He May Not See Himself as 'A Natural Leader,' But Dr. Daniel Li has a Knack for Leading the Parade

It's a big job, one requiring ongoing engagement with the Edmonton region's 240 psychiatrists

1 December 2018

It's a big job, one requiring ongoing engagement with the Edmonton region's 240 psychiatrists and hundreds of allied professionals at dozens of diverse clinical sites.

As Alberta Health Services' newly named Interim Zone Clinical Department Head - Addiction and Mental Health, Dr. Daniel Li has his hands full.

Besides collaborating with medical staff across the Zone, he is responsible for overseeing the department's strategic direction, its operational planning, evaluation and quality management functions.

Ironically, it wasn't until his final year of medical school at the University of Alberta that the avid skier, cyclist and father of two even considered a career in Psychiatry, let alone a key leadership role.

"I thought I'd go into Internal Medicine, and I had preceptors who were trying to steer me into Obstetrics or Surgery. But I just couldn't see myself doing those things," he says, during a wide-ranging interview at his downtown Edmonton office.

"It wasn't until I asked myself what I'd enjoy doing in 20 or 30 years, and what I could grow old with, that Psychiatry leapt off the page for me," he says. "I really wanted to be able to journey alongside people in their places of need, as opposed to only treating them for their diabetes or their blood pressure or whatever."

Once he decided on his career path, he says, he had no shortage of great mentors. He rattles off a list of names - Dr. Pierre Flor-Henry, Dr. Roger Bland, Dr. Bernard Sowa, Dr. Lorne Warneke, Dr. Glen Baker, Dr. Allan Gordon, Dr. Klaus Gendemann, Dr. P.J. White and Dr. Richard Hibbard - all of whom, he says, played pivotal roles in shaping his views and guiding his Residency training, which he completed in 2001.

"They treated their patients with such dignity, and displayed such great interest not only in their patients' lives, but in the clinical Neuroscience of Psychopathology," he says.

"Looking back, I think I was drawn to both the art and the science of Psychiatry. It wasn't just the frontier of Neuroscience that intrigued me, but the importance of being adept at connecting with patients in an artful way."

Over the past decade and a half, Dr. Li has served in a string of key leadership roles at Alberta Hospital Edmonton (AHE), while sharing his knowledge and experience with new generations of Residents, as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry.

In addition to his front-line clinical work, he has served as President of AHE's Medical Staff Association, as Acting Medical Director and Acting Clinical Director. He has also received a string of awards, including Physician of the Year (from the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association), the Preceptor Excellence Award (from the Medical Students' Association), and the Alberta Medical Association's 2017 Award for Compassionate Service.

More recently, he was named Co-Chair of a committee overseeing plans for a Zone-wide Day Hospital at AHE - a key element of the hospital's Ambition 2023 Plan. Despite his extensive resume, however, Dr. Li doesn't see himself as a natural leader. In fact, he admits to being pretty shy as a young physician.

"I've had to push myself, and certainly, leadership roles don't come naturally to me at all," he says. "But when I've been put in a position to lead, I've always found it to be a privilege. I see it as a stewardship, being called into roles of leadership, and to serve on behalf of my colleagues and physician teams."

One of the most high-profile public challenges Dr. Li had to face during his tenure at AHE was a highly contentious plan - unveiled in 2009 by then-AHS President and CEO Stephen Duckett - to close hundreds of hospital beds province-wide, including nearly 250 beds at AHE.

It was akin to a nuclear explosion. Duckett's controversial plan triggered a media firestorm, sharp criticism from the opposition parties in the provincial Legislature, and a fierce backlash throughout the province's healthcare system.

Less than 18 months after he arrived, in November of 2010, Duckett and AHS mutually parted ways and his plan was shelved.

"That whole episode was an earthquake and a period of intense anxiety for the medical staff and the entire hospital staff," recalls Dr. Li.

"I was one of the front-line psychiatrists at Alberta Hospital but I was also President of the Medical Staff Association, so I had a duty to represent my colleagues well during that crisis. In response, we learned a lot about coming together, putting together a vision, and coming up with creative grassroots solutions. We had to take our anxiety and even a mistrust of leadership, and find a way to collaborate and engage each other. Through that, I learned a lot of lessons about leadership."

Although tensions sometimes ran high, Dr. Li is proud of the fact that discussions remained productive and civil.

"What I'm so happy about is that we took the high road throughout that process. We did not de-edify our leaders and we found that we were able to develop a good partnership between the administration and the physicians. We were just very fortunate that our message was heard when we shared it in a respectful way, and that it made sense in terms of the population's needs."

The threat to AHE's future also served to unify clinicians from around the region who recognized the critical role the hospital has long played in meeting the complex needs of long-term mental health patients.

"One of the 'aha' moments for me was just seeing the amount of support we had from the other sites, and a recognition of the importance of the services we offered for the severe and persistently mentally ill. It was really gratifying to watch how our colleagues rallied around us from all the different sites. That's something I'll never forget, and it really shaped how I see the whole Edmonton Zone."

It's clear that experience also influenced how Dr. Li sees his new role at AHS, and how he intends to approach it.

"I have a fervent belief in the ability and excellence of the people and the teams we have around the Zone. There is just so much diversity and creativity here," he says.

"So as I see it, the first step is spend the time to listen and to allow a system of engagement to take place, so we become a culture where we can continue to foster listening, engagement, and collaboration that honours the unique DNA of each of the sites. Once we do that, and bring all of that together, we'll be able to come up with the grassroots solutions we need to help solve more Zone-wide strategic issues."