MCC Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Maureen Topps, announces retirement

Dr. Maureen Topps, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer has announced that she will retire at the end of 2023. Dr. Topps has led the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) since October 2018.

Under Dr. Topps’s leadership, the MCC made important and significant shifts to continue delivering on its vision of excellence in medical assessment in Canada, from the inclusion of emerging competencies to changes to assessment delivery. Highlights of Dr. Topps’s tenure include emerging from a pandemic as a leaner and more efficient organization, one that boasts a new skills-based governance structure.

In 2020, at the onset of COVID-19, the MCC team navigated the complex process of reimagining the way it operated, which led the to the introduction of remote proctoring for the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCCQE) Part I, allowing candidates to continue progressing along their route to licensure despite an international pandemic.

Another notable example of the organization’s successful work over the five years includes the growth of the MCC 360 feedback program. The medical profession has seen an increasing focus on continuing professional development, accountability in medical care and the extension of assessment beyond the route to licensure. Since introducing MCC 360 in 2019, the MCC has supported thousands of users, from health care organizations to individual physicians all over Canada, by providing constructive insight into their behaviour and the perceptions and experiences of the patients and professionals that they interact with.

In 2018 and 2019, the MCC rolled out a complement of new tools, our preparatory products, to help candidates better prepare for MCC assessments. This offer has grown over the past years and regularly receives positive feedback from candidates.

Most recently, Dr. Topps initiated several grant proposals with the various government departments that have led to funded projects that will define the future direction of the MCC and improve access to its assessments and services for Canadian medical graduates, as well as for international medical graduates (IMGs) and internationally educated physicians. Grant funding will also be used to create the National Registry of Physicians, the first nationally integrated source of data on physicians in Canada. Many of these projects highlight the importance and benefits of close collaboration with the MCC’s interested parties and partners in health care.

Dr. Topps has also ensured the MCC mandate and our readiness to contribute to national solutions are understood in discussions with several government departments and partners on the ongoing health human resource crisis.

A national search to find a successor has been launched. Information about this opportunity can be found here.