CHUM and MUHC | Two health flagships are looking for their captain

The two university hospitals in Montreal will change CEOs in the coming months. Both the D^r Pierre Gfeller at the MUHC and the D^r Fabrice Brunet at the CHUM must leave their functions before the end of the year, launching at the same time the rumors on the people who will be able to succeed them.

Ariane Lacoursiere
The Press

Both men’s terms will end in December. Both the D^r Gfeller than the D^r Brunet had arrived in office when their establishments had just gone through difficult years. The McGill University Health Center (MUHC) was plunged into a financial crisis and plagued by corruption scandals surrounding its mega construction site when Dr.^r Gfeller took the reins in 2018.

At the University of Montreal Hospital Center (CHUM), the two previous leaders, Christian Paire and Jacques Turgeon, had resigned in the turmoil when Dr.^r Brunet was named CEO in 2015.

To succeed the two men, different names are mentioned in the network. We are talking in particular about the assistant deputy minister at the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS), the D^D Lucie Opatriny. The D^D Opatrny worked at St. Mary’s Hospital Center and the CISSS de Laval before making the leap to the MSSS in 2018. She was at the forefront of many of the decisions made during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several sources point out that the former Deputy Minister of Health Yvan Gendron would also be interested in the race. Mr. Gendron was ejected from his post in the summer of 2020, after being criticized for his management of the first wave of the pandemic. Mr. Gendron also recently found himself in the news during coroner Géhane Kamel’s inquest into the CHSLD Herron.

CEO of the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal since 2018, Frédéric Abergel is on the list of candidates. He has just had his term renewed for four years in May. The name of Pierre-Albert Coubat, currently Assistant Deputy Minister in the General Directorate of Funding, Resource Allocation and Budget at the MSSS, is also mentioned as a candidate, although with a little more ambiguity. Mr. Coubat worked in the past in the human resources department of the CHUM.

Finally, the CEO of the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Dr.^r Lawrence Rosenberg, could also be interested in taking the head of one of the two university establishments, most likely the MUHC. He has just been reappointed for four years as head of the CIUSSS du Centre-Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, which notably oversees the Jewish General Hospital.

The processes to replace the leaders of the two CHUs will be launched in the fall.

Musical chair game

These two new appointments will be added to several others announced in recent days. At the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, the position left vacant by Sonia Bélanger’s departure from politics will be filled by Vincent Lehouillier. The latter was until very recently Associate Deputy Minister of the Human Resources and Remuneration Branch at the MSSS.

In the West Island of Montreal, CEO Lynne McVey, who was splashed by the CHSLD Herron scandal, recently announced that she will leave her position this summer. For now, the Deputy CEO, Najia Hachimi-Idrissi, replaces her.

At the CISSS de Lanaudière, Maryse Poupart, who replaced CEO Daniel Castonguay after the crisis caused by the death of Joyce Echaquan, continues her mandate until 2025.

Another CHU will also change CEO in the coming weeks: at the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS, the D^r Stéphane Tremblay has just completed his mandate.

In all, around ten new CEOs will have been appointed this year in the network’s 34 establishments.

They will be called upon to play a central role in the management of services to the population. Every Monday, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, meets with seven or eight of these CEOs to discuss current issues and take the pulse of the field. A habit taken during the pandemic and which has continued since.