Vice President Health Profile

Academic Credentials: MD, PhD or equivalent in a health discipline. Exemplary record in research and education in a health discipline, ideally with cross-disciplinary experience and success. Eligible to be appointed as a full professor.

Focus on Excellence: Committed to excellence in health research, education, service and patient care as well as to constant improvement in quality.

Equity and Inclusion: Committed to equity and diversity in scholarship, teaching, employment opportunities and community engagement. Inter-culturally sensitive.

Administrative Experience: A successful record as a Dean or senior leader within a major university or health care organization. Demonstrated ability to manage complex tasks related to budgets, human resources, research, and program delivery. Experience with accrediting bodies across health disciplines.

Leadership: Ability to work collaboratively with the leaders of other health programs within the university, with health professionals and with leaders in government, healthcare organizations, and research. Thoughtful and strategic leadership style. Quick to recognize leadership skills in others and able to delegate responsibilities as appropriate. Able to understand “who needs to know”.

Innovation: Creative and inspirational thinker who can promote change in all aspects of health care, including training, research and delivery. Interpersonal Skills: Able to build trust, respect and understanding with others. Collegial and diplomatic while achieving goals productively.

Communication Skills: Able to be a good listener. Able to articulate complex concepts adroitly with groups or individuals.

Responsibilities of the Vice President Health

1) Lead intensified systematic collaboration and innovation in health research and education across all programs at the University:

• Guide and facilitate transformation in interdisciplinary (or interprofessional) education to help foster the practice of sustainable, team-based care, especially at the post-graduate level.
• Enable focused research priorities that cross disciplines and that intersect community engagement (health promotion and disease prevention; Indigenous health; mental health; digital health).
• Coordinate initiatives around research data access and big data.
• Support initiatives leading to enhanced research funding.
• Promote analytics in support of patient care and system sustainability.

2) Complement the activities of individual Faculties and Schools through a focus on tasks of mutual importance that require intensive functional, subject and/or sector coordination:

• Develop and lead an inclusive, federated governance model.
• Provide collaborative input to HHR planning and realignment of training.
• Provide collaborative input for new programs, especially those designed for revenue diversification.
• Ensure an institution-wide holistic perspective towards and engagement around

3) Indigenous health:

• Articulate the return on investment in health education at UBC.
• Establish visibility and profile for health programs and research (to assist recruitment, funding).

4) Lead a coordinated interface between UBC and the Health sector (specifically the province-wide Academic Health Sciences Network) to support practice and help drive systemic change.

• Coordinate and lead communication and strategic interface with government.
• Engage with Health Authorities on issues of shared responsibilities.
• Coordinate sector engagement on systemic issues, such as primary care and the renewal of St Paul’s (collective problem solving).
• Operationalize the complementary mandates of collaboration and connection between the provincial AHSN and AHSC(s).

5) As an integral member of UBC’s Executive team and reporting to the President

• Works collaboratively with the other Vice Presidents to share the collective responsibility to support the President in strategic leadership of UBC, including the achievement of the strategic plan.
• Provides information, counsel and support to the Board of Governors and Senates and their Committees in order to enable them to fulfill their governance responsibilities effectively.
• Provides strategic leadership for UBC Health and encourages and considers advice from the Advisory Council of Deans.

If the VP Health is simultaneously a Dean, as Dean he or she continues to report to the Provost and Vice-President Academic (Vancouver) or to the Provost and Vice Principal Academic (Okanagan), for matters related to the leadership of his or her Faculty.