Home to seven regional programs and comprehensive health-care services, Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN, pronounced wren) is committed to meeting the current and emerging needs in Waterloo-Wellington and beyond. WRHN is redefining the health-care experience through collaboration and innovation, addressing barriers to access, advancing care delivery, and setting new standards in compassionate, empowered community-driven health care. At WRHN, every patient is at the centre of everything we do as we strive to improve lives, inspire healing, and build healthier, stronger communities.

By listening to patients and partners, we strive to connect communities to the right care, at the right place, and at the right time.

Position Vacancy: Professional Practice Admin

Work Type: Full Time (0.8 FTE) 60 hours biweekly

Position: Ethicist

Location: All WRHN Sites (Queen’s Blvd, Midtown and Chicopee Campuses)

Posting Period: August 19 2026- August 26 2026

Position Overview

Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) is seeking a Clinical and Organizational Ethicist to provide leadership for ethics across the organization. As a member of the Professional Practice team, the Clinical and Organizational Ethicist supports ethical decision-making in patient care, organizational planning, policy development, education, quality improvement, and research. Working collaboratively with patients, families, physicians, staff, learners, leaders, and community partners, the Clinical and Organizational Ethicist advances a culture where ethical reflection and values-based decision-making are embedded throughout the organization.

Key Responsibilities

- Provide clinical and organizational ethics consultation services to patients, families, staff, physicians, learners, leadership teams, and committees.
- Facilitate ethical analysis and decision-making regarding complex patient care, professional practice, resource allocation, and organizational issues.
- Support conflict resolution and consensus-building among diverse stakeholders.
- Provide ethics expertise to organizational committees, working groups, strategic initiatives, and quality improvement activities.
- Collaborate with leaders to identify, assess, and respond to emerging ethical issues and risks.
- Contribute to the development, implementation, and review of policies, procedures, guidelines, and frameworks that reflect WRHN's values and ethical standards.
- Leads the development, implementation, evaluation, and continuous improvement of WRHN's Clinical and Organizational Ethics Program.
- Supports ethical analysis and consultation related to end-of-life care, goals of care, substitute decision-making, MAID, consent and capacity, and other ethically complex care decisions.




- Applies an equity-informed and culturally safe lens to ethics consultation, policy development, education, and organizational decision-making.
- Supports organizational readiness for accreditation standards related to ethics, patient-centred care, and decision-making frameworks.
- Prepare reports and recommendations that support the ongoing evaluation and advancement of ethical practice across the organization
- Design, deliver, and evaluate ethics education for healthcare professionals, physicians, students, leaders, patients, and families.
- Develop practical ethics resources, tools, and decision-support frameworks to strengthen ethical practice.
- Lead ethics rounds, case reviews, workshops, and presentations.
- Develops and monitors metrics to evaluate ethics consultation services, education initiatives, and overall ethics program impact, and provides regular reports to organizational leadership.
- Support research, quality improvement, and innovation initiatives by providing ethics expertise and consultation.
- Contribute to bioethics scholarship through research, presentations, publications, and knowledge translation activities. Remain current on emerging ethical issues, healthcare legislation, accreditation standards, and leading practices relevant to healthcare ethics.

Qualifications

- Master's degree or doctoral degree in Bioethics or a related discipline with a concentration in bioethics, required.
- Demonstrated ability to influence decision-making at senior leadership, physician leadership, and board/committee levels.
- Strong analytical, ethical reasoning, facilitation, mediation, and conflict-resolution skills.
- Excellent communication, presentation, education, and relationship-building abilities.
- Proven ability to work effectively with interdisciplinary teams and diverse stakeholder groups.
- Solid organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a complex healthcare environment.
- Experience in acute care, community health, mental health, or integrated healthcare systems.
- Experience serving on a Research Ethics Board or participating in research ethics review processes preferred.
- Experience in policy development, organizational ethics, and healthcare quality improvement.
- Demonstrated record of ethics-related scholarship, publications, presentations,



or research activities.
- Certification in healthcare ethics or completion of a recognized clinical ethics fellowship considered an asset.
- Experience supervising ethics learners, students, or fellows. Experience leading or evaluating ethics programs in healthcare organizations preferred.

Application Instructions: EMPLOYEES OF WRHN MIDTOWN & CHICOPEE ARE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT THEIR APPLICATION ELECTRONICALLY USING INFOR.

Attention Registered Nurses: Please provide a copy of your resume when applying to the position. Applications received without this information may not be considered.

Attention UNIFOR Members: Effective June 1, 2013, applications for postings outside a candidate’s home unit/department will not be considered if no résumé has been provided.

Where applicable, as per the collective agreement, the internal recruitment process will be completed prior to the consideration of external applications.

WRHN is committed to fair and equitable employment and in our recruitment and selection practices. We strongly believe in inclusion and diversity within our organization, and welcome all applicants including, but not limited to racialized communities, all religions and ethnicities, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ2S+ persons, Indigenous people, and all others who may contribute to the further diversification of our Hospital community. We are committed to providing and fostering a respectful workplace for all employees, free from violence and harassment.

Accommodations are available during all stages of the recruitment process in accordance with the Human Rights Code. WRHN is committed to complying with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) to provide an inclusive, barrier free workplace. We will accommodate the accessibility needs of individuals with disabilities to support participation in all aspects of the recruitment process. Should you require this accommodation, please contact Human Resources.

International Applicants

If you are seeking employment on a temporary work or study permit we recommend reviewing work permit restrictions as it applies to healthcare organizations in Canada. Individuals holding a work or study permit seeking employment in the healthcare sector may be required to complete additional steps in the process. This may also apply to current employees seeking renewal of their work permits.

It is the accountability of the applicant and/or employee to ensure they are adhering to their specific work permit restrictions.

Attention Registered Nurses: Please provide a copy of your resume when applying to the position. Applications received without this information may not be considered.

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