CancerCare Manitoba CEO stepping down once contract ends in 2025

CancerCare Manitoba has started looking for a new president and CEO, with the head of the agency — which has faced recent criticism from doctors — saying she will step down when her contract expires next year. 

In a letter to staff on Thursday, Dr. Sri Navaratnam confirmed the third-party firm MNP will start an international search to replace her at CancerCare Manitoba "to ensure the best-fitting CEO for the years to come." 

However, her decision to leave "was not made now," Navaratnam told CBC on Friday. 

She has led CancerCare Manitoba since January 2014, when she signed an initial five-year contract that was extended in 2018 for another five years, and again in June 2023 until the end of 2025. 

"The decision was made when I extended for two years," said Navaratnam. "I didn't think I wanted to do more than that."

She said she usually aims to stay in a job for around eight to 10 years, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, "some of those priorities that I wanted to put in place was delayed," so she requested a two-year extension in 2023.

Navaratnam says during her time as CEO of the provincial agency, which is mandated to lead cancer care services in the province, she's proud of the capital projects that have been started, including overseeing a $27-million expansion of CancerCare's research institute.

She's also proud of initiatives like CancerCare's "Hope and Healing" program, which offers supportive services to cancer patients from the time of diagnosis, she said.

However, the agency has also been the focus of recent criticism from Doctors Manitoba.

In September, the advocacy organization said it had heard from "a number of physicians raising serious concerns" about CancerCare Manitoba.

Those included concerns about stress, burnout, poor working environment, a lack of trust and a fear of reprisal from leadership for raising concerns in the workplace, all leading to "significant challenges with physician recruitment and retention," Doctors Manitoba said in September.

The group sent a letter that month to all members who provide medical services at CancerCare Manitoba in Winnipeg, in what it said was an effort to get a better understanding of the issues and how widespread they are.

Navaratnam said she took that criticism seriously.

"We all have to reflect and think about whether we could have done it differently, which I definitely did — not just because of the Doctors Manitoba letter," she told CBC on Friday.

"Every step of the way, when there are some comments [that come], I sit down and reflect about it."

Navaratnam said medical staff cannot do their best for their patients if they're unhappy or stressed, and she doesn't want patients worrying about the well-being of staff instead of focusing on their own health. 

"We all will be working collaboratively to get the best for our patients. That's our goal. That's what CancerCare Manitoba is all about," Navaratnam said. 

She said she's looking for new opportunities after her CancerCare contract ends next year, which could be in Manitoba or beyond, and may include going back to treating patients as a doctor.

"At core, I am a physician, I'm an oncologist, so that I would do," she said.