Department of Medicine Weekly Roundup - July 4 - Leadership Changes in the DOM as of September 1
From Dr. Ori Rotstein, Interim Chief Medical Officer
As has been recently announced, Dr. Sharon Straus will be stepping down as Physician-In-Chief at St. Michael’s in order to accept the appointment as Executive Vice President, Clinical and Chief Medical Officer, Unity Health Toronto effective Sept. 1, 2024. With expertise in health care, research, education, leadership, mentorship and equity, Dr. Straus will help our network continue to create the best care experiences, and strengthen our academic mission while upholding Unity Health’s focus on populations experiencing marginalization.
As we embark upon the process of looking for a new Physician-In-Chief for St. Michael’s, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Natalie Wong as Interim Chief of the Department of Medicine, effective Sept. 1, 2024, until a permanent replacement is in place. An external review of the Department will be undertaken, followed by a comprehensive search process.
Dr. Wong is an associate professor in the Department of Medicine and in the Department of Critical Care. While being an exceptional clinician who is committed to providing high quality patient care, she is also an outstanding and well-recognised clinician teacher. She has received multiple postgraduate and undergraduate teaching awards including the Teacher of the Year Award from the Department of Medicine, University of Toronto. Previously, she was Postgraduate Site Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at St. Michael’s where she implemented many initiatives to ensure the residents received an outstanding education experience. In particular, she is recognised for her fantastic work on Code Blue simulations that have been adopted elsewhere and for her thoughtful debriefs after Code Blues occur.
We are grateful that Dr. Wong has agreed to serve the Department of Medicine in this capacity. Please join us in congratulating her and welcoming her to this role.
From Dr. Sharon Straus, PIC:
Please join me in congratulating Natalie Wong who will be interim PIC, effective Sept 1, 2024. She will be amazing in this role and I am grateful to her for her leadership. She has been a terrific Deputy PIC and will bring her tremendous skills and expertise as a clinician, educator and leader to this role.
I am also happy to announce that Andrew Advani has agreed to be interim Deputy PIC, effective Sept 1. He will bring fantastic expertise as a clinician, scientist and leader. Please join me in congratulating Andrew.
Natalie and Andrew will be a stellar leadership team for the Department!