Description

Job Description: Vice President, Health System Partnerships, Research and Advocacy

Location: Toronto, ON Canada. Hybrid (two days in the office per week). Primary location is the Lung Health Foundation's office in Toronto, with occasional travel within Ontario and across Canada as required.

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Type: Full-Time, permanent

Salary Range: 140,000-160,000

Vacancy: This position will fill a vacancy.

Position Overview:

The Vice President, Health Systems Partnerships, Research and Advocacy is a member of LHF's executive leadership team and plays a central role in advancing the organization's mission, strategic priorities, credibility, influence and impact. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, the Vice President leads a diverse portfolio spanning programs and health-system improvement, research and scientific leadership, public affairs and advocacy, health-system partnerships, data strategy, professional education, and stakeholder engagement.

This role helps shape how a national health charity influences health systems, policy, research, and practice. A significant focus of the role is external: the Vice President represents LHF with senior leaders across government, healthcare, research, academia, professional organizations, patient and community organizations, and the charitable sector. This role cultivates trusted relationships, identifies emerging opportunities, maintains scientific credibility, and develops partnerships and initiatives that advance LHF's priorities.

Internally, the Vice President provides strategic direction and executive-level judgment while leading and developing a highly capable multidisciplinary team. The role also serves as a senior quality checkpoint, helping ensure LHF's programs, research, policy positions, educational initiatives and external-facing work are evidence-based, scientifically and factually sound, appropriately nuanced, and aligned with organizational priorities.

The successful candidate will be equally comfortable setting strategy, developing senior relationships and navigating complex health-system issues as they are ensuring that major commitments, programs, partnerships and funded initiatives are delivered with rigour, accountability and measurable impact.

What You'll Lead

Executive Leadership and Strategy

• Serve as a member of LHF's executive leadership team, contributing to organizational strategy, business planning, priority setting, risk management and key organizational decisions.
• Provide executive-level advice and judgment on emerging opportunities, complex or sensitive issues, competing priorities, and decisions
• Translate LHF's strategic priorities into clear portfolio objectives, initiatives and partnerships and lead the team to accomplish these goals.
• Provide oversight of portfolio budgets and resources, ensuring investments are aligned with strategic priorities and deliver strong organizational and mission impact.
• Work collaboratively across departments to ensure alignment between programs, research, advocacy, communications, partnerships and broader organizational priorities.
• Foster an organizational culture grounded in evidence, scientific integrity, collaboration, accountability, equity and measurable impact.
• Provide cross-functional leadership and strategic input into the development of the LHF Data Hub and its ongoing data governance.

External Relations and Strategic Partnerships

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships and trusted relationships by representing LHF with senior stakeholders across government, healthcare, academia, research, professional associations, patient and community organizations, charities and other health-sector partners.
• Chair, lead and represent LHF on strategic working groups including research working group, task forces, advisory committees and multi-stakeholder initiatives, bringing together diverse expertise, building consensus, and advancing evidence-informed recommendations that influence policy, practice and health-system improvement.
• Identify, assess and develop strategic partnerships and collaborative initiatives aligned with LHF's mandate and strategic priorities.
• Convene diverse stakeholders around complex lung health challenges and facilitate collaboration across clinical, research, policy, patient and health-system perspectives.
• Serve as a senior representative and media spokesperson for LHF, as required, strengthening the organization's brand, voice and thought leadership through media opportunities, meetings, conferences, committees, public forums and other external engagements.

Public Affairs and Advocacy

• Provide executive leadership and oversight of LHF's provincial and federal government relations, public affairs and advocacy strategies.
• Build and maintain relationships with elected officials, government staff, ministries, agencies and other public-sector decision-makers.
• Ensure LHF's policy and advocacy positions are evidence-based, non-partisan, and aligned with organizational priorities.
• Guide the development of policy submissions, briefing materials, government recommendations, advocacy campaigns and stakeholder engagement strategies.
• Identify emerging policy opportunities and risks and advise the CEO and senior leadership on appropriate organizational responses.
• Lead and support coordinated advocacy through partnerships like the National Lung Health Alliance, provincial coalitions and national tables, balancing LHF's leadership role with genuine collaboration and collective ownership.

Programs and Health System Improvement

• Provide strategic oversight of LHF's portfolio of health professional, patient and community-focused programs.
• Guide the design, implementation, evaluation and continuous improvement of evidence-based initiatives that improve lung health and health-system outcomes.
• Apply principles of implementation science, quality improvement and behaviour change to support effective program development, implementation, measures of success, evaluation approaches and pathways to sustainability.
• Use program data and evaluation findings to inform decision-making, demonstrate impact and identify opportunities for improvement, expansion and health-system adoption.
• Provide executive oversight of significant health-system initiatives, including stakeholder relationships, quality improvement, performance measurement and government engagement.
• Ensure funded initiatives and partnerships meet agreed objectives, timelines, budgets and reporting requirements.
• Identify gaps and seek funding from multiple sources to meet the needs of Canadians through expanded programming.

