Vancouver Coastal Health
Vice President, Research

With a budget of over $4.4 billion, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) provides services along the full continuum of care – including acute, primary and community care, mental health and substance use support, to long-term and home care and assisted living – to the 1.25 million residents of British Columbia’s south coast region. To deliver its services, VCH has more than 29,000 staff and medical staff, 3,000 active volunteers, and more than 900 principal investigators conducting clinical and discovery research at VCH Research Institute (VCHRI). VCHRI is the research arm of VCH and a University of British Columbia Senate-approved research institute. Receiving approximately $120m in grant funding annually, VCHRI is the largest healthcare research institute in British Columbia, one of the largest in Canada, and its world leading researchers and their discoveries continue to improve quality of life and transform health care delivery around the world.

Reporting to the President & Chief Executive Officer of Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), the Vice President, Research (VP) role is an opportunity to lead and modernize a worldclass research institute that houses leading global researchers and that conducts research that spans the entire continuum of care. A member of the Senior Executive Team, the VP assumes joint accountability for the attainment of the organization’s strategic objectives and is accountable for excellence in research across the entirety of VCH and for overseeing the integration of research into practice to inform the improvement of care. With tremendous internal support for the elevation of research within VCH and for embedding a research and innovation culture within the organization, the VP has executive oversight of the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI), including its strategy, operations, governance, and direction; and supports the full range of research activities conducted in alignment with VCH’s objectives. Able to conduct their own research, the VP fosters a culture of discovery and innovation across the full geography and scope of VCH, whose diversity of population and large catchment area make it a thoroughly unique organization within which to conduct research and bring it to implementation.

The VP will maintain a working relationship with the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, one of the top research and medical faculties in the world, and play a critical role as an ambassador and spokesperson for VCH’s research and academic endeavors provincially, nationally, and internationally. They will foster a culture of continuous improvement and knowledge translation throughout VCH, championing system-level transformational change, while also playing a key role in building the profile and value of research externally and seeking and acquiring financial support and funding for new and existing research endeavors.

The ideal candidate is a recognized scientific leader and researcher with a demonstrated track record of understanding strategic connections to leverage research opportunities at a system-level that can be translated into better patient and client care outcomes. A big picture thinker, they can distill a strategic vision down into practical applications and support a team in fulfilling that vision. Naturally humble and collaborative, the VP brings a strong network of scientific contacts to VCH and has a history of developing successful science and research partnerships within broad transformational science contexts. A confident communicator and spokesperson, the VP is comfortable and skilled at presenting to a wide range of audiences, from the Senior Executive Team to large academic institutions, funders, and individual researchers alike. In addition, they are a skilled leader who has experience leading and managing professional teams through significant change while simultaneously overseeing strategy development and managing the fiscal resources of an organization.

Equity, diversity, & inclusion are essential to Vancouver Coastal Health’s goals of creating a great place to work and delivering exceptional care. We acknowledge and accommodate unique differences and ensure special measures are in place so that all prospective and current employees are given an opportunity to succeed. We are committed to building a representative workforce and encourage applications reflecting diversity of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization or ancestry, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.

The targeted salary range for this position is $235,000 – $295,000 annually, supplemented by a competitive total compensation package.