Waypoint Appoints New Senior Clinical Leaders

The expected retirement of Rob Desroches, Senior Vice-President – Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Officer, at the end of this year has provided opportunity to reimagine clinical leadership at Waypoint. As a result, we have recruited two Vice Presidents to take on specific responsibilities in the organization to advance our mission and to provide continuity.

We are delighted that Stella Johnson will be joining the team on September 2nd as Vice President, Integrated Health Delivery Systems and Chief Clinical Supports Officer, with responsibility for setting strategic and operational directions and goals for our inpatient acute mental health, outpatient, community and integrated clinical services including specialized geriatric services. In this role she will advance Waypoint’s leadership and support for ‘one system’ and continue to build connections to primary care and emergency departments as well as community-based care.

Stella brings a wealth of expertise to Waypoint with experience in mental health, geriatrics, emergency and intensive care and patient flow. She most recently served as Director, Organizational Excellence and Performance at Southlake Health. In this role she was responsible for ensuring high quality clinical outcomes and driving performance and financial excellence across the organization. Prior to this, she held senior roles at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and Peterborough Regional Health Centre. She holds a Master of Health Administration from the University of Ottawa and is both a Certified Health Executive (Canadian College of Health Leaders) and a Lean Black Belt.

We’re thrilled that Chad Draper will assume the role of Vice President, Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Executive on December 22nd. Chad is a familiar face at Waypoint, having held progressively more senior roles in the organization through his career, most recently as interim Assistant Vice President, Clinical Services. In his new role, Chad will ensure the delivery of high-quality mental health, addictions and geriatric care across many programs, including forensic mental health care and many of our regional services, and will continue to champion equitable and person-centred care across the organization.

Chad is a registered nurse with certification in psychiatric mental health nursing. In addition, he holds a Masters in Health Management from McMaster University. Chad is a true servant leader, fostering a high-performance culture and championing operational excellence, reducing risk and advancing recovery-oriented and trauma-informed care. Among his many achievements at Waypoint is his co-leadership of the largest clinical transformation in the organization’s history as well as the overseeing leading edge care, such as neuromodulation.

We are confident these new roles, and the successful candidates for them, will help Waypoint continue to deliver exemplary care, foster purposeful partnerships and provide health system leadership to advance mental health, addictions and geriatric care regionally, provincially and beyond. Please join me in welcoming Stella and Chad to their new positions.