Dr. Everton Gooden began his tenure as President and CEO of North York General Hospital (NYGH) on December 1, 2023.
Everton has held a variety of progressive leadership roles, including serving as Chair of the Medical Advisory Committee, President of the Medical Staff Association, Division Chief of Head and Neck Surgery, Governor of the North York General Hospital Foundation Board of Governors and Chair of its Governance and Inclusion Committee. Everton is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine.
Everton’s passion for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion led him to champion the establishment of NYGH’s first Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office.
Beyond his roles with NYGH, he serves on the Board of Face the Future Foundation, which provides lifesaving facial reconstructive surgery for disadvantaged young people in developing countries.
Everton has received multiple awards including the Black Business and Professional Association’s Harry Jerome Trailblazer Award in 2017, the Urban Hero Award from Metroland Media also in 2017, and the University of Toronto’s Excellence in Community Based Teaching award for 2021.
Mitch Birken
Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer
Mitch Birken rejoined North York General Hospital in July 2019 as Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Mitch began his career at North York General Hospital where he spent over a decade in progressive leadership roles in Human Resources, Strategy, and Support Services. Prior to returning, Mitch was the Director, Human Resources and Occupational Health and Safety Services at Quinte Health Care, and most recently as Senior Director, Human Resources Consulting at Unity Health Toronto. Mitch’s work experiences have largely been in community hospitals, as well as in rural health, urban health, and long-term care environments.
Mitch holds a Master of Health Science degree in Health Policy, Management and Evaluation from the University of Toronto, a Master of Industrial Relations degree from Queen’s University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics from McGill University.
Rudy Dahdal, B.Sc., MHSc, CHE
Vice President, Planning, Redevelopment and Clinical Support
Rudy Dahdal joined North York General Hospital in October 2017 as Vice President, Planning, Redevelopment and Support Services. Prior to this, Rudy spent over two decades at the University Health Network in progressive leadership roles, most recently as Senior Director, Planning, Redevelopment & Support Services, where he developed extensive experience in capital planning and operations, strategic and space planning, project delivery, facilities and support services delivery, as well as procurement and contract negotiations.
Rudy has a strong interest in creating systems and cultures of safety and high reliability to proactively anticipate failures and help reduce preventable harm. Additionally, Rudy’s work has focused on creating healing environments for patients, and how the provision of exemplary support services can result in improved health outcomes and enhanced patient experience.
Rudy holds a Master of Health Science degree in Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto, a Certificate in Construction Law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, and is a Certified Health Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders.
Janine Hopkins
Chief Communications & External Relations Officer
Janine Hopkins joined North York General in September 2020, with over 20 years of experience in health care leadership, communications, public affairs and strategy.
Applying an extensive understanding of the health system and public policy, Janine has a record of guiding organizations through change, building partnerships and facilitating integration across the health care continuum, and public and patient engagement.
Prior to NYGH, Janine was Senior Director, Strategic Communications for Lakeridge Health, one of Ontario’s largest community health systems, with five hospitals and 12 community locations. She has served in senior executive roles with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Cancer Care Ontario, and Toronto Central LHIN, where she led community engagement, communications and strategy including health equity and governance development. Janine was also a Principal with Canadian public affairs and strategy consultancy Santis Health.
Janine is currently on the Board of the Ontario Community Support Association and has served on the Board of Sheena’s Place and as past Board Chair of Interval House, Canada’s first shelter for women fleeing domestic abuse. Janine has also volunteered with Rainbow Health Ontario and the AIDS Committee of Toronto over the years
Janine has a Masters degree in Political Science (Public Policy and Administration) from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from McMaster University.
Duska Kennedy
Vice President, Strategy, Digital Health and CDO
Duska Kennedy joined North York General Hospital in June 2020. Duska is a national health system leader and is focused on spearheading innovative digital technology solutions that transform the way we work and provide a connected care experience to the communities she serves.
She is deeply passionate about exploring innovative ways to transform the patient and provider experience. She has a strong background in healthcare strategy and operations management with over 20 years of health care information management and information technology (IM/IT) experience. Before joining NYGH, Duska held several senior leadership roles at the University Health Network. She has developed significant expertise in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement and team building. She also brings detailed experience analyzing strategic options, recommending strategies for implementing change and acting as a catalyst to help put these strategies into action.
Duska has managed numerous large-scale health care systems implementations, led strategic planning efforts in the acute, community and oncology sectors and held operational leadership roles at several healthcare organizations.
Duska holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts, Honors Business Administration from The Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.
Jennifer Dockery
Vice President, Quality, Post- Acute Care & Community Integration
Jennifer joined North York General in August 2024 as the inaugural Vice President, Quality, Post-Acute Care & Community Integration. In her role, Jennifer provides strategic leadership for NYGH’s Quality, community health and integrated care portfolios, with a focus on creating a new standard for comprehensive and equitable seniors’ care.
An RN by training, Jennifer has over 25 years of diverse leadership and operational experience in the health sector spanning Ambulatory, Primary and Community Care, Women’s Health, and Long-Term Care. Before joining North York General, she was the General Manager for Seniors Services and Long-Term Care with the City of Toronto where she was responsible for service planning and strategic integration of City services for seniors, including health care for vulnerable individuals living in the community and operating 10 LTC homes.
