Position: Research Chair, Leadership in Learning Health Systems
Department: Institute for Better Health
Job Type: Permanent Full-Time
Site: 2085 Hurontario St (Mississauga)
Posted: Monday, November 17, 2025, closing on Sunday, January 4, 2026.
Trillium Health Partners (THP) is one of Canada’s largest and most respected community hospital systems, known for performance excellence, fiscal discipline, and high-quality patient care. With a full spectrum of acute services and community-based programs, THP is committed to creating a new kind of health care for a healthier community. Driven by the values of compassion, excellence, and courage, THP’s mission is to enhance care, promote health, and support communities in thriving. Together, we will inspire and invest in a diverse Team THP to deliver the highest quality care, enabling us to partner for a seamless health system and create the conditions to shape a healthier community for all.
The Institute for Better Health (IBH), established in 2014, advances this mission through scientific leadership, innovation, and collaboration. As THPs only research institute, IBH drives applied research aligned with hospital goals, strengthens THP’s research capacity, and translates findings into real-world improvements in health and care delivery.
The Position:
A Learning Health System (LHS) approach integrates research with healthcare operations to accelerate the generation, synthesis, uptake, and refinement of evidence, ultimately improving population health, equity, patient experience, health workforce sustainability, and affordability. The Learning Health System Action Framework was created by researchers at the Institute for Better Health (IBH) in collaboration with the Ontario SPOR Support Unit (OSSU) and is now being used by systems across Canada. Visit the IBH website for more information (here).
IBH is seeking a distinguished scientist with an outstanding record of research, teaching, and scholarly achievement consistent with the criteria for appointment at the rank of Associate Professor or higher at the University of Toronto to become the first Elisabeth Hofmann Research Chair in Learning Health System Leadership. Candidates will have: (i) an established and independent program of research with a sustained record of high-quality, peer-reviewed publications and an established or established national/international reputation; (ii) evidence of excellence in teaching and trainee supervision; and (iii) a record of impactful academic and health system leadership. This pivotal role will anchor THP’s newly established Learning Health System Leadership Centre, the first of its kind in Canada. This is an international search, welcoming applicants from around the world who bring exceptional expertise and vision.
In collaboration with health system leaders, clinicians, patients, and community partners, the Chair will design and lead a transformative research agenda that integrates real-time data, evidence, and lived experience into healthcare delivery, driving measurable improvements in care quality, patient outcomes, team experience, and system performance. The Chair will provide visionary leadership in advancing organizational capacity to implement and sustain Learning Health System transformation, enabling continuous, data-informed improvement that is effective, efficient, equitable, and patient-centred. This program of research will also advance the global scholarship on leadership, governance, and implementation required to build and scale Learning Health Systems in diverse contexts.
This appointment carries a faculty position with the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation (IHPME), which is part of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH) at the University of Toronto. DLSPH is Canada’s largest and most influential public health school. IHPME brings together interdisciplinary scholars and expertise in health policy, management, and evaluation, offering unparalleled academic and experiential infrastructure for a cutting-edge research chair. IHPME is internationally competitive in the fields of health policy and governance, organizational management and leadership, performance management, comparative health systems, health services research, clinical epidemiology and health care research, knowledge transfer, health economics, quality improvement, learning health systems, and patient safety. It offers rigorous research and professional graduate degree programs, as well as continuing education. Multidisciplinary and collaborative, the Institute’s more than 500 faculty members represent a wide range of disciplines, including health policy, economics, law, clinical epidemiology, innovation, e-health and technology, sociology, and political science.
International applicants are eligible to apply. The successful candidate must be legally eligible to work in Canada at the time of appointment.
Key leadership and scholarly initiatives for the Research Chair will be to:
Establish and grow the Learning Health System Leadership Centre, developing a research program that generates high-quality evidence on what it takes to lead in a learning health system. This includes studying the intersection of leadership, data, evidence, and lived experience, and continually applying these insights to real-world challenges at THP and beyond.
Advance IBH’s scientific and leadership agenda, ensuring research not only aligns with THP’s mission and strategic directions but also informs leadership training, system design, and decision-making across local, provincial, and national contexts.
