Executive Leadership Team
Paul Woods, MD
President and CEO
Dr. Paul Woods is a senior healthcare leader with a wide range of clinical and executive experience in both Canada and the United States, highly regarded for his proven ability to lead positive change in complex environments.
Prior to joining Southlake, Paul served as the President & CEO of London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), one of Canada’s leading academic hospitals, where he led the organization to achieve Exemplary Standing with Accreditation Canada for the first time in 12 years. Under his leadership, LHSC opened Ontario’s first publicly owned ambulatory surgery centre, as well as an Office of Health Equity through a new Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategy.
While working state-side as Senior Vice President at the not-for-profit system Trinity Health in Michigan, Paul led strategies that improved quality of care as well as enhanced patient and provider experience. Through strong engagement with physicians, nurses and other clinicians, he implemented successful initiatives at Trinity to serve more patients and improve health outcomes while promoting sustainability.
Paul has also held various other leadership roles in the health system including at Alberta Health Services, the University of Calgary’s Department of Family Medicine, and the Michigan Center for Clinical Systems Improvement.
His insights have been sought through Board appointments, most recently as President of the Board of Directors for Trinity Health Coordinated Care, a four state Accountable Care Organization. He has also served as a Board member of Chicago Mercy Hospital, the first chartered hospital in Chicago which focuses on serving disadvantaged populations.
Originally from Ontario, Paul obtained his medical degree from Western University after attending high school in Newmarket. He received his Master of Science degree from the Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the world-renowned Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
A father of four adult children, Paul is married to Dr. Kristen Woods, a physician executive and business coach. He enjoys staying active with his two German Shepherds, cycling, playing hockey and golf.
Charmaine van Schaik, MD
Chief of Staff
Charmaine van Schaik, MD trained in Paediatrics at McMaster University, after completing a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology and Master’s of Science in Kinesiology. Since joining Southlake in 2004, Charmaine has acted as a Physician Leader at Southlake in multiple capacities, as well as the previous Chief of Paediatrics and Medical Director of the Paediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) Satellite Clinic when it launched at Southlake in 2009. More recently, Charmaine served on Southlake’s COVID-19 Clinical Advisory Panel (CCAP) and is the Co-Medical Lead for Southlake’s COVID-19 Vaccination Committee, where she was instrumental in promoting community awareness through regular appearances in local media.
Charmaine advises Ontario’s Ministry of Health on pediatric cancer care as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at POGO and is a Lecturer with the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto.
Charmaine is also a very proud mother of five children.
Derek McNally
Executive Vice President, Clinical Services, Chief Operating Officer
Regional Vice President, Central Regional Cancer Program
A Registered Nurse, Derek McNally worked previously as Executive Vice President Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Executive at Niagara Health. In this role, he provided professional leadership to nurses and regulated health professionals across the organization as well as operational leadership for the Clinical Services Portfolio. Derek has had a leadership role in healthcare research, education, and administration for more than 30 years in both Academic Health Sciences Centers and large community hospitals. Prior to starting at Niagara Health in February 2014, Mr. McNally was the Executive Vice President Clinical Services at Markham Stouffville Hospital. He has held progressive leadership positions at Trillium Health Centre, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, The Credit Valley Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children.
Karyn Popovich
Executive Vice-President, Quality, Practice and Patient Experience and Chief Nursing Executive
Karyn Popovich is a Registered Nurse who has worked more than 35 years in healthcare. She has held a range of clinical leadership and executive positions, including Vice President, Chief Nurse, Executive Vice President and most recently, CEO of North York General Hospital, which she led during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Karyn is a passionate champion of patient and family-centred care and the pursuit of excellence in quality and operational performance.
She holds an undergraduate degree from York University, a Master of Health Studies from Athabasca University in Alberta and a Master Certificate in Risk Management and Business Performance from the Schulich School of Business at York University. Karyn has also completed the Advanced Health Leadership Program at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. She is a certified Health Services Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders (CCHL).
In addition to her work as healthcare executive, Karyn has served an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto’s Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing since 2009 and an Accreditation Canada surveyor since 2011.
Cristina Amaral
Vice President, People and Chief Human Resources Officer
Cristina is dedicated to supporting Southlake’s most valuable asset: its people. She brings more than 20 years of experience in the delivery of people strategies to drive organizational excellence. A champion of values-based leadership, Cristina believes in cultivating a strong, inclusive and supportive workplace culture where employees feel valued, empowered and inspired to deliver the best patient care and service.
