Centre Team

Sacha Agrawal is the Inclusion and Co-Production Advisor at CACHE.  He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and a clinician educator at CAMH, where he is the Education Lead for the Division of Schizophrenia. He completed medical school at the University of Toronto, his psychiatry residency and Master’s degree in health research methodology at McMaster University, and a fellowship in Public Psychiatry at Yale University. He works as a community psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, where he is a member of an assertive community treatment team.  

He enjoys spending time with his family, cooking and eating plant-based foods, and making music.

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Sasha Bagnall is the Education Coordinator at the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE). Sasha holds a Bachelor of Physical Health & Education from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE).

Sasha will be supporting the IPE curriculum by coordinating all of the IPE electives, both practice and University, as well as supporting foundational activities and working groups.

Previously, Sasha worked in the education sector with a passion for improving programming in sport and physical activity at the grassroots level with the goal of developing a lifelong love of being active in children. Following the opportunity to teach post secondary learners within the Health and Social Care sector in the United Kingdom, this broadened her scope and interest in health care and further education.  Prior to joining the CACHE team, Sasha held several administrative roles over the last 10 years at the University Health Network with Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.

In her spare time, Sasha enjoys trying out new recipes, gardening and getting her little one involved in as many varied sports and activities possible. 

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Sabrina Bartlett is the Manager, Curriculum & Education Innovation at the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE), University of Toronto. Sabrina joined the Centre in 2015 and holds a Masters of Education in Social Justice Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and has an interest in examining the social, economic, environmental, historical and cultural contexts in education. She is passionate about exploring critical race praxis and anti-oppressive frameworks/approaches to education practice in order to challenge inequitable power structures.

Sabrina manages the IPE Curriculum along with the BOOST (Building Optimal Outcomes From Successful Teamwork) Workshop. Her scope focuses on curriculum development, integration and expansion. Sabrina leads curriculum development and implementations as well as provides support to partners ensuring successful deliverables. Sabrina’s passions lie within teaching and learning, curriculum development and design, and student engagement.

In her spare time, you can find Sabrina playing with or walking her cute golden doodle, Stevie. She also loves camping, hiking and traveling to new parts of the globe.

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Elizabeth (Eli) Cadavid is the Education Coordinator, Communications & Community at the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE). Eli manages various projects related to the development and delivery of the Interprofessional Education (IPE) Curriculum at the University of Toronto. Eli also manages the Centre's communication processes, including engagement of our interprofessional Community of Practice, Membership program, and Patient/Client/Family program and initiatives. Eli Co-Chairs the IPE Patient Partner Advisory Committee which works with the Centre to enhance and foster patient/client/family partnerships and leadership. Eli is an enthusiastic, self-motivated, and goal-oriented individual with an interest in creating meaningful intersections, engagement, and partnership with all who connect with the Centre and its work. Eli’s interests and hobbies are writing, watching films, family activities and most importantly discovering new foods and tastes from all over the globe.

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Farah Friesen, MI, is Manager, Research & Knowledge Mobilization at the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE). She joined CACHE in a Research & Strategy Associate role beginning September 13, 2021, on the heels of a whirlwind (pandemic-focused) year as the Coordinator, Office of the CEO, Women's College Hospital and a prior 6.5-year tenure at the Centre for Faculty Development (CFD). At the CFD, Farah played a number of pivotal roles including as a knowledge broker, research coordinator, and program coordinator. Trained as a librarian (Master of Information), Farah has a passion for facilitating collaboration and informed decision-making through access to information and knowledge mobilization.

Farah’s main research interest is in critically examining traditional academic performance indicators, encouraging alternative perspectives on metrics, and working towards a broader (re)definition of research and educational impact. Farah will extend these efforts into supporting the Centre's research and scholarship agenda.

In her spare time, Farah enjoys working out, thinking about mind-body dualism, following philosophy and psychology debates on free will/determinism, and attempting to watch all the movies from Roger Ebert’s Great Movies List (there are close to 500 films and so far she has watched about 300 of them).

