About

My interest in people’s stories and medicine led to a career as a geriatric psychiatrist for almost 40 years. As a Professor of Psychiatry, I trained health professionals with an agenda of inspiring them to care for the elderly who had mental health problems, a doubly stigmatized group. As I tried to “balance” a busy career and family life with twin boys, my search for mentors and coaches was unsuccessful. It was then that my coaching career began. I am committed to supporting my colleagues and learners in their quest to be successful professionals and academics and live their whole lives.

I started by creating transition-to-practice and career planning workshops, published meaningful work, and became a sought-after mentor and coach. Fulfilled people are happy at their jobs and engaged in their work, which was my goal. I rose in the academic system to serve in a variety of leadership roles at the university, nationally and internationally. To further support my work, I obtained a Master’s in Higher Education and an International Master’s in Health Leadership.

Over the past twenty years, I have led hundreds of leadership and career development programs and workshops locally, nationally, and internationally and coached a multitude of faculty and health professionals. When I decided to retire from psychiatric practice and spend more time coaching leaders, I pursued my certification in coaching, which further enriched my skills and expanded my client experience to other professional and business sectors.

My trajectory aligns with my core values. I like working with people who want to contribute and make a difference. I believe in people’s capacity to direct their stories and inherent resourcefulness. I support leaders as a confidential thinking partner dedicated to helping them reflect on their perspectives and possibilities, clarify their intentions and values, and then strategize on moving to action.

My Experience Includes Collaborations With

Academic Settings

Schulich Executive Education at York University
Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine
University of British Columbia Certificate Program in Organizational Coaching
Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Centre for Faculty Development at the University of Toronto
Divison of Developmental Paediatrics, Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Medical Education Associations

The Association of Medical Education of Europe
Canadian Association of Medical Education
The Association of Academic Psychiatry
The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
The American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada

Healthcare Organizations

Guyana Ministry of Health in partnership with Schulich Executive Education
Canadian Medical Association
Ontario Medical Association
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
Princess Margaret Hospital
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Executive Leadership Team
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Department of Medicine
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Testimonials

We sought a session from Susan to address the challenges our leadership dyads have in communicating and co-creating the way we would like, due to time and competing demands. Susan’s workshop resulted in us pausing to reconsider how we view conflict and communicate in challenging times. The exercise was a great way to experience and try to work through the different ways in which we prioritize mutual issues as an academic and clinical multidisciplinary team.

If you are looking to strengthen communication and foster collaborative problem-solving, consider Susan. She will help you identify creative approaches to common leadership team opportunities and challenges.

Mariam Abdurrahman MD, Chief of Psychiatry, St. Joseph’s Health Centre, Toronto

I would like to thank you for your excellent learning session with our clinical chairs yesterday. From the pre-session exercise through to the elegant management of our hybrid format, this was a masterclass in education and coaching.

Lynn Wilson MD, CCFP, FCFP, Vice Dean, Clinical and Faculty Affairs, Associate Vice Provost, Relations with Healthcare Institutions, University of Toronto

I decided to get coaching when I took on a new academic leadership position. My initial motivation was to devise strategies for dealing with difficult conversations. Over time, I grew in confidence in my new position. Susan helped me define my values and, in tethering myself to these values in the context of my new job, my confidence in executing strategic decisions grew. While not every day is wonderful, I am truly enjoying my new position and am excited for what is to come

Jennifer Gommerman PhD, Chair, Dept of Immunology, University of Toronto

I first reached out to Susan after reading one of her articles that fundamentally changed how I thought about leadership models in complex organizations. I invited her to speak at a leadership program at our hospital, and her session not only exceeded my already high expectations but also left a lasting impact on everyone who attended. The feedback from participants was universally enthusiastic.

When Susan shared that she was expanding her coaching practice, I was thrilled to be able to work with her one-on-one. Her coaching was transformative and gave me the clarity and confidence to pursue an exciting new career journey. I recommend Susan without hesitation to anyone seeking to elevate their leadership effectiveness and unlock new possibilities for personal and professional growth.

