Health Sciences North (HSN) and Health Sciences North Research Institute (HSNRI) have appointed Dr. Robert Ohle to a six-year renewable term as Vice-President, Academic and Research Impact, effective August 8, 2022.
The appointment was made following a national search led by an executive search firm and recommended by a 10-member search committee. Dr. Ohle replaces Dr. Greg Ross, who is stepping down in August to return to his home faculty position at NOSM University.
Dr. Ohle has been an Emergency Physician and Director of Emergency Medicine Research at HSN since 2017 and an Assistant Professor at NOSM University. Since 2021, he has also served as HSNRI Research Lead for emerging areas of research.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Ohle join our senior leadership team,” said Dominic Giroux, President and CEO of HSN and HSNRI. “An impressive pool of applicants from Ontario, the rest of Canada and the United States was considered for this role. Robert has the track record and skills to inspire and mobilize us toward growing our education and research endeavours.”
As Vice-President, Dr. Ohle will lead a team of 60 people at HSNRI, HSN staff in Academic Affairs, the Simulation Laboratory and Library, and a budget of $13 million.
“Dr. Ohle received the NOSM University 2022 Clinical Scholar Award,” commented Dr. Sarita Verma, President and Vice-Chancellor of NOSM University. “He is a highly regarded physician, educator and researcher. We congratulate him on his appointment and look forward to working with him in his new role.”
Dr. Ohle completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts both in Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, a medical degree at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, a Master of Science in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Ottawa, and his Emergency Medicine Fellowship from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada at the University of Ottawa.
“I am passionate and inspired by education and research and the power that it has to inform and transform Canadian health care,” said Dr. Ohle. “As the leading medical centre in Northern Ontario and one of Canada’s top 40 research hospitals, our people at HSN and HSNRI and their academic and research work have a role to play on the Canadian stage. I am honoured to work with them in the role of Vice-President, Academic and Research Impact.”
Dr. Ohle’s appointment as Vice-President will be four days per week, with the remainder of his time performing shifts in the Emergency Department.
Quick Facts:
- The search committee included representation from the HSNRI Board, HSN and HSNRI senior leadership, foundations and the volunteer association, postsecondary education partners and direct reports.
- Dr. Ohle will lead scientists, research leads, research chairs, the Medical Director of the Simulation Laboratory, the Director of IC/ES North and the Director of Academic and Research Impact. He will also be a resource-person for the HSNRI Board’s Research Committee, the HSN Medical Advisory Committee and its Medical Education Committee.
- Dr. Ohle has connected HSN and HSNRI to a national project that has secured $5 million in peer-reviewed funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Ontario Research Fund (ORF) for a COVID-19 registry with the goal of deriving evidence to inform best patient care. He also co-initiated at HSN the popular Amazing and Awesome clinical rounds.
- He supervised 35 medical students and residents and has helped grow HSN’s resident research program.
- He has also co-authored 37 peer-reviewed publications in the last five years and has been an invited speaker at 11 conferences in Canada and Mexico.
- He serves as research consultant for the American College of Emergency Physicians. His research has also been funded by the Northern Ontario Academic Medicine Association (NOAMA) and the PSI Foundation.
- Dr. Ohle helped form the Northern Network of Emergency Medicine Researchers to build research capacity in the region for existing clinicians and learners. He is also a founding member of the Network of Canadian Emergency Medicine Researchers. This initiative offers mentorship and support to emergency medicine researchers across Canada. His research led to a national collaborative of patients, emergency medicine physicians, vascular surgeons, cardiac surgeons, radiologists, critical care physicians and anesthesiologists, developing the first Canadian clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis of acute aortic syndrome.
- Dr. Ohle is co-founder of Northern City of Heroes, a community volunteer organization aiming to improve outcomes from cardiac arrest across Northern Ontario. This led to over 100,000 individuals being introduced to CPR in-person or virtually, an increase in community rates of bystander CPR and the world’s first CPR science centre exhibit at Science North.
- His research interests include acute aortic syndrome, bystander CPR education, COVID-19 and vertigo.