Health Sciences North hires new VP

SUDBURY, Ont. – Health Sciences North has appointed a veteran administrator to help manage Sudbury’s hospital and its research institute. Paul Truscott Jr. (pictured) assumes his new role of a senior vice-president and chief operating officer of HSN and chief financial officer of the Health Sciences North Research Institute on May 1.

The hospital and research institute “have incredible reputations in the healthcare sector as places of excellence, so I can’t wait to get to Greater Sudbury and get to work with everyone toward our goal of growing to best serve the region moving forward,” Truscott said.

Truscott succeeds Max Liedke, who is stepping down after a 39-year career, including the last four and a half years at HSN and the research institute. Dominic Giroux, HSN president and CEO, noted Truscott’s extensive experience and background.

“Paul brings 29 years of wide-ranging experience in Ontario public and private healthcare organizations,” Giroux said. “He began his career in 1994 as a cytogenetics technologist at the Oshawa General Hospital and then spent more than a decade in senior private sector roles in areas like biopharma, lab services and medical device companies – before returning to the hospital sector.

“This expansive breadth of experience is going to help both HSN and (the health institute) move forward and expand to better serve our patients.”

The hospital said Truscott will lead Finance, Decision Support, Materials Management, Facilities and Support Services, a team of about 450 people, and will have oversight of the annual budgets at HSN and the Health Sciences North Research Institute.

The appointment follows a national search and unanimous recommendation by a 10-member selection committee composed of representatives of the boards and senior leadership of the hospital, the research institute, their foundations, union leadership and the Patient and Family Advisory Council.

Since 2010, Truscott has played an instrumental role in several hospitals, HSN said. He has served as manager of business development at Markham Stouffville Hospital, director of business development and planning for the 865-bed William Osler Health System, and director of financial planning, decision support and strategic projects at Humber River Hospital, where he led its annual $530-million budget process.

In 2020, he was appointed to his current role as chief financial officer and chief information officer at Ross Memorial Hospital, a 183-bed hospital in Lindsay. Over the past three years, he served in concurrent roles as chief information officer at Haliburton Highlands Health System and in interim financial leadership roles at Northumberland Hills Hospital and Campbellford Memorial Hospital.

HSN said Truscott participated in the capital master plan process in five hospitals, negotiated cost-share agreements for other ministry-funded capital projects, developed business cases for locally funded projects and local share revenue development and financing plans for agreements covering over $1 billion worth of construction.

He led operational reviews of finance, decision support and information technology departments at partner hospitals.

Truscott has extensive credentials, including an Honours Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology at the University of Toronto, completed the Medical Laboratory Technology program at The Michener Institute of Applied Health Science, a Master of Business Administration and a Master’s Certificate in Healthcare Leadership at the Schulich School of Business at York University, and the CFO Leadership Development Program at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He is also a chartered professional accountant, as well as a certified health executive with the Canadian College of Healthcare Leaders.