An accomplished leader with a record of advancing innovative models of care, Jennifer was responsible for the implementation of Canada’s first hospital-based refugee clinic, and the first Urban Indigenous Midwifery-led birthing centre in Ontario.
Dr. Lloyd Smith
Interim Vice President, Medical and Academic Affairs
Dr. Lloyd Smith took on the role as Interim VP Medical and Academic Affairs in December 2023. Lloyd joined NYGH in 2013 as Chief of Surgery and Medical Co- director of the Surgical Program. He completed this role in Sept 2023. Prior to this Lloyd spent 10 years as Chief of Surgery at St Josephs Health Center.
Lloyd is a General Surgeon by training and his clinical interest is abdominal wall reconstruction. He is an Associate Professor in the University of Toronto Department of Surgery. In his spare time Lloyd enjoys cycling, tennis and golf. He also makes time to spend with his 6 grandchildren.
Seanna Millar
President and CEO, North York General Foundation
Seanna Millar joined North York General Foundation as President and CEO in May 2023. Prior to joining NYGF, Seanna worked for 20 years in progressively senior positions at SickKids Foundation, culminating in the role of Senior Vice President, which she held since 2017. Earlier, Seanna held positions in fundraising and community relations with Sunnybrook Foundation and Foresters. At SickKids, Seanna served on the Senior Management Team of the Foundation and was part of the leadership team that planned and delivered a $1.5B campaign, the largest hospital fundraising campaign in Canada’s history. In this work, Seanna partnered closely with hospital leadership, clinicians, nurses, and staff. Seanna’s role also saw her working closely with volunteers at the executive and grassroots levels.
A graduate of Huron College at Western University with an Honours Bachelor of Arts, Seanna has also completed executive education with the Roman School of Management at the University of Toronto, as well as the Institute of Corporate Director’s Not for Profit Governance Program. An active volunteer herself, Seanna is currently a Board member with Young People’s Theatre.
Dr. Phil Shin
Chief Medical Information Officer, Chair, Medical Advisory Committee, Critical Care and Internal Medicine
Dr. Phil Shin has been an Active staff physician at NYGH since 2006 after completing his medical training in Internal Medicine and Critical Care at the University of Toronto. He recently finished a ten-year term as NYGH Chief of Medicine in 2022 and will be completing his term as Medical Director of Critical Care in June 2023. He performed both roles concurrently for nine years, including throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Since January 2022, he has served as the NYGH Chief Medical Information Officer, leading Digital Health initiatives on both the local and provincial levels.
During his time at NYGH, Dr. Shin has pursued additional training in Patient Safety and Quality Improvement at the University of Toronto, a Master’s degree in Bioethics at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, as well as advanced healthcare leadership through the Rotman School of Management.
Dr. Shin has been involved extensively in teaching and research. He has won multiple teaching awards and has served as a member of the University of Toronto Adult Critical Care Residency Program Training Committee since 2018. He has developed a successful ICU clinical trials research program at NYGH and was a founding member of the Canadian Community ICU Research Network. He also has a keen interest in supporting organ donation and has served as the NYGH Hospital Donation Physician for the Trillium Gift of Life Network since 2017.
Outside of work, he enjoys spending his time with his wife (also an NYGH physician), three teenage daughters, and pandemic dog. He is an aspiring golfer and tennis player
Linda Jussaume
Interim Vice President, Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Executive
Linda Jussaume joined NYGH on December 12, 2023.
Before returning to NYGH, Linda led the Surgical Program with distinction for over 12 years.
Prior to her role at North York General Hospital, Linda worked at University Health Network as Clinical Manager of Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit and Rouge Valley Healthcare System as Director of Surgery, Cancer Care and Cardiology. In addition, Linda has had experience in Program and Hospital mergers and expansions and has consulted provincially, nationally and internationally.
Linda is a graduate of the Master of Business Administration program from the Rotman School of Management from the University of Toronto and of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from McGill University. Linda also holds an adjunct lecturer position at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing University of Toronto.
Holding various leadership roles over the past 30 years, Linda has delivered tranformative strategies that have improved patient outcomes and the quality of care. Linda’s strengths include team building and Program management, partnership development, governance, quality improvement, project and change leadership and performance measurement and management.
Linda’s work has been recognized across the healthcare sector as she continues to be an invited speaker at various conferences, and is the recipient of the 2015 and 2021 Accreditation Canada Leading Practice award for the work done on the Hip and Knee Integrated Care Collaborative and Pre-Operative Quality Improvement Journey for patients undergoing surgery.
Outside the hospital setting, Linda sits on two Boards: Member and Vice-president for the French Health Network of Central Southwestern Ontario and member for the United College/Waterloo University.
Peter Wegener
Interim Chief Financial Officer
Peter Wegener has over 30 years experience at the Executive Management level in the Ontario Hospital system. During this time he has provided leadership in many areas including finance, logistics and procurement, decision support, human resources, medical records, information management, diagnostic services and information, communications, automation technologies (ICAT). In addition, he has led many hospital redevelopment and regionalization projects including regionalization of IT services, laboratory services, pharmacy services, warehouse solutions and centralization of financial functions.
Most recently, as an independent advisor, he has assisted with several new Ontario Hospital builds by providing executive overview and direction to the visioning, capital financial budgets, the introduction of new technologies and the equipment procurement. The vision of these builds focused on the introduction of new and emerging technologies which were supported with a sound business case and operational savings.
