Head, Department of Community Health & Epidemiology

Head, Department of Community Health & Epidemiology

Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine, Nova Scotia Health (Central Zone)

About the Opportunity

The Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University and Nova Scotia Health are jointly recruiting a new academic and administrative leader for the University and Central Zone Department of Community Health and Epidemiology.

This is an outstanding opportunity for an experienced and accomplished individual with proven leadership, vision, research and academic credibility to lead the mandate of this dynamic department.

Nova Scotia Health is the largest employer in the province. More than 23,000 employees, 3000 physicians and 7,000 volunteers combine to provide care at more than 45 facilities throughout the province.

The Central Zone provides core health services to 500,000 Halifax region residents (50% of the population of Nova Scotia) and tertiary and quaternary acute care services to residents of Atlantic Canada.

The QEII Health Sciences Centre is the principal teaching hospital affiliated with Dalhousie University, and a centre for health care research.

The Department of Community Health and Epidemiology is a research-intensive department with a complement of fully engaged, multidisciplinary faculty.

The Department provides teaching at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels in the Faculty of Medicine and other faculties across Dalhousie.

It offers highly reputable Master of Science and PhD programs in Epidemiology and Applied Health Research. The Department also contributes to the undergraduate medical education program in many ways including unit management, supervision of student projects, and tutoring.

The Department houses key university and province-wide resources, including Health Data Nova Scotia and the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

The Department also works closely with the Maritime Strategy for Patient Oriented Research SUPPORT Unit (housed by Nova Scotia Health) and provides leadership on many of its advisory and scientific committees.

The complement of full-time faculty is strengthened by cross-appointed faculty from Departments within the Faculty of Medicine, other Dalhousie Faculties, and other Universities in the region, and governmental public health practitioners and policy makers.

Experience and Qualifications

To be considered for this role you must be a dynamic leader and professional who embodies the principles of accountability, transparency, and fairness.

You are an innovative visionary who will lead and align the department, both strategically and operationally, within an integrated health system.

A strong team player and outstanding communicator, you will achieve excellence in education, research, and service. Responsible for the establishment of the Department’s strategic plan, the incumbent must be a strategic systems level thinker with superior interpersonal skills to negotiate, nurture, and leverage opportunities that maximize productivity through collaboration, partnership, and integration of academic and research excellence.

Responsible for establishing a Departmental governance and leadership structure that is effective, efficient, transparent, and accountable, you must have demonstrated experience in an academic or clinical leadership role.

In addition, you must have the ability to balance and achieve alignment between the academic mandate of the department and NSH's strategic directions.

The successful candidate will have a PhD and / or MD degree. Advanced training and experience in Epidemiology, Health Services Research, or Population Health is required.

Experience with health informatics, data repository oversight, and working collaboratively with government and health authorities would be an asset.

The University Department Head position is a five-year, limited term appointment accompanied by an underlying, continuing academic appointment.

The Head position is subject to renewal for a second five-year term, conditional on satisfactory annual performance evaluations and a positive review of the first term as Head.

Job Competencies

• Thinking and Acting Strategically
• Relationship Building
• Respect and Inclusion
• Change and Innovation
• Resource and Process Management

Dalhousie University and Nova Scotia Health commit to achieving inclusive excellence through continually championing equity, diversity, inclusion, reconciliation, and accessibility.

We encourage applications from Indigenous persons (especially Mi’kmaq), persons of Black / African descent (especially African Nova Scotians), and members of other racialized groups, persons with disabilities, women, and persons identifying as members of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and all candidates who would contribute to the diversity of our community.

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