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Sylvia Langlois began her work in interprofessional education in 1996 as an Academy Associate, University of Toronto (UofT) and is currently the Centre’s Associate Director, Academics and Associate Professor, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, UofT. She has had the great pleasure of partnering with faculty from the 11 health profession programs to develop, implement, and evaluate the IPE curriculum. She is passionate about relationship-centred work and building partnerships and engagement with those with lived experience, students, and community organizations to foster student learning opportunities. She holds roles with Interprofessional Research.Global, an international group of researchers interested in exploring interprofessional education and collaborative practice. She is a Co-editor of the Journal of Research in Interprofessional Practice and Education.

Sylvia’s main research interest is engagement with individuals with lived experience, addressing the impact on themselves and student learning. She is interested in how students learn about and mobilize collaborative competencies in practice settings.

In her spare time, Sylvia enjoys cycling, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, skiing, and snowshoeing. In the spring, she is busy producing maple syrup and in the summer she enjoys beekeeping.

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Dean Lising is the Integration Lead, Collaborative Healthcare & Education, at CACHE, University of Toronto (UT).  He has appointments as an Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Therapy (PT), Temerty Faculty of Medicine, UT and Education Investigator 2, The Institute for Education Research, University Health Network (UHN). 

Dean has led interprofessional (IP) teams in professional practice, redevelopment, management roles. As Director, BOOST! and Co-Lead, VITAL programs at CACHE, Dean supports IP teams in communication/conflict, role clarity, psychological safety, well-being and virtual care. Dean’s research interests include collaborative learning, interprofessional competencies, quality improvement, student-led environments, simulation and technology.  Dean is faculty for the following courses, IDEAS Foundations, PT Practice within the Canadian Health Care Context, UT, TLC, Centre for Faculty Development, Professionalism, CVP, Michener Institute of Education, UHN.  He is also studying as a PhD Student in Health Professions Education Research at Wilson Centre, Institute for Health Policy Management and Evaluation, UT.   He has experience and continues to work as a PT in inpatient, outpatient and community settings

Outside of his full-time roles, Dean values his identity as a hockey dad, sports enthusiast, learner and still-practicing physiotherapist. He enjoys his work-life synergy with his three boys, dog and wife, Emily. He loves gaming/competition and you will find him outside of work at racquet courts, poker tables, hockey fantasy pools and many ice rinks.

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Mandy Lowe, MSc, BScOT, is the Strategic Advisor, Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE) at the University of Toronto (UT) and Senior Director of Clinical Education at the University Health Network (UHN). Mandy holds a status appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, UT and has been recognized for excellence in teaching by colleagues and students. Mandy is a longstanding member of CACHE, whose work has focused on collaborative interprofessional clinical education in practice settings, faculty and professional development, leadership and research.

As the Strategic Advisor at CACHE, Mandy works with others to advance strategic priorities of the Centre broadly while fostering collaborations within UHN, across the Toronto Academic Health Science Network and beyond. Mandy is also a faculty member in professional development programming of the Centre (Collaborative Change Leadership Program).

In her spare time, Mandy hopes to be found being outdoors, preferably amongst trees and rocks. Mandy enjoys spending time with family and friends, listening to great music, cooking   for others, and dabbling in artwork or other creative endeavours.

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Elizabeth McLaney joined the Centre as Associate Director, Workplace Learning in 2017, and is also the Director of Interprofessional & Academic Education Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Queen’s University, a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy (OT) from McMaster University, and a Master of Adult Education & Community Development from Ontario Institute for Secondary Education, University of Toronto (UofT). Elizabeth has a status appointment as Lecturer with the Department of Occupational Science & OT, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, UofT. Her work at the Centre focuses on system level leadership, workplace learning, engagement, and innovation at the practice/education interface. Elizabeth publishes/presents on topics such as: organizational core competencies for interprofessional team collaboration, advancing team-based learning, and optimizing the teacher and learner experience. She is passionate about team-based learning as a way to evolve culture, and about championing teams as being broadly inclusive (clinical and support service professions, regulated and unregulated professions, patients and families). She is an avid dog walker and book reader, and a work in progress when it comes to gardening.

