Catherine (Kate) O’Donnell will be the new Executive Director of BC Health Regulators (BCHR) effective December 27, 2023. In this role, Kate will oversee the day-to-day management of BCHR and its initiatives. Her leadership supports collaboration among B.C.’s health profession regulatory colleges.

Kate has extensive strategic and project management experience in the health care, finance, and engineering sectors. Since 2018, as the PCN Director of the North Shore Division of Family Practice, Kate has led the strategic development of a customized primary care network (PCN) for three communities in the Lower Mainland, where she has worked with government, regional health leadership, Indigenous groups, family physicians, and community organizations.

Kate also oversaw other B.C. health-care initiatives aimed at improving health outcomes on Vancouver Island, including an online platform to connect patients with family physicians, and initiatives to improve patient flow at a regional hospital. Prior to this, Kate was a program manager for engineering and financial organizations in the U.K.

In designing and delivering health services in B.C., Kate strives to ensure that initiatives integrate and embed anti-racism, equity and social accountability principles and practices, and health services are culturally safe and responsive to the needs of the communities.

As BCHR’s Executive Director, Kate will advance key BCHR initiatives, including supporting the health profession regulatory colleges’ transition to the Health Professions and Occupations Act, and continued progress with Indigenous cultural safety, cultural humility, and anti-racism initiatives. Kate will be a key liaison with the Ministry of Health, the First Nations Health Authority and other Indigenous partners, as well as regional health authorities, health practitioner associations, and organizations involved in improving health-care delivery in B.C.

About BC Health Regulators

BCHR brings together all 16 British Columbia health profession regulators—known as health profession regulatory colleges—providing an administrative and organizational foundation for collaboration among the colleges.