As President and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health Care, London, Dr. Gillian Kernaghan is a highly respected physician and administrative leader, known for her medical, educational and system leadership at local, regional, provincial and national levels.  While holding very busy hospital leadership responsibilities, Dr. Kernaghan has also been a family practice physician in London for more than 25 years.  She earned her Doctor of Medicine (with Honours) degree from the University of Western Ontario and is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Ontario.

Over the past ten years, Dr. Kernaghan has worked closely with the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) on various initiatives and has served on multiple OHA committees. These include the Quality and Patient Safety Strategic Planning Committee, the Task force on the Physician/Hospital Relationship, and the Tripartite Committee with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC), the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) and the OHA.

Dr. Kernaghan is very passionate about physician leadership development and the need for physicians to be prepared to lead within the health care system.  She has worked tirelessly to promote physician leadership engagement and preparation.  Dr. Kernaghan believes that we have reached a tipping point, where the system realizes the value of investing in physician leadership development, and physicians are investing their time and energy into preparation.  

When asked what has changed most in Ontario’s health care system during her long career, Dr. Kernaghan cites the advancements due to technology.  Diagnostic capability continues to develop.  Surgical advances allow many surgeries to be day surgeries.  People can be monitored remotely. Technology allows patients to be independent at home. What has not changed, according to Dr. Kernaghan is that health care is still about people caring for people and the human touch is still very important on the journey of recovery, in all aspects of health care. 

Despite her busy schedule, Dr. Kernaghan finds time to volunteer. She is the President of the Canadian Society of Physician Executives and has worked collaboratively with the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) to develop the Canadian Certified Physician Executive credential.  She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Western Ontario and also teaches an advanced course at the Physician Management Institute.

In her spare time, Dr. Kernaghan enjoys skiing, biking and occasionally scuba diving with her grown sons. She also loves reading historical fiction and spending time supporting her church community.