Jessica Kahn MD MPH, Senior Associate Dean, Clinical and Translation Research, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

At the time I met Susan, I had just undertaken a new step in my career. I was selected to be the Head of a District Hospital. I had never undertaken such a task and was having difficulty connecting with the staff. With Susan’s coaching I was able to connect with them, form working relationships with all the staff and get things done. Susan is easy to talk to and will help you help yourself by coming up with your own ways of getting things done. She is awesome, over all an amazing person to work with. So happy I was able to meet her.

Michael Veerasammy MD, Georgetown, Guyana

Your recent workshop session on Navigating Your Career was extremely well received! The evaluation results were overwhelmingly positive, with the majority of respondents awarding the highest possible score of 5 out of 5. Below are a few representative comments: “Amazing talk”, “This helped me reflect on my career trajectory and what my priorities are for the future”, “I found the workbook so helpful”, “I appreciated the breadth of what was covered and the applicability to all career stages”.

Anne Kawamura MD, Head of Developmental Paediatrics, University of Toronto

Head, Division of Developmental Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto

When I first contacted Susan, I wanted to plan my next career move. At the time, I was feeling confused and responsible for outcomes at work regardless of whether they were within my control. I was afraid of making mistakes and anticipated moving on. Susan helped me step back from the situation, see the big picture and better understand it. Once I understood what was holding me back, I was able to very rapidly let go of my previous concerns. As a result, I became more productive, creative and happier at work. I highly recommend Susan as a leadership coach. She is a kind and gentle person who genuinely appreciates your uniqueness and wants to help you bring out your best.

Anne-Julie Houle PhD, Research Advisor, a U15 University

a U15 University, Canada

I had been feeling directionless in my career for some time and trying to determine how to move forward with intention, to plan for the final phase of my career. Susan’s coaching was pivotal in allowing me to see patterns and understand what I valued most about my work. Over the course of our sessions together, I was able to make important decisions about where to invest my energy going forward. Susan was very thoughtful, professional, and created a safe space for reflection about balance, leadership and academic pursuits. I found her coaching to be highly effective in clarifying my career-related issues and would return for further sessions without hesitation.

Cindy Grief MD, Medical Director of Mental Health Services, Baycrest

Baycrest Health Sciences, Toronto

Dr. Susan Lieff is an incredibly helpful and insightful coach. When I met with Susan I was facing a significant challenge in my leadership position. I felt overwhelmed with the sheer number of operational tasks I had to confront and manage, and I felt that many of these were impeding my focus and ability to move forward on larger more visionary projects. Susan helped me work through an organized and structured way to look at all my different tasks and projects, so that I could create more time for the important and impactful projects I felt I was neglecting. Susan never does “the work” for you or tells you what to do, rather she is an amazing sounding board who listens and supportively challenges your approach, and helps you land on your own specific, actionable path forward to effect change. Her coaching me through this made a huge impact on my time management, and on how I still conceptualize tasks going forward. I would highly recommend anyone working through leadership challenges to connect with Susan for support!

LB MD, Division Head, Teaching Hospital

Teaching Hospital, Canada

Dr Susan Lieff has been affiliated with Schulich ExecEd for over a decade and is ranked among the top healthcare experts in this field. In her capacity of Program Director for several programs in our Healthcare practice, Susan has left an indelible mark on all those who came in contact with her. The programs that she led were complex in nature and were targeted to healthcare professionals such as physicians, senior hospital administrators, nurses, practitioners, and other administrative staff. These were innovative, relevant as well as impactful to both clients and participants. Susan brings her deep knowledge and experience in the industry in terms of design, coaching and facilitation as well as a vast network of practitioners that she embeds into her programs to ensure relevancy and ‘real world experience’. Susan takes a hands-on approach with her programs and deeply cares for her students. Through these programs she was able to upskill many individuals and get them ready to the next phase in their respective careers as well as transform various aspect of the healthcare industry.

Rami Mayer, Executive Director, Schulich Executive Education, York University

Schulich ExecEd, Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada