Chief Medical Advisor, Indigenous Health Care

Doctors of BC is a voluntary association of more than 17,000 physicians, residents, and medical students in British Columbia. Their vision is to promote a social, economic, and political climate in which members can provide the citizens of BC with the highest standard of health care, while achieving maximum professional satisfaction and fair economic reward.

Doctors of BC has taken steps towards ongoing education of its employees and members on Indigenous cultural safety and anti-racism, including a commitment to developing a Truth and Reconciliation Plan, Indigenous-specific anti-racism training and education for the Board of Directors and Executive Team, a mandatory and optional annual ISAR and cultural safety learning plan for all employees,  ISAR and cultural safety learning, events, and supports for physicians. Doctors of BC remains committed to deepening this work in alignment with Indigenous-led frameworks.

THE JOB: Chief Medical Advisor, Indigenous Health Care

Starting Salary Range: $230,000 - $250,000

Benefits Include:

• Health and Dental Coverage
• Participation in the BC Public Service Pension Plan
• Six weeks of vacation

Working closely with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Chief Medical Advisor, Indigenous Health Care will provide expert guidance and clinical insight on delivering culturally safe care in physician services and support the execution of Doctors of BC’s strategic plan, including its commitment to Truth and Reconciliation. This role requires a deep understanding of systemic racism in healthcare, including the ways colonial policies (e.g., the Indian Act, residential schools, medical experimentation) continue to impact Indigenous health outcomes. Doctors of BC, under the leadership of the Chief Medical Advisor, will dismantle systemic barriers by implementing systems change.

The Chief Medical Advisor will collaborate with the Board of Directors and the President on identifying direction and action for physician and practice issues related to Indigenous Health. This includes issues related to negotiations, advocacy, clinical support, communications, policy development and Joint Collaborative Committee (JCC) programs. In this role, the Chief Medical Advisor, Indigenous Health Care, Doctors of BC will center Indigenous patient and physician voices in all policy decisions, with the Chief Medical Advisor ensuring structural follow-through including with the Ministry of Health, and Health Authorities. This role will share practice-related issues, emerging trends, research, and best practices in healthcare from local, provincial, federal and international spheres to influence BC healthcare.

This role will collaborate to support internal teams and external partners and interested partners in exploring, understanding, and addressing critical issues in all aspects of physician service delivery related to ISAR and cultural safety, including both family and specialist practice settings. This leader will seek to provide strategic advice and guidance to manage physician issues with hospital and health authority medical leaders.

All Doctors of BC members share responsibility for stewarding the organization's brand and building trust within the physician community. This 0.6 FTE position will contribute to these efforts while maintaining a clinical license and practice.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

  Strategic Advisement

• Offer strategic support and expertise to senior leaders, the Board of Directors, and the President on organization initiatives that address barriers faced by Indigenous patients and providers and support physicians to deliver culturally safe care.
• Provide insights on negotiations, advocacy, clinical support, communication, quality improvement, communications and Joint Clinical Committees (JCC) Programs to drive informed operational decisions.
• Clinical insight into strategic problem solving and leverage deep understanding of clinical practice issues and the strategic direction of the organization to contribute to the development and support of new initiatives designed to increase the delivery of culturally safe care and eliminate racism in the BC health care system.
• Will partner with internal operational team to complete audits of Doctors of BC policies to identify and dismantle systemic barriers faced by Indigenous physicians and patients.

Collaboration and Engagement

• Collaborate effectively with external partners and interest holders, including government, committees, healthcare organizations, and other relevant healthcare partners, to address key issues identified in Indigenous patient care and Indigenous physician practice.
• Serve as the organization’s physician lead with external partners to foster strong, collaborative relationships that support our members and the organization's strategic goals.
• Assist in navigating the complexities of BC’s healthcare system to ensure alignment with organizational goals and the needs of our members in elevating the physician voice.
• Represent Doctors of BC at provincial roundtables, committees, and events, including the Joint Collaborative Committee co-chairs meetings, initiatives and projects, JCC Summits, and advocacy meetings, offering an Indigenous provider perspective.
• Collaborate with operational team and system partners to develop accountability mechanisms for addressing racism within the medical community.

Contribution to Governance and Internal Policy

• Collaborate with CEO and Senior Leaders on Doctors of BC strategy and policies affecting physician members.
• Provide support to Senior Leaders in understanding the nuances of the healthcare environment and culture that physicians practice in. 

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

Leading Through People (E):

• Demonstrates and promotes effective conflict resolution practices for workplace disagreements, excluding instances of racism, discrimination, or systemic harm, which are addressed through organizational accountability processes. Fosters collaboration while recognizing that equity requires proactive intervention, not neutral mediation. Supports team members in learning from each other, being self-directed, and being responsible for their own assessment and learning.
• Mentors and develops critical talent for the future. 
• Doctors of BC will measure progress on diversity and inclusion through workforce metrics, with the Chief Medical Advisor advising on targets through the lens of Indigenous cultural safety frameworks.

Leading With Drive (E):

• Understands and conveys organizational vision in an analytical and forthright manner. 
• Successfully encourages teams to challenge tradition and the status quo to constantly find new ways to raise the level of excellence. 
• Fosters an environment of constant self-improvement by facilitating open discussions about personal and team strengths and weaknesses.
  
  

Leading to Deliver (E):

•  Leads by effectively leveraging clinical experience and expertise, while ensuring alignment with the organizations strategic plan and amplifying the physician voice to drive successful outcomes.
  
