Chief of Family Medicine

Located in Burlington along Lake Ontario, Joseph Brant Hospital (JBH) is a leading community teaching hospital affiliated with McMaster University and a collaborative partner of the Burlington Ontario Health Team. With its modern facilities and a dedicated team of 189 physicians, over 2,000 staff, and 340 volunteers, JBH is committed to providing exemplary care and living its values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence. Recognized for ten consecutive years as one of the top employers in the Hamilton Niagara region, JBH fosters a culture of collaboration, innovation, and patient-centred care.

The Position

JBH is seeking a physician leader for the role of Chief of Family Medicine (Chief). This is a highly visible leadership opportunity at a pivotal time for the Department and the organization. Reporting to the Chief of Staff, the Chief will provide leadership to the continued evolution of Family Medicine at JBH and help position the Department to meet the changing needs of the Hospital and the community it serves.

The Department of Family Medicine plays a critical role within JBH, with its hospitalist program supporting the majority of inpatient care and its broader membership encompassing Palliative Care, Family Medicine Obstetrics, and community-based Family Medicine. Working closely with medical, organizational, and community partners, the Chief will provide leadership across this Department while advancing high-quality, sustainable care and effective partnerships across the broader health system.

Key leadership priorities for the new Chief will include:

• Leading the continued evolution of the Department’s models of care, with a focus on quality, accountability, sustainability, capacity, and patient flow.
• Fostering greater cohesion, trust, and a shared sense of purpose across the Department’s distinct areas of practice.
• Strengthening physician engagement and fostering a culture of professionalism, collaboration, transparency, and equity across the Department.
• Advancing proactive physician workforce planning, recruitment, retention, mentorship, and succession planning across the Department.
• Championing the implementation and ongoing optimization of Epic, while using improved data and digital tools to support quality, performance, and decision-making.
• Strengthening relationships with community family physicians, the Burlington Ontario Health Team, its Primary Care Network, and system partners to support strong communication, transitions in care, and integration between hospital and community-based services.

• Representing the Department effectively within JBH, balancing strong advocacy for physicians with accountability for organizational priorities, standards, and resources.

The Person

You are a respected family physician licensed, or eligible for licensure, with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. You bring progressive physician leadership experience within a hospital, community, academic, or comparable healthcare environment. Experience with a hospitalist model or other inpatient care setting will be highly valued, while community-based family physicians with a strong understanding of the hospital environment and demonstrated leadership experience will also be considered.

You are recognized for your ability to build relationships, navigate complexity, and lead through change with credibility and integrity. Visible, collaborative, and open-minded, you listen carefully, draw on the expertise of others, and build participation through trust and influence. Comfortable operating at both strategic and operational levels, you possess strong interpersonal, communication, and influencing skills, along with the judgement and courage to address difficult quality, performance, conduct, and resource issues directly and fairly. You bring a demonstrated commitment to quality improvement, equity, and patient-centred care.

To confidentially explore this opportunity, please email your resume, quoting “Chief of Family Medicine” in the subject line, to Judy Mandelman or Heather Spiegel at [email protected].