Dr. Ross Walker will complete his term as the Head of the Department of Surgery on June 30, 2025. In accordance with the Senate document governing the Appointment of Heads of Clinical/Academic Departments that was approved on March 26, 2009, a Joint Clinical Search Committee has been established. The role of the Committee is to provide advice to the Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) of Queen’s University and to the Board Chairs of the participating hospitals on the present state and future prospects of the Department, and to make a recommendation on its future leadership.  The composition of the committee is as follows:

  • Dr. Diane Lougheed (co-chair), Vice-Dean, Clinical, Queen’s Health Sciences (QHS)
  • Dr. Mike Fitzpatrick (co-chair), Chief of Staff & Executive Vice President Medical and Academic Affairs, Kingston Health Sciences Centre
  • Ms. Cathy Szabo, President & Chief Executive Officer, Providence Care
  • Jason Hann, Executive Vice-President and Chief Nursing Executive, Kingston Health Sciences Centre 
  • Dr. Simon O’Brien, Chair, Medical Advisory Committee, Providence Care Hospital
  • Dr. Michael Leveridge, Department Head, Department of Urology, QHS
  • Michelle Mackay, Program Operational Director Perioperative Services, Kingston Health Sciences Centre
  • Dr. Ryan Bicknell, Associate Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Surgery, QHS
  • Dr. Diederick Jalink, Associate Professor and Chair, Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, QHS
  • Allison Horwood, Department Manager, Department of Surgery, QHS
  • Dr. Julie La, PGY-5 Division of General Surgery, PhD(c), Health Quality Program, Clinician Investigator Program
  • Tyler Williamson, Aesculapian Society President, 2nd Year Medical Student, QHS
  • Kristy Lodewyks (Secretary), HR & Staffing Operations Manager, QHS

In applying the process, the Committee is consulting widely, through correspondence, with members of the Department’s faculty and staff, students, residents, members of the teaching hospitals, and other members of the university and health sciences communities, as appropriate.

We invite you to submit your comments on the present state and future prospects of the Department of Surgery, as well as the names of possible candidates for the Headship and the reasons for supporting each nominee. Submissions may be made to the co-chairs via this or email to qhsstaffing@queensu.ca.

While submissions will be accepted throughout the search process, it will be advantageous for the committee to have them early on. Responses received will remain confidential and will be shared only with the members of the review committee. Anonymous submissions will not be considered; however, names, letterhead/e-mail header, and/or signature block of those who respond will be masked on the copy that is circulated to committee members.