Back to School - Haskayne School of Business - University of Calgary

Feature
Back to School
Photo by Marnie Burkhart
Dr. Cheri Nijssen-Jordan (MBA ’04) has a
resume that’s longer than most magazines. She
acts globally - participating in medical missions
to Thailand, Lesotho, Peru and Malawi and she
acts locally - volunteering with groups like Inn
from the Cold. Nijssen-Jordan sings alto in her
church choir, runs marathons, and helps chauffeur
her children to a host of extracurricular
activities.
And yet showing up for an 8:00 a.m.
interview – with only two hours of sleep the
night before – she turns down the offer of a
cup of coffee with a smile and a shrug of her
shoulders. “I don’t do coffee,” she says. Now
that’s impressive.
These days, Nijssen-Jordan is based out of
the Alberta Children’s Hospital with its primary
coloured-façade, sunny corridors and some of
the most advanced medical equipment in the
country. As a specialist in paediatric emergency
care – with 11 years as the emergency director
of this hospital – Nijssen-Jordan values the
culture of patient-focused care that she and her
colleagues have worked hard to create.
As the region’s telehealth medical director
from 2004 to 2007, she has set high standards
for facilitating Southern Albertans’ access to
health care. A Quality Improvement Physician
for Paediatrics, she makes patient safety a
priority. “Together with patients and their
families, we can make our health system more
efficient, more effective and much safer using
innovative techniques and teamwork,” she says.
Two years ago, Nijssen-Jordan’s medical
skills were being put to a much different test.
She was living in the impoverished country
of Malawi in south eastern Africa – where life
expectancy is 40 years of age, per capita income
is less than $200, and the HIV infection rate
runs at an alarming 15 per cent. Along with
her husband and the youngest two of their four
children, Nijssen-Jordan had taken a leave from
a fairly comfortable life in Calgary and traded it
in for a volunteer position with Lifeline Malawi.
It became the experience of a lifetime.
Founded by a Calgary family physician, Dr.
Chris Brooks, Lifeline Malawi seeks to improve
the health of Malawians – where a grave
shortage of doctors, medicines, and health
12 Alumni Connections