Article content
Patient safety and continuing to build a strong team are top of mind for Brant Community Healthcare System (BCHS)’s new chief of staff and VP of medical and academic affairs.
Article content
Dr. Andrew Burkett is a respirologist and has been chief and medical director of internal medicine at BCHS since October 2023, but an unusual path got him there.
Article content
Burkett was working as a computer programmer when he volunteered at a hospital for a couple of weeks while travelling in Fiji with friends.
Although he was “basically handing out blankets,” that experience shifted his trajectory.
When he returned to Ireland, where he was living, he applied to medical school, which had more in common with computer programming than some might think.
“The through thread is problem solving. I think good computer programmers don’t get frustrated, and they work at a problem until they solve it. I think good doctors do too. There’s an obsession about the getting it right that, so weirdly it’s not as different a job as people think,” he told The Hamilton Spectator.
Article content
Burkett took over the chief of staff role on Feb. 9 from Dr. Anirudh (Rudy) Goel, who left at the end of 2025 and set the Brantford General Hospital and Willett Urgent Care Centre in Paris up for success with its medical advisory council.
“Across the board, every medical leader on there is very focused on quality care, safe care, and really wants to see Brantford become a world-class centre,” Burkett said.
As chief of staff, he’s tasked with ensuring quality of care and patient safety. The other part of his role involves growing the academic side of the hospital, including the partnership with Hamilton and other academic groups, he said.
Bringing more learners through can increase care, but also helps with recruitment, one of the top challenges he’s identified.
“I want very good docs in Brantford and I want the docs who are there to feel that they have a fulfilling career and are happy and can make a difference for the population,” he said.
Celeste Percy-Beauregard, Local Journalism Initiative reporter at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
Share this article in your social network
