Greater Sudbury – Health Sciences North (HSN) has appointed Julie Trpkovski as Vice-President, Medicine and Chief Nursing Executive, effective May 2nd. Ms. Trpkovski will replace Lisa Smith who will be retiring after a distinguished 34-year career at HSN.
Julie Trpkovski brings to the role 27 years of nursing and health leadership experience, including 14 years as Director of Critical Care Services Ontario and Vice-President at the Trillium Gift of Life Network and at London Health Sciences Centre.
“We are very excited about this appointment. Ms. Trpkovski was selected among a competitive pool of 24 candidates by a 10-member selection committee including representation from the HSN board and leadership, union leadership, and patient and family advisors,” explained HSN President and CEO, Dominic Giroux.
Ms. Trpkovski will lead a team of 1,100 people and be responsible for a $153 million budget in Medicine, Critical and Emergency Care, Community Care, Rehabilitation and Nephrology, the North East Specialized Geriatric Services, the Hospitalist program, Patient Flow, Care Transitions and Utilization. She will serve as Regional Administrative Lead for Critical Care in the North East and as Advisor to the Health Sciences North Research Institute. As Chief Nursing Executive, she will be a non-voting member of the HSN Board and serve on the Board’s Quality Committee and Medical Advisory Committee.
She has extensive clinical experience working in hospitals in Canada and the United States. Ms. Trpkovski started her nursing career working in the emergency department, critical care and post surgical areas serving both pediatric and adult patient populations in Windsor, Ontario at Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital and at the Detroit Medical Center in Michigan. From 2006 to 2012, she joined the Ontario Ministry of Health where she was responsible for working with stakeholders across the province to redesign the Critical Care System post-SARS. She provided leadership to the development of key programs such as Rapid Response Teams, the Critical Care Information System and other nursing programs for the Ministry. From 2012 to 2016, she served as Vice-President, Clinical Transplant Systems with the Trillium Gift of Life Network, now part of Ontario Health. In this role, Ms. Trpkovski was responsible for leading a team to transform the provincial organ allocation systems creating a more equitable system for patients.
From 2016 to 2021, she served as Vice-President, Clinical Services at London Health Sciences Centre, one of Canada’s largest academic health sciences centre where she had accountability for a $240 million budget. In that capacity, she led Emergency Services and Base Hospital, Critical Care, Mental Health, Pharmacy, Access and Flow, Surgical Care, Cardiac Care and Ambulatory Care. She was Site Lead for Victoria Hospital, Regional Administrative Lead for Critical Care, Co-Lead for Critical Care in Ontario’s West Region, Executive Operations Lead for the COVID-19 response at London Health Sciences Centre, and member of the Ontario Critical Care Command Centre.
Ms. Trpkovski completed a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at the University of Windsor, a Masters Certificate in Healthcare Management at the Schulich School of Business at York University and an Executive MBA at the Ivey Business School at Western University.
“Throughout my healthcare career, I have had a passion for improving care for our patients and families while working with clinical leadership, community partners and system experts to build a better healthcare system for the future. I am honored by the confidence put in me by HSN. It is a privilege to join the team in Sudbury and support HSN in achieving its key goal of being patient and family focused. I look forward to working with our regional partners and Ontario Health in improving care for patients and communities in the North,” concluded Trpkovski.
Dominic Giroux also wished a wonderful retirement to Lisa Smith, and thanked her for her exceptional contributions to HSN and to health care in Northeastern Ontario throughout her career.