Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care is hiring from within to replace long-time president and CEO Carol Lambie.
Dr. Nadiya Sunderji takes over the top role at the Penetanguishene mental health centre June 13. Lambie announced her retirement last fall to spend more time with her family.
“We could not be happier that Nadiya, our current Vice President medical Affairs and Chief of Staff, will be our next President and CEO,” Ernest Vaillancourt, vice-chair of the Waypoint’’s board of directors, said in a release.
Since joining Waypoint in 2019, Vaillancourt said the board’s Sunderji’s witnessed dedication to quality improvement and efforts to improve the patient and family experience not only in the hospital but in the broader health and mental health system.
“Her commitment to our patients and community clients, as well as the mental health and addictions sector as a whole, supports the direction of the current strategic plan of the hospital,” he added.
Prior to Waypoint, Sunderji worked for a number of years as a Catholic hospital leader at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Overall, she’s been a physician and leader with 20 years of progressive leadership experience.
The board noted in its decision that Sunderji is deeply committed to compassionate care and servant leadership, and has completed the Catholic Health Sponsors of Ontario (CHSO) Mission Leadership Program.
“She is an inspirational, courageous and engaging health leader who demonstrates strategic thinking and values-based decision making,” the board noted.
“Dr. Sunderji is deeply committed to developing partnerships and collaboration having formed and chaired the Ontario Health Central Region regional table for mental health and addiction physician leadership.”
Carol Lambie, who had held the top job since 2009, noted Sunderji’s commitment to servant leadership along with her diverse clinical experience and academic expertise will take Waypoint strongly into the next phase of its future focused on system transformation.
Lambie added: “I am thrilled that the board has chosen Nadiya as its next president and CEO with her passion for research, quality improvement, and integrated collaborative mental health care.”
Under Sunderji’s leadership, the hospital launched a new family, child and youth mental health program which has already served more than 1,200 children and youth.
She has also sponsored the implementation of the Health Quality Ontario Standards and supported the innovative development of virtual concurrent disorders services. She is an award-winning educator and researcher, most recently having been awarded the Paul Patterson Innovation in Education Award by the Canadian Psychiatric Association in 2019.
