President and CEO of CIUSSS West-Central Montreal, Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg has been named by Industry Era magazine as one of the 10 most inspiring CEOs of 2021.

According to an article in the US-based magazine, Dr. Rosenberg was recognized for his strides in improving healthcare and social services through the use of artificial intelligence and the development of OROT, the CIUSSS’s connected health innovation hub.

Both of these achievements are part of an overall strategy that Dr. Rosenberg has introduced over the past several years, not only to make the most of digital technology, but to jump-start the process of developing new digital tools.

The overall goal is to use digital innovation to enhance user-centred care and to provide “Care Everywhere” – that is, delivering care in whichever setting is safest, most convenient and most comfortable for the patient.

In Dr. Rosenberg’s vision, digital technology does not replace the human touch. Rather, it enables professionals to perform their work more efficiently, thereby allowing more time to be devoted to the personal aspects of care.

Industry Era praises Dr. Rosenberg’s “unique perspective, dedication and revolutionary work in healthcare, which have positioned him as a pace-setting leader.” As well, it notes his commitment to “excellence, attention to detail, accountability, integrity and simplicity.”

“Doing the right thing, instead of following the exigencies of the crowd, has been the hallmark of my career,” Dr. Rosenberg says in the article. “For me, everything starts with the clarification of ‘why’. This notion is fundamental and guides every challenge upon which I have embarked.”

Among the highlights of Dr. Rosenberg’s leadership in the CIUSSS:

• The launch of OROT, a connected health innovation hub that brings together private-sector entrepreneurs and healthcare experts to create new tools and products to improve the lives of healthcare users and in response to their needs.
• Development of a Command Centre, a digital nerve centre and clearinghouse for data about all aspects of the CIUSSS’s activities. Administrators can now respond more effectively to rapidly changing conditions at various CIUSSS sites, while preventing bottlenecks in the movement of patients through their healthcare trajectory.
• Prompt and effective deployment of telehealth from early 2020 to the present to ensure continuity of support for users of healthcare and social services while at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Introduction of HoloLens technology and other innovative tools to improve many aspects of treatment and care.
• Appointment of a Chief Digital Health Officer, a relatively uncommon position in Quebec’s public healthcare system.

Dr. Rosenberg has been president and CEO since April 2015, when CIUSSS West-Central Montreal came into existence. He was appointed executive director of the JGH in 2013 and he served from 2007 to 2013 as the hospital’s chief of surgical services.

Before coming to the JGH, Dr. Rosenberg earned a Master’s degree and a doctorate in experimental surgery from McGill University, followed by post-doctoral studies and a surgical fellowship in transplantation at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Rosenberg became director of the Multi-Organ Transplant Programme at the Montreal General Hospital, inaugurating McGill’s Pancreas Transplant Programme and leading the team that performed the first successful liver transplant at McGill.

In addition, Dr. Rosenberg’s growing interest in systems and organizations motivated him to take the somewhat unconventional step of enrolling at the University of Waterloo from 2004 to 2006, where he earned a Master’s of Engineering degree, which at the time was the equivalent of an MBA for scientists and engineers.