Dr. Zoutman QHC’s new chief of staff

Following an extensive nation-wide search process, QHC has selected its new Chief of Staff from within the region.
Brian Smith, Chair of the QHC Board, announced today that Dr. Dick Zoutman will become QHC Chief of Staff following the retirement of Dr. Mohamed Gaber on December 1.

“Dr. Zoutman brings tremendous experience and expertise as a health care leader to QHC,” said Smith. “He is a well respected physician and leader who is passionate about the health care system and quality improvement. It’s an added benefit that we will also gain a physician with Fellowships in Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at our hospitals.”

“I have worked alongside my colleagues at Quinte Health Care for many years and have always had very positive interactions,” said Dr. Zoutman. “I look forward to being part of the progressive leadership team at QHC that is focused on quality improvement for the patients and community QHC serves. I believe we can continue to evolve QHC as a model healthcare provider in Ontario that others will want to emulate.”

Dr. Zoutman is currently involved in a variety of physician leadership and clinical roles at the Kingston hospitals and Queen’s University, including Professor and Chair of Medical Microbiology and of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Director of Quality Improvement in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine. He is also Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences, and serves as an attending physician at Kingston General, Hotel Dieu and Providence Care hospitals.

Dr. Zoutman also serves on many committees outside of the hospitals and university. He was a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Committee on Pandemic Disease Control Strategies and is a founding Co-Chair of the Ontario Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC) of Public Health Ontario.
He has also been involved with international health care projects in Guyana, India, Africa and Kosovo.
An accomplished and extensively published scientific author, Dr. Zoutman’s research has focused on infection prevention and healthcare quality improvement.

As part of his infectious disease expertise, Dr. Zoutman played a key role in the Ontario SARS response team in 2003 and was instrumental in the creation of the Regional Infection Control Network of South Eastern Ontario.

Mr. Smith also thanked Dr. Gaber for serving as Chief of Staff at QHC since 2007.
“He has provided calm and dedicated leadership and worked tirelessly on behalf of our patients, the community, QHC Medical staff and employees.”