Scientific Rigour

• Champion scientific and evidence-based decision-making across LHF's programs, research, advocacy, policy and public-facing work through teamwork and use of LHF's scientific advisory and Chief Medical Advisor.
• In partnership with the Chief Medical Advisor, provide senior-level review and oversight of significant scientific, clinical, policy and external-facing materials to ensure they are factually accurate, evidence-based, appropriately nuanced and defensible.
• Ensure LHF's recommendations, positions and communications appropriately reflect the strength and limitations of the available evidence, including areas of uncertainty or emerging evidence.
• Ensure appropriate scientific rigour, transparency and documentation when LHF convenes experts to develop consensus statements, clinical or health-system recommendations, policy briefs and other knowledge products.
• Foster a culture of scientific integrity, critical appraisal and evidence-based decision-making as a core organizational standards.

People Leadership and Team Development

• Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team of senior professionals and people leaders who prioritize collaboration.
• Establish clear goals and accountability while coaching and empowering team members to operate with appropriate independence, judgment, and ownership.
• Coach and support emerging people leaders in delegation, performance management, prioritization, feedback, decision-making and leading through others.
• Identify and develop high-potential talent and contribute to succession planning and organizational bench strength.

Across all areas of responsibility, the Vice President will champion meaningful engagement of people living with, affected by, or at risk of lung disease and ensure that lived experience and health equity considerations are substantively incorporated into LHF's programs, research, policy, advocacy and health-system initiatives.

Qualifications:

Required Experience and Qualifications

• A minimum of 10 years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare, health systems, public health, research, government, the charitable sector or a related environment.
• Significant experience leading complex portfolios, programs, partnerships or initiatives involving multiple stakeholders.
• Demonstrated strong judgement and experience building and managing senior-level relationships across government, healthcare, academia, professional organizations and/or the charitable sector.
• Demonstrated experience successfully leading and developing high-performing multidisciplinary teams and people leaders.
• Experience with research, evidence synthesis, implementation science, quality improvement, program evaluation and/or knowledge translation.
• Demonstrated ability to critically assess scientific and health-system evidence and translate complex information for different audiences.
• Knowledge of PHIPA and data governance
• Strong project and portfolio management skills, including the ability to oversee multiple complex initiatives and priorities simultaneously.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation and stakeholder engagement skills with senior decision-makers, partners, media and other influential audiences.
• Demonstrated commitment to person-centered approaches, meaningful engagement and health equity.

Strong Assets

• Doctoral degree in a health, scientific or related discipline. Equivalent senior-level experience in research, evidence and health-system leadership will also be considered.
• Experience in government relations, public policy or advocacy.
• Experience managing government-funded initiatives, accountability agreements, workplans and performance reporting.
• Experience in respiratory health, chronic disease, cancer, public health or a related health field.
• Experience developing research collaborations and contributing to peer-reviewed publications, knowledge products or evidence-informed recommendations.
• Experience working within or in partnership with a national health charity, patient organization or professional association.

Leadership Competencies

• Sees the broader organizational and health-system context, anticipates emerging opportunities and risks, and makes sound decisions in complex or ambiguous situations.
• Builds trusted relationships with senior stakeholders and effectively brings together diverse perspectives to advance shared objectives.
• Maintains high standards for scientific, clinical and factual accuracy and ensures organizational decisions and positions are grounded in credible evidence.
• Operates confidently at the senior leadership level, providing strategic advice, constructive challenge and sound judgment on issues affecting the organization.
• Creates clarity and accountability while empowering others to lead. Coaches and develops emerging leaders and builds organizational capacity through others.
• Navigates differing perspectives constructively and creates environments where partners and team members can contribute meaningfully to decisions.
• Communicates complex scientific, policy and health-system issues clearly and persuasively to audiences ranging from healthcare professionals and researchers to government officials, patients, partners and the public.
• Translates strategy into action, establishes clear ownership and expectations, monitors progress and ensures commitments are delivered.
• Responds effectively to evolving evidence, stakeholder needs, policy environments and organizational priorities.

WHY THE LUNG HEALTH FOUNDATION?

Beyond making a real difference in the lives of the 1 in 5 Canadians living with lung disease, we offer:

• Collaborative and creative environment
• LHF Employee Perks package
• Robust benefits package, including an RRSP matching program
• Flexible work environment
• We are committed to your growth and ongoing professional development