Foster academic–practice partnerships, connecting patients, families, clinicians, community leaders, and academic collaborators to co-create solutions that embed continuous learning and equity into leadership practices.
Translate research into leadership development by designing, implementing, and evaluating programs, frameworks, and tools that equip leaders at every level with the skills to practically apply learning health system principles in everyday practice.
Drive system priorities through applied research, focusing on improving access, care transitions, health system integration, and population health. By doing so, demonstrate how leadership grounded in evidence and continuous learning can deliver measurable improvements in health outcomes, experience, efficiency, and equity.
Contribute to the academic mission of IHPME, including advancing teaching, supervising graduate students and fellows, and advancing research in health policy, management, and evaluation.
Collaborate with other Research chairs and scientists at IBH, including roles within the Learning Health System Leadership Centre, to foster interdisciplinary research, shares learning, and system-wide innovation.
Candidate Profile:
The successful candidate will be a distinguished scholar in health system leadership, with a demonstrated ability to bridge evidence, practice, and policy to advance health system transformation.
We are seeking an individual who brings:
Scholarly Expertise
A PhD (or equivalent terminal degree) in health services research, health systems research, health policy, organizational leadership, health system management, or related fields.
A recognized track record of scholarship advancing the science of health system leadership, governance, and learning health systems.
Evidence of sustained success in securing competitive research funding and publishing in leading academic journals.
Qualifications commensurate with requirements for Associate Professor or Professor at the University of Toronto.
Research and Leadership Focus
Expertise applicable to learning health systems and their applications.
Proven ability to study and shape leadership practices that advance equity, access, integration, system performance, and population health.
Expertise in applied health system research that connects data, evidence, and lived experience to leadership practice.
Experience developing, implementing, and evaluating frameworks, programs, or interventions for leadership development in health systems.
Academic–Practice Integration
A demonstrated commitment to translating evidence into leadership training, education, and clinical practice.
Ability to build academic–clinical practice partnerships across hospitals, health systems, government, and community organizations.
Experience mentoring and training students, fellows, and emerging leaders, ideally within interdisciplinary settings.
Personal Attributes
An innovative and collaborative leader with the ability to inspire teams and influence across disciplines.
Strong commitment to patients first, continuous learning, and community impact.
Experience leading and working in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary environments to advance complex health system challenges.
Capacity to thrive in an evolving, high-performing health system environment while shaping a bold, scholarly vision for leadership.
To apply: please submit the following application components in a single PDF file:
Research and interest statement (max 5 pages), including the following:
Your interest in this role and Trillium Health Partners
An overview of past scientific work and training experience
Proposed future directions to establish and grow the Learning Health System Leadership Centre and to develop a research program that generates high-quality evidence on what it takes to lead in a learning health system.
How equity, diversity, inclusion, indigeneity, and accessibility will be embedded in your work
Full Academic CV
Example first author publication
Names and contact information of three (3 ) referees who can speak to your research excellence, leadership, and suitability for this position. Letters of reference will be confidential and requested directly by the search committee at a later stage; they should not be submitted with the initial application.
For more information about this opportunity, please contact Barbara Bowes, Director, Research Programs, Institute for Better Health (barbara.bowes@thp.ca).
Important Message for Potential Applicants:
Trillium Health Partners’ (THP) is an equal opportunity employer that values the importance of antiracism work and is committed to integrating antiracism, diversity, equity and inclusion best practices throughout THP operations, policies and culture. If you do not see yourself fully reflected in every job requirement listed on this posting, we still encourage you to apply. Research has shown that candidates from underrepresented groups often only apply when they feel 100% qualified. We encourage all applicants who are members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the Ontario Human Rights Code based on race, gender identity or expression, sex, sexual orientation, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nations, Métis or Inuk/Inuit person to consider this opportunity.
As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we are committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free work environment, starting with our hiring processes. If selected to participate in the recruitment and selection process for this opportunity, and you need to be accommodated during any phase of the evaluation process, please inform our Human Resources Recruiter to request specialized accommodation(s) that you may require in respect of any materials or processes used to ensure your equitable participation. All information received in relation to accommodation will be kept confidential.
We thank all those who apply, but only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.