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Fatima Mimoso is currently in the dual role of Administrative Coordinator for CACHE, and the Executive Director, Professional Development at the University Health Network (UHN). Fatima has been at UHN since 1994 (Allied Health; Professional Practice), and she has been a member of the CACHE team for over a decade. Fatima has a wealth of knowledge and experience with the inner workings of hospital and university systems, and she has a personal commitment to training and development to achieve individual and organizational growth. Fatima’s strengths include her incredible efficiency, her caring and compassion, and her excellent rapport with customers, managers, and colleagues. She is a key person behind the scenes ensuring the CACHE’s administrative needs, including physical site needs, financial support, managing and monitoring schedules, organizing and planning meetings and much more. Fatima takes pride in maintaining the efficient operation of our administrative space (even remotely!), and she acts as site lead when our Director is off-site. Fatima is passionate about supporting those she works for and with, and when not focusing on CACHE, you can find Fatima walking her dog or riding a motorcycle.

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Stella began her term as Director of the University of Toronto's (UofT) Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE) in 2021. She spent the previous eight years with the UofT's Centre for Faculty Development at St. Michael's Hospital where she served as Director of Research and co-developed the Teaching for Transformation program. Stella is passionate about the transformative potential of education, particularly critical reflection and critical pedagogies to foster collaborative, compassionate, and ethical health care and health science. This passion was sparked by challenges experienced as a pediatric audiologist in the public-school system, which motivated her to complete her PhD on how people learn and practice in the face of value-conflict and uncertainty. Stella is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Speech-Language Pathology and Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, and a Wilson Centre Scientist. Outside of work Stella enjoys marathons of the movie/TV series variety, adventures with her family including 2 dogs, and weightlifting.

For more on Stella's research and education programs, click here.

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Kathryn received her PhD in program evaluation from the University of Toronto in 2006. She has presented her work at various national and international conferences and has applied her program evaluation skills when working with numerous academic/clinical groups to facilitate and direct program evaluation efforts. She is an Associate Professor with the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto and was also the recipient of the 2013 AMS Phoenix Fellowship. She currently serves as the Senior Director of Academic Affairs at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.

She came to the Centre back in 2009 as an evaluation advisor. Her current role at the Centre is an Associate Director with a focus on supporting the development of Student-led Learning Environments (SLEs) and also serves as faculty in both the Centre’s Collaborative Change Leadership program and the Ehpic© program.

Outside of her professional life, Kathryn can be found teaching sea kayaking skills to fellow kayak enthusiasts or spending quality time with her daughter Rachel.

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Denise Ponte is the Administrative Coordinator, Research & Innovation at the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE). She joined CACHE in September 2022 as part of the Team Primary Care: Training for Transformation project, and has expanded her role to support CACHE operations and curriculum initiatives. Denise graduated from York University with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Health Science, and has spent most of her career coordinating grant projects and events in the nonprofit sector.

In her spare time, Denise enjoys travelling, exploring cultures through food, and spending time with friends and family.

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Paula started her career as an occupational therapist. Having worked across the healthcare system and in two provinces, she became interested in how the places where health professionals work shape how they could work, what they could know, and how they could learn. Following that interest, Paula pursued a PhD in Human and Organizational Systems. She also completed a Fellowship in Education Research at the Wilson Centre. She is now a Scientist with the Wilson Centre, MD Education, and The Institute for Education Research (TIER). Drawing from sociology of the professions, sociology of organizations, and sociology of expertise, Paula studies various attempts to change professional practice. Her research has focused on patient safety and patient engagement programs, but she has an emerging interest in health information technologies. Taken together, her research has implications for how people in healthcare organizations work and learn with one another and with patients. At the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE), Paula serves as an advisor around research and research strategy. When she is not reading, writing, or telling stories, Paula may be at the rock climbing gym getting humbled in the bouldering cave.

