Alum Lisa Alcia shares how a cold call put her on a path to becoming a health care executive

As a health care executive, Lisa Alcia (BSc 1989 IHMPE) has helped shape health care in the Greater Toronto Area for more than 20 years. She’s held senior leadership positions at the University Health Network (UHN), Queen Square Doctors, Holland Christian Homes, and Villa Colombo Toronto. And it all began with a cold call.

Initially, Alcia, like many of her classmates, wanted to become a doctor. But when she realized she didn’t have “the emotional makeup for medicine,” she went looking for alternatives. A friend pursuing a doctoral degree in immunology shared a brochure for a postgraduate program in health administration, now known as the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME). Intrigued, Alcia reached out to then associate professor and program director Ron McQueen to learn more.

“He was really inspirational,” recalls Alcia. McQueen recognized her potential and helped arrange a one-year placement for her at the Queensway General Hospital to expose her to the realities of working in health administration. A year later, she applied and was accepted at IHPME. “Ron McQueen forged a path for me,” says Alcia.

A perfect fit

“He was really inspirational,” recalls Alcia. McQueen recognized her potential and helped arrange a one-year placement for her at the Queensway General Hospital to expose her to the realities of working in health administration. One year later, she was accepted at IHPME. 

Those professors and classmates went on to become her colleagues as she built a career in health care administration, which includes 18 years as the Executive Director and Chief Research Operations Officer for UHN.

Alcia switched from working in Toronto’s biggest hospitals to reshaping elder care after witnessing the health care system from a different perspective. When her mother, a retired CEO with a “fill-the-room type of personality,” was diagnosed with cancer, Alcia witnessed the challenges and gaps in health care. After her mother passed away, Alcia made it her mission to make a change. “I had to get close to the frontline and try to change care as a whole,” she says.

Filling a gap

Now, as Chief Executive Officer of two cultural ethnic seniors’ organizations, she is getting to do just that. “It’s a chance again to throw my experience and skills into an aspect of health care where there’s a strong need,” she says, sharing that her hope is to develop long-term care professionals and find new ways to help seniors age and die gracefully.

Alcia graduated from IHPME in 1989 and remains connected to her fellow alumni. She encourages current and prospective IHPME students to be courageous. “You’ve got to be brave. You’ve got to be bold,” she says, recalling that one cold call opened a world of possibility for her. “Don’t think anybody’s too important that they wouldn’t meet with you. Just go knock and present yourself. You never know what could happen.”