Niagara Health chief executive officer Kevin Smith is leaving Niagara Health.

On Monday, Niagara Health announced Smith will be taking on the position of president and CEO of Toronto’s University Health Network by May 22.

Smith will also leave his current position as president and chief executive officer of St. Joseph’s Health System in Hamilton, though will remain as chairman of both the Board of Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario, as well as a member of the Premier’s Health Results Table, advisor to the Office of the Chief Health Innovation Strategist and a special advisor to the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.

“(Smith) has a long and distinguished career in Ontario’s healthcare system and currently is responsible for an academic health organization which spans the continuum of care,” said Brian Porter, chair of UHN’s board of trustees.

“Given the breadth of services at UHN and our ambitions to work more closely with partners in the

community, I am very pleased that he has agreed to take the helm at UHN.”

Smith is well known for his work in the health care system both provincially and nationally. 

In the past he has served as chairman of the Ontario Hospital Association, chairman of the Board of Home Capital and has sat on numerous boards, including The Change Foundation, the United Way of Burlington and the Association of Canadian Academic Health Organizations.

On top of that, Smith is also a professor of medicine at McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and holds a PhD from the University of Sussex in England.

“I am very honoured to be asked to lead UHN,” said Dr. Smith. “It is an internationally recognized

hospital with outstanding achievements in care, research and education both here in Canada and around the world. I am grateful for the opportunity to build on UHN’s incredible success and look forward to the exciting work that lies ahead.”