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Lynne Sinclair is a Physiotherapist and the Senior Consultant: Partnerships & Innovation at the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE), UT. She holds an Assistant Professor appointment with the Department of Physical Therapy, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at UT. Lynne was one of the founding leaders that helped create the Centre for IPE in 2009 and one of the original faculty developers of the ehpic™(Educating Health Professionals in Interprofessional Care) program in 2005.

Lynne is widely invited as a keynote speaker for educational events. She is passionate about supporting leaders and teams at the interface between practice and education. As the former Director of Education at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Lynne championed integrated care across twelve health disciplines. She has wide expertise and publications in quality improvement, patient safety, intersectoral communication, and team-based practice.

Lynne has been honoured with multiple awards for teaching and health care education excellence and from 2017-2024 she was appointed an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, The University of Queensland, Australia. Lynne also served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC) from 2018-2024. 

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As Executive Director, Education at UHN/Michener, Maria's work focuses on leading change in complex systems, health workforce innovations and continuing professional development. Maria has a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy (McGill), a Master of Science (Western University), and she is an Assistant Professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto.

Maria was the inaugural Director, Centre for Interprofessional Education (2009-2021). During COVID-19, Maria led the Provincial Education Task Force as Chair/Project Lead for COVIDcarelearning.ca, a platform that supported 16,000+ health care workers and was recently award the Ted Freedman Award for Innovation in Education. Her experiences in collaborative leadership for health system change contributed to the development of the Collaborative Change Leadership™ program, for which Maria is currently Co-Director. Maria's leadership has been recognized through the 3M Team Innovation Award, an earlier Ted Freedman Award, the Canadian Physiotherapy Association National Mentorship Award and the Institute of Medicine's Innovation Collaboratives.

Maria is passionate about women's and girls' health, family, community and sustaining her Italian cultural traditions into the next generation. 

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Belinda Vilhena, MEd, BSc, is CACHE's Director of Operations & Business Development, a joint role with the University Health Network's Conference Services and BMO Education and Conference Centre. Within her role, Belinda leads operations and strategic business planning, program/conference planning, partner/client engagement and liaises with education and practice centres across the globe. Belinda is the Co-Director of the ehpic™ program, and faculty for the Collaborative Change Leadership™ (CCL) and VITAL programs. She is a co-recipient of various awards including the 2019 Excellence in Interprofessional CPD Award (ehpic™ Program), 2021 Helen P. Batty Award for Excellence & Achievement in Faculty Development in the category of Innovation in Program Development and Design (VITAL Program) and 2022 Ivan Silver Innovation Award (CCL Program).

Belinda holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Biology and a Master of Education in Counselling Psychology from the University of Toronto. Belinda's prior experience includes over 18 years working in healthcare in the community and at the University Health Network, in the Emergency Department and in Patient Relations mediating patient and family concerns.

Belinda's favourite activities include travel, music and attending live concerts, professional sports, strength training and summer outdoor activities.

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Noor Yassein is the Curriculum and Communications Assistant at the Centre for Advancing Collaborative Healthcare & Education (CACHE). Noor holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Queen’s University, majoring in political science and minoring in English literature. Noor provides the IPE Curriculum with administrative support for various groups & programs, including the Health, Arts and Humanities Certificate Program, the Interfaculty Curriculum Committee (IFCC), the Student-Led Environment (SLE) Steering Committee, and the IPE Leader’s Network. Additionally, she provides administrative support for the IPE electives, including scheduling and coordination. She also assists the centre with communications needs, including the development of CACHE’s online magazine.

In her spare time, Noor enjoys reading & writing fiction of a variety of genres, being outside, and spending time with her friends and family.

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