Kathryn is a true champion of our hard-working teams and is committed to advancing a better healthcare system for all with our partners.”

Annett will remain in her role until the end of February to ensure a smooth transition.