Cristina holds a Masters of Industrial Relations from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Administrative and Commercial Studies from Western University. She has also completed a Leadership Certificate at the Smith School of Business. Cristina is a member of the Human Resources Professionals Association and the Society for Human Resources Management.
Prior to joining Southlake in 2023, Cristina has held several progressive human resources positions spanning the County of Elgin, St. Joseph’s Health Care London, and SickKids Hospital. Outside of Southlake, Cristina is dedicated to serving communities through various volunteer initiatives.
Tyler Chalk
Vice President, Strategy, Analytics and Communications
Prior to joining Southlake in 2018, Tyler was Director, Strategy and Optimization at SickKids. He has also served as Senior Manager, Quality and Performance at Mount Sinai Hospital and in a number of roles at the Ontario Ministry of Health.
He has an undergraduate degree in economics from McMaster University and did his masters at the London School of Economics in the UK. He has completed the Advanced Health Leadership Program at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto and the IDEAS Advanced Learning Program in quality improvement.
He has contributed to published research on the impact of hospital funding reform in Ontario and has spoken at national and international conferences on data-driven outcomes improvement, healthcare strategy, and the shift to value-based care.
Outside of Southlake, Tyler serves as a Peer Reviewer for the Healthcare Management Forum journal and on the Board of Directors of CHATS, a leading community and support services organization in York Region.
David Makary, MD
Vice President, Medical Affairs
David Makary, MD joined Southlake in 2012 as an Associate Staff Physician and has served in several Southlake departments, including: Emergency, Paediatric and General Internal Medicine.
During his time at Southlake, David has served as Chief of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, Primary Care Lead and Co-Chair of the Executive Steering Committee for the Northern York South Simcoe Ontario Health Team (OHT). He also has experience in quality improvement through his work establishing and growing the Southlake Academic Family Health Team’s Quality Improvement Plan. David is also a Lecturer for the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.
John Marshman
Vice President, Capital, Facilities and Business Development
John Marshman is the Vice President, Capital, Facilities and Business Development at Southlake Regional Health Centre where he oversees facilities operations while leading the planning and execution of Southlake’s extensive redevelopment agenda.
Prior to joining Southlake, John served as Associate Vice President of Facilities Operations for the William Osler Health System where he was accountable for Building Engineering and Maintenance, Environmental Services, Parking, Food Services, Materials Management and Public Safety for three healthcare campuses. John also supported the planning and execution of Osler’s multiple redevelopment projects.
After studies in engineering and music, John pursued parallel careers in consulting engineering as well as a performing Cellist. Drawn by the complexities of healthcare systems, John focused his consulting work on the design and implementation of hospital construction and renovation projects. In 2012, John joined the Brant Community Healthcare System where he served as Director of Facilities, Planning and Redevelopment before moving to William Osler in 2013.
John keeps active in the broader healthcare facilities community serving as the Vice Chair of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society (Ontario) and is a sought after speaker on topics from facilities operations and planning to procurement models. John has been the recipient of multiple awards including the 2020 ASHRAE Technology Award for Health Care Facilities.
Wendy Miller
Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer
Wendy joins Southlake from York University where she had been serving as Acting Assistant Vice President, Budgets and Asset Management. Prior to this role, she was the Assistant Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at York University.
Wendy is a senior finance executive with more than 25 years of experience. Prior to joining York University, she worked in the private sector, including as an Associate Partner and Executive Director of Public Sector Assurance at Ernst & Young.
Wendy is a Chartered Professional Account and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University.
Amir Soheili
Vice president, Digital Health & Diagnostics
A registered Medical Radiation Technologist (MRT), Amir holds a Bachelor’s degree in Radiation Sciences and Nuclear Medicine Technology; and a Masters degree in Executive Leadership. Amir has over 19 years of experience in the Healthcare sector, ranging from frontline to senior leadership roles. His career focus has been in creating shared visions, facilitating achievable yet ambitious goals and implementing meaningful change, as well as building high functioning teams and translating innovation in healthcare to better outcomes and value for patients and clients.
Through his career Amir has had the privilege of working as a frontline regulated healthcare provider as well as various progressive leadership roles. Prior to joining Southlake, Amir held the position of Associate Vice President for Clinical Support & Support Services at Mackenzie Health, where he led transformational changes in Diagnostic Imaging, Laboratory Medicine, Pharmacy and several other portfolios. Amir’s transformational approach and philosophy includes leveraging technology, automation and digital health, as well as the power of people and empathy to enable seamless, efficient, high quality and integrated care models for the healthcare of the future.