Physician – Palliative Care (Vacant)

The Department of Medicine and the Division of Palliative Care at the University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital, and Bruyère Health are looking for one or more full-time staff physicians to attend on our inpatient consultation services, our inpatient Palliative Care Units, our outpatient clinics, and our Regional Palliative Care Team. The anticipated start date for this position is July 1, 2026.

The Division of Palliative Care includes approximately 45 physicians, covering four hospitals and the Regional Palliative Consultation Team, including more than 4500 new consultations per year, in a catchment area of 1.3 million people in Eastern Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut. Our research group is leading dozens of funded programs of research. In the past five years, our division members have been principal investigators on >120 peer-reviewed grants worth more than $35 million, producing more than 350 publications.

The Ottawa Hospital is a 1150 bed tertiary-care hospital serving Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec at four inpatient sites (Civic, General, Heart Institute, and the Rehabilitation Centre) and one ambulatory centre (Riverside). There are approximately 50,000 inpatient admissions, 160,000 emergency visits and over one million outpatient visits annually.

Ground-breaking medical research is conducted through The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. We rank 5th in Canada for competitive, peer-reviewed grants from the prestigious Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Over 2,300 researchers are publishing more than 2,200 studies yearly, with hundreds being high-impact publications (top 10% or citations).

Bruyère Health Research Institute (BHRI) is the research arm of Bruyère Health, an academic health sciences centre that includes specialized hospitals and long-term care programs. Fully affiliated with the University of Ottawa, BHRI also collaborates with regional academic partners, government, NGO’s, and industry leaders on research and innovation initiatives. BHRI conducts world-class, evidence-based research aimed at maximizing quality of life, with a focus on memory, aging in place, and long-term care, palliative care, rehabilitation and recovery, and social accountability. Bruyère Health is recognized by Research InfoSource (2023) as one of Canada’s top 40 Research Hospitals.

The Department of Medicine is a research-intensive Department. Members currently hold 25 University Research Chairs. The Department receives approximately $60 million per year in external research funding and members publish approximately 1200 peer-reviewed publications annually.

The Faculty of Medicine is a nationally recognized leader, ranked among Canada’s top-tier medical faculties. As the most research-intensive Faculty at the University of Ottawa, the Faculty of Medicine contributes significantly to the University being ranked 5th in the country for total research revenues (Research InfoSource), routinely 2nd or 3rd in Canada for research intensity in Medicine/Science grants (McLean’s), 4th in Canada for citations (2022 THE rankings) and 1st for overall growth in Tri-council funding over the past two decades. The University of Ottawa is the largest bilingual (English/French) university in the world and the Faculty of Medicine first and largest bilingual medical school in Canada. The Faculty of Medicine has a long history of conducting the highest quality basic and clinical research, in close partnership with five affiliated academic hospitals and six research institutes. The Web of Science recently published a list of the most highly cited researchers in the world, where seven out of eight researchers identified from the uOttawa are from the Faculty of Medicine.

Together, these remarkable achievements are a strong testament to the competitiveness and excellence of our Faculty that extend to all our educational programs.

The City of Ottawa provides a thriving multicultural and bilingual environment. Ottawa boasts numerous cultural activities as well as readily accessible sporting and natural resources, making it an ideal family and healthy living environment

The successful candidate will work within the clinical services covered by the Division of Palliative Care. The Palliative Care service at The Ottawa Hospital includes 6 inpatient consultation teams, one inpatient palliative care unit, and multiple outpatient services (both malignant and non-malignant) spread across three different sites. Attending physicians may rotate among services according to their preference and clinical need. The Palliative Care service at Bruyère Health includes a 31-bed inpatient palliative care unit, a consultation team, and the Regional Palliative Consultation Team, which provides consultative palliative care to support primary care physicians throughout the Champlain Region. Hôpital Montfort and the Queensway-Carleton Hospital are teaching hospitals with consultation teams staffed by the Division of Palliative Care.

The Ottawa Hospital and Bruyère Health are teaching hospitals, and all attending staff are expected to teach and supervise undergraduate and postgraduate medical trainees. The University of Ottawa’s Division of Palliative Care also has an academic mandate, and members are expected to contribute to fulfilling this mandate through a combination of education, research, and quality improvement.

The ideal candidate will have experience in outpatient palliative care and/or those with experience in outpatient palliative care and/or those who have established academic programs (eg. education, research or quality improvement) to join our team.

The successful candidate must hold an MD degree; be a member of, or be eligible to be a member of, the Canadian Medical Protective Association; have, or be eligible for certification in Palliative Medicine by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the Certificate of Added Competence in Palliative Medicine from the College of Family Physicians of Canada; and have, or be eligible for, licensure in Ontario. The successful candidate will be eligible to hold an academic appointment at the rank of an Assistant Professor or higher at the University of Ottawa. Academic rank will be commensurate with the candidate’s qualifications and experience.

The University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital are bilingual institutions and therefore in the case of potentially successful candidates of equal ability, a bilingual (French/English) candidate would be preferred.

The income for this position is derived from a variety of sources including but not limited to clinical billings (fee-for-service), salary support (AFP) as well as honorariums/stipends. The renumeration package is anticipated to be in the range of $350,000 - $380,000 per year. Health and welfare benefits including extended health, dental and disability insurance as well as life insurance are offered to full-time physicians.

The Department of Medicine is committed to upholding the values of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in our living, learning, and work environments. We encourage qualified applicants from all groups with historical and/or current barriers to equity to apply. Upon request, accommodations due to a disability are available throughout the recruitment process.

Please note Canadian citizens and permanent residents will be given priority. We sincerely thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Please forward a 1-2 page letter of intent, 3 references (who will not be contacted without permission) and a CV to Dr James Downar, Head Division of Palliative Care, Department of Medicine The Ottawa Hospital and University of Ottawa at jdownar@toh.ca