The Department of Medicine is pleased to welcome, Dr. Leonie Herx who has recently joined the Division of Palliative Medicine as Divisional Chair.  Leonie is also the Connell Chair, and effective Aug 2018 has assumed the role of Clinical Director of Palliative Care at Providence Care.
 

Leonie Herx completed her MD-PhD program at the University of Calgary, followed by Family Medicine and Palliative Medicine Residency programs. 

Prior to moving to Kingston, Leonie worked for 10 years in Palliative Medicine at the University of Calgary, serving in numerous roles including Palliative Medicine Residency Director, and Medical Director of the Intensive Palliative Care Unit at Foothill’s Medical Centre.  Leonie has worked in both adult and pediatric palliative medicine, but now focuses her work on adults.  Leonie is excited to join the palliative care team in Kingston, and will focus her clinical work on providing consultative palliative care support at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre.

Leonie’s areas of interest are medical education, professional development, and advocacy for building palliative care capacity across the health care system. 

Leonie helped to co-found the new RCPSC Subspecialty in Palliative Medicine, serving on the Royal College (RC) Working Group in Palliative Medicine, developing the Pediatric stream of the Subspecialty, and is now the Vice-Chair of the RC Specialty Committee in Palliative Medicine and a member of the RC inaugural examination board for Palliative Medicine. 

Leonie has been on the Board of the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians (CSPCP) for 5 years, and is currently the President of the CSPCP (2018-2020 term). Through her work with CSPCP, Leonie is co-leading the development of a set of shared palliative care competencies for all postgraduate training programs (in conjunction with CFPC and RCPSC) with the goal of ensuring all residents will be able to provide a palliative approach to care for their patients, and is involved in consultative work with Health Canada and other national palliative care partners in developing a national framework and standards for palliative care in Canada through Bill C277.  

Leonie is mother to 6 wonderful children, loves adventure, and the outdoors. And while she is swapping the Canadian Rocky mountains for lakes, she is excited to learn Kingston’s water sports and explore the mountain bike trails!