Unity Health Toronto Announces New Executive Vice President, Clinical, and Chief Medical Officer

Toronto, ON – June 13, 2024

Announcement by Dr. Tim Rutledge, President and CEO, Unity Health Toronto: 

I am pleased to announce Dr. Sharon Straus will be Unity Health Toronto’s new Executive Vice President, Clinical and Chief Medical Officer, effective Sept. 1, 2024.

Many of you know Dr. Straus from her current roles as the Physician-in-Chief at St. Michael’s Hospital and the Director of the Knowledge Translation Program at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. She is also a geriatrician and scientist at St. Michael’s, and has held leadership positions at the hospital and the University of Toronto (U of T) since 2009. 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 a clinician, Dr. Straus works at St. Michael’s and Providence. She received the Complete Physician Award from St. Michael’s. She served on the Internal Medicine Examination Committee for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for several years, using evidence to drive change.

At Unity Health, Dr. Straus has created connections between and beyond the network’s sites. With Dr. Katina Tzanetos, a General Internal Medicine physician, she launched a fellowship training program that now runs at Providence, St. Michael’s, and St. Joseph’s, and its trainees have been hired across Canada. Dr. Straus has also been an advocate for seniors’ health, promoting equity in access to care. As Physician-in-Chief at St. Michael’s, she partnered with Dr. Ashley Verduyn, Vice President of Medical Affairs and Chief of Providence, to create unified Seniors Health leadership via Dr. Sharon Marr, a geriatrician, across the two sites.

At U of T, as a Professor and former Director in the Division of Geriatric Medicine, Dr. Straus has been responsible for the geriatric medicine training program at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, helping launch innovative approaches to recruit trainees to this field, which will be crucial as the country faces an aging population.

Dr. Straus is recognized for her commitment to and excellence in mentorship, impactful research, and knowledge translation. In 2021, she was appointed as a Member to the Order of Canada and elected as a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada, receiving two of the country’s highest honours. Having co-authored more than 650 peer-reviewed publications, her work has created evidence for clinicians, patients and policy makers to drive change.

An underlying current in all her work is equity. Dr. Straus is internationally known for helping to enhance diversity in health care and academia and received the May Cohen Equity, Diversity and Gender Award from the Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada for this work. As Vice Chair of Mentorship, Equity and Diversity, in the Department of Medicine at U of T, she helped create policy and processes for hiring using an equity and anti-racism lens, and education opportunities. She is also passionate about mentorship and career development, leading workshops and writing the first book on this topic for physicians.

Dr. Straus holds a Doctor of Medicine degree and a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Toronto. She completed her Research Fellow training at the University of Oxford, and the Physician Leadership Development program at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Straus to the Executive Committee this fall. I would also like to thank all those who will continue to oversee the Clinical and CMO portfolios until Dr. Straus starts her new role.

Original Source: Unity Health Toronto Announcement