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Back to SearchOttawa, Canada — CHEO’s President and CEO Alex Munter has received two prestigious local awards for his leadership through the pandemic and his advocacy to improve health care for kids:
- He was named Communicator of the Year by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) – Ottawa chapter.
- The Rotary Club of West Ottawa presented him with the Paul Harris Award, named after the founder of the Rotary movement.
Both awards point to his exceptional stewardship and leadership of CHEO through the pandemic. They also laud him for effectively and tirelessly making the case to right-size Canada’s pediatric health system.
“To know Alex Munter is to know that he always wants what is best for children and youth. He works tirelessly to ensure that children can live their best lives,” says Jo-Anne Poirier, the Chair of CHEO’s Board of Directors. “Alex’s efforts have led to historic investments in our pediatric health system and these will be felt by generations to come.”
Throughout the pandemic, Munter’s leadership encouraged and enabled many innovative firsts to ensure kids in CHEO’s care continued to receive care, including opening Canada’s first pediatric virtual emergency service and Canada’s first drive-thru clinic for diabetes. His leadership also extended into the community, working with partners of the Kids Come First Health Team, which launched innovative first-in-Canada programs in pediatric homecare, childhood vaccination, and mental health and addiction.
And during last year’s viral surge that overwhelmed the pediatric care system, Munter enabled leadership to act quickly to find solutions so Team CHEO could provide the emergency, critical and acute care the community needed. This also included working with the provincial government to ensure CHEO had the resources needed to meet these goals. For example, this leadership led to doubling the number of funded intensive care beds at CHEO, including the creation of an intermediate care unit.
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Media contact
media@cheo.on.ca
About CHEO
Based in Canada’s capital, CHEO is a globally renowned health institution with a mission to provide exceptional care and support to children, youth and their families. Opening our doors in 1974, we offer a full range of specialized pediatric care and services to children from eastern and northern Ontario, western Quebec and Nunavut. Our site is home to a hospital, a children’s treatment centre, a school, a research institute, and is affiliated with the University of Ottawa as an academic health science centre. Named Canada’s best health-care employer by Forbes in 2024 and 2025, we are home to more than 6,500 staff, clinicians, scientists and researchers, as well as volunteers – all of whom work together to help children and youth achieve their best lives.