Staff
Marlies van Dijk
604-668-8228
Marlies joined the Council as a Surgical Quality Leader, in February 2011, working to improve the quality of surgical care through Clinical Care Management and the BC Collaborative of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP).
She began her career in health care as a registered nurse in critical care, and received a Masters of Science in Community Health Sciences, from the University of Calgary. She became passionate about community health after working with at risk youth and sex trade workers during her thesis research.
After spending time working with not-for-profit agencies, she began advocacy work in influencing the City of Calgary to enact smoke free public spaces.
In 2005, Marlies played a significant role in establishing the Western Node of Safer Health care Now! She was the leader for Western Canada, and together with her team led three interprovincial Breakthrough Series Collaboratives, three national Checklist Action Series, and was the national intervention lead for preventing surgical site infections. She is involved with six acute care hospitals across the country, who are using positive deviance to reduce hospital acquired infections. She has established key relationships with each of the Western Quality Organizations to secure a strong Safer Healthcare Now! presence.
Given her extensive work in the surgical area, she is excited to take on a new provincial role with the Council to improve surgical safety in British Columbia.