  

Leading Through Vision (E):

• Effectively creates the climate of continuous transformation necessary to keep the organization agile and best able to provide excellence in service.
• Proficient in analyzing the environment and leveraging strengths appropriately in response to the identified trends.
• Reviews, sponsors, and approves recommendations for organizational-wide change programs that impact cross-functional key processes.
• Recommends changes that impact strategic business direction, leading the planning and spearheading the implementation of change programs that impact critical functions/processes.

Trusted Advisor (E):

• Uses extensive knowledge of the organization and the health care environment to develop successful strategies consistent with organizational vision and objectives, continuously identifying and considering emerging trends, opportunities, and risks to maintain a broad, strategic perspective and recommend proactive measures in the best interest of Members and the overall association’s strategic plan.
• Displays both strategic and technical expertise, engaging in fact-based decision making for long term strategic success, analyzing project inputs from various elements (e.g., budgetary, technical, compliance, policy) and the wider business and political implications of decisions to correctly prioritize issues and solutions to ensure the delivery of results in accordance with the strategic plan, departmental work plan and mandate.
• Has an established reputation both internally and externally as a subject matter expert in the field.
• Successfully advises peer groups and/or the CEO on how to interpret the current environment and assess for likely future scenarios, proactively redirecting the activities of the organization and team in the direction of new goals and/or priorities.
• Able to objectively and confidently advocate for decisions and outcomes that are in the best interest of the members of the association regardless of potentially intimidating or emotionally charged circumstances and provide the best policy options available based upon technical and clinical expertise and an impartial review of the best interests of all Members and the declared objectives of the Association.
• Is a credible and technically aware expert that provides the highest quality of advice on all relevant dimensions of any issue, inclusive of economic, social or administrative considerations.
• Advice must challenge, guide and clarify, and generate new possibilities for improving the professional satisfaction of Members.

Doctors of BC Team Member:

Approaches work with a collaborative spirit recognizing we are better together. Embraces change, provides excellence in service and is accountable for their results and helping others achieve theirs. Does the right thing, not the easy thing. Speaks openly and honestly to tackle tough challenges and enrich relationships. Balances hard work with fun and is genuinely friendly and committed to other’s wellbeing. Approaches work with cultural humility, recognizing the emotional and psychological impacts of colonial trauma on Indigenous patients and physicians. Commits to fostering a workplace that prioritizes mental health and wellness, particularly for those engaged in anti-racism and reconciliation work.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Must be of Indigenous ancestry (Turtle Island—First Nations, Métis, or Inuit). This role is being held for Indigenous applicants with lived experience and knowledge directly relevant to the position. We ask that candidates please self-identify.
• A minimum of 10 years experience as a family or specialist physician with a valid medical license in British Columbia, Canada.
• Lived experience navigating systemic racism in healthcare as an Indigenous physician or patient advocate.
• Experience in decolonial, trauma-responsive, and anti-oppressive approaches to healthcare leadership.
• Extensive experience in clinical practice as a family or specialist physician with a strong understanding of Indigenous health care needs, services, and issues within BC’s healthcare system
• Extensive experience in clinical practice in a rural community would be an asset.
• Previous leadership and/or experience working in a strategic role within a healthcare organization, particularly an Indigenous healthcare organization, is an asset.
• Deep knowledge of the impacts of colonialization on Indigenous people in health contexts, including knowledge and understanding of Indigenous cultural safety, cultural humility, Indigenous-specific racism and anti-racism.
• Knowledge and respect of Indigenous approaches to health and wellbeing, cultural traditions, ceremonies, protocols, and traditional wellness practices. Must understand the diversity of First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures.
• Proven ability to provide strategic support and feedback at a senior leadership level.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with external partners, including but not limited to members of government, committee members, partnering physicians and surgeons.
• Familiarity with the Join Collaborative Committees and their initiatives would be an asset
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills
• Ability to promote, maintain, and build relationships with senior leaders and associated organizations, such as: the Board of Directors, physician members, regulatory bodies, professional associations, health organizations, educational institutions, legal representatives, and medical staff organizations.
• Ability to handle highly confidential information in a discreet and professional manner.

Doctors of BC recognize the pervasive and ongoing harms of colonialism faced by Indigenous peoples and that these harms include the widespread systemic racism against Indigenous peoples in BC's health system. Physicians have a significant role to play in addressing the health disparities that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients, and Doctors of BC is committed to continuing to advance reconciliation and address and eliminate racism in health care.

Doctors of BC celebrates diversity, challenges inequality and is committed to sustaining an inclusive and diverse community. We seek qualified applicants who share our commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion, and truth and reconciliation. We especially welcome applications from persistently and historically oppressed groups, including Indigenous (First Nations, Métis or Inuit) peoples, members of racialized communities, persons with disabilities, women, gender-diverse, and persons who identify as 2SLGBTQ+. 

Doctors of BC is committed to providing access to culturally safe mental health supports, including Indigenous Elders, racial trauma therapy, and anti-oppressive counseling for staff and physicians engaged in this work.

We acknowledge that the land Doctors of BC operates and supports physicians from is the traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples including the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations whose historical relationship with the land continues today. For Doctors of BC, acknowledging the land is an expression of cultural humility that involves recognizing our commitment to support the provision of culturally safe care to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people in BC.