Your Leadership Matters Podcast Episode 4: Dr. Ronald Cohn, Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)

Episode 4: A conversation with Dr. Ronald Cohn, the President and CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), interviewed by Collin MacLeod, Partner and Head of the Healthcare Practice at Odgers Berndtson Canada
Dr. Cohn is the President and CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children, affectionately known as SickKids, Canada's most research-intensive hospital and the largest centre dedicated to improving children's health in the country. After receiving his medical degree in Germany, he practiced medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Boston where he began as their first combined resident in pediatrics and genetics and became the director of the world’s first multidisciplinary centre for Hypotonia, earning national and international recognition. In 2012, Dr. Cohn moved to Canada to join SickKids as the Chief of the Division of Clinical and Metabolic Genetics, Co-Director of the Centre for Genetic Medicine, and Senior Scientist at the SickKids Research Institute.
Your Leadership Matters is a podcast series by Odgers Berndtson, diving into pivotal career moments and high-stakes decisions. Each episode, one of Canada’s top business leaders will share personal reflections and unpack critical decisions throughout their career.
1:11 | You moved into the role of CEO in 2019, and while not uncommon, you're still a practicing physician and a researcher. Tell us about that move. Why did you want to take that step in your career?
5:54 | Thinking how research intensive and how specialized the care is at SickKids, how have you found or have you found that that your continued work as a clinician, and as a scientist has helped you establish credibility? And how have you leveraged that credibility as CEO?
7:58 | When you think about those three intersecting, but different and dynamic roles (physician, clinician-researcher, hospital CEO) how do you balance being successful in those three key areas?
9:39 | Having spent time in Canada, the US and Germany, how do you compare those systems and what do you see as the differences?
11:56 | It sounds like your time in Canada these last 10+ years now has changed some of that perspective. Has the role as CEO changed your perspective on the system as well?
12:57 | Let's talk about SickKids. You mentioned when we started talking about this, that you were on an ambitious journey in terms of transforming clinical care, and specifically genetic code to postal code. Tell us about that transformation.
17:32 | How do you hone in thinking about the role of you as a scientist in this mission versus you as the executive sponsor and CEO, having to drive a transformation forward?
19:35 | If you look back over your career, I'm sure there's a number of pivotal roles/moments that have influenced the success you're now having. What would be a couple of those most influential ones?
22:52 | Lots of physician leaders talk about the fact that we don't necessarily teach management at med school. As you found yourself going into more leadership roles, has something stood out that you really gravitated towards about notion of accountability?
24:50 | You moved into the role of President and CEO in 2019, and less than a year later the world drastically changed. As a new CEO, not new to the organization, but new to that role - How did you navigate the impact of Covid?
29:08 | When you reflect over your career and certainly thinking about the last four years, how do you feel that healthcare leadership has changed, and how do you see it continuing to change?
31:25 | What do you think the next generation of healthcare leaders needs to focus on to support the current healthcare system in Canada, and what that system will look like 10 or 20 years into the future?
34:50 | What's the best piece of advice you've ever received and who did it come from?
36:40 | If we think about those next leaders - the unit managers that are thinking about becoming a director, or the division head who thinks about being a chief, what would be your advice to today's group of emerging medical leaders?