When I ended my term as executive director of the Montreal Heart Institute in late December 2011, I thought the time had come for me to “retire,” after 35 years of working in general management. I hoped to remain available and active professionally, increasing my involvement as a consultant or strategic advisor.
The outstanding project to create the Rossy Cancer Network came along to change my plans. I was won over by its vision and its objectives, and its considerable potential impact on the evolution in the quality of cancer care across the McGill network, especially since several people close to me were battling cancer at the time. Targeting and achieving comparable or better results than international leaders in the areas of survival and mortality rates and the patient experience is a sweeping and ambitious project. I was proud to accept responsibility for leading the first phase of setting up the network. Now that the objectives for this first phase have been achieved, I want to thank the many people who contributed to it, and I pass the torch on April 1, 2014, with a feeling of mission accomplished.
I have also accepted a proposal from the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dr. David Eidelman, to serve for a one-year period as strategic advisor to the Rossy Cancer Network in order to help with the transition.
In recent months, I have worked on preparing changes to the Network’s governance structure that are aimed at increasing the clinical leaders’ level of involvement and responsibility. The RCN’s management will now work in the context of a new mandate assigned to the executive committee and, more specifically, the three clinical leaders. The arrival of Dr. Jeff Prchal as the RCN’s interim clinical director is part of this evolution. Working closely with the three clinical leaders, he will play a key role in actively promoting and supporting the integration of multidisciplinary lectures by cancer site across the RCN and promoting the development and implementation of shared “McGill” standards.
Moreover, the departure of Giovanni Vatieri, who performed his duties as operations director with leadership and efficacy, will be an opportunity to review and complete the governance structure to take this new phase in the RCN’s evolution into account. I would like to thank him for his important contribution.
Each step in the RCN’s evolution comes with its own challenges. After the first successful implementation and set-up phase, the new phase will see greater integration of the hospitals when it comes to cancer care, deployment of a harmonized IT infrastructure in oncology and a strong emphasis on measurement and comparative evaluation of the results.
The exceptional support of the Larry and Cookie Rossy Family Foundation and the McGill University hospital foundations and development funds are considerable assets in the success of the Rossy Cancer Network. It is an immense privilege to be able to rely on this kind of support.
From April 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015, as a strategic advisor for the Rossy Cancer Network under the authority of Dr. Sam Benaroya, chair of the Executive Committee and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, my mandate will focus primarily on supporting implementation of the new governance model. I will also continue to contribute to strengthening collaborative ties with regional, ministerial and governmental bodies for the purpose of achieving the RCN’s objectives and priorities, as well as various PR activities and external communications.
I am very proud of this fruitful first step and wish to thank everyone for their greatly appreciated contribution and their overall support.
Robert Busilacchi
Executive Director (2012-2014)
Strategic Advisor, Rossy Cancer Network