Please find below the descriptions and past winners. Children's Healthcare Canada issues a call for Leadership Award nominations each spring.
Have questions about the Leadership Awards program or nomination process?
Contact us at conference@childrenshealthcarecanada.ca.
Patient & Family Leadership Award
The Children’s Healthcare Canada Award for Patient & Family Leadership was created to recognize outstanding leadership by a patient (current or former), parent, or caregiver who has served to improve the patient and family experience for those accessing pediatric health care in Canada.
This award will be presented to an individual who has exemplified courage, commitment, and resilience in promoting systemic change at a local, regional, and/or national levels.
2022 Award Winner - Gunjan Seth
For Gunjan, being a caregiver advocate is about creating system changes that provide families of kids with disabilities —primarily immigrants, refugees, and newcomers to Canada—the support they need to navigate the health system. “For the past 8 years at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Gunjan has played a key role in co-designing and co-facilitating many family-support events, creating an environment where families feel safe, included, respected, and comfortable to share their questions, hopes, challenges and successes. As an active parent facilitator of the Parent Support Network and Family Navigation Hub, Gunjan co-designed and co-facilitated a mental health support webinar for newcomer families, and regularly co-facilitates workshops on disability funding access. Notably, Gunjan was on the steering committee that developed “Project Inclusion”, a series of online learning modules designed to help Ontario’s educators provide students with inclusion and accommodation at school.
| Past Award Winners |
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2022 - Gunjan Seth 2021 - Rachel Martens 2020 - Katie Griffin 2019 - Beth Dangerfield 2018 - Frank Gavin |
Leadership in Online Media Award
The Children’s Healthcare Canada Award for Leadership in Online Media was created in light of the evolving role of various media, including, but not limited to traditional print, radio, or television outlets, to include of all types of reporting and recognize outstanding journalism, reporting, editorial, or blogging that
- increase awareness of and promote action on Canadian child and youth health issues
- increase awareness of and support for the role our members play in improving the health of and healthcare for children and youth across the country
- enable and foster support for the best healthcare for Canada’s children and youth.
In addition to mainstream media stories, this award is now open to stories, posts, and campaigns run on social media platforms that have made a difference the past year, bringing reliable child health issues to attention of the public in more novel ways.
2022 Award Winner- Dr. Ripduman Minhas
Dr. Minhas is a Toronto-based developmental pediatrician, advocate and social media influencer who has worked tirelessly across multiple platforms to raise public awareness of children’s health equity issues throughout the pandemic. With his keen understanding of the systemic inequities encountered by families based on race or developmental disability, Minhas has used his voice to raise awareness, educate and enact meaningful change through social media.
| Past Award Winners |
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2022 - Dr. Ripudaman Singh Minhas 2021 - Mr. Harold Gagné 2020 - Andre Picard, Globe and Mail 2019 - Danny Lemieux, RadioCanada 2018 - Su-Ling Goh, Global News |
Individual Leadership Award
Through the Children’s Healthcare Canada Award for Individual Leadership, we recognize outstanding leadership by an individual who has dedicated their career to improving the health and well-being of children and youth in Canada through health promotion, policy initiatives and/or increased public awareness.
This award will be presented to an individual who has exemplified leadership, creativity, and initiative in promoting positive change and long-term improvement for the health and well-being of children and youth.
2022 Winner- Dr. Verónica Schiariti
Our 2022 award winner is Dr. Verónica Schiariti for her contributions to the field of childhood disability in Canada and globally. She has dedicated her career to improving the health, functioning, and well-being of children with disabilities in Canada through inclusive health initiatives, innovative educational e-tools, and disability awareness campaigns. Her national and global educational initiatives have positively impacted clinical practices, research, and service provision in Canada and in different countries.
As part of her doctoral thesis, she developed the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for children with cerebral palsy - in collaboration with the WHO Family of International Classifications center.
If you have not read her recently published paper in the The Lancet: Child & Adolescent Health entitled Every Child Matters: yesterday, today, and tomorrow, we highly recommend it. The paper advocates for inclusive actions and active participation of all children in the global health agenda, incorporating the voices of children from different minorities - such as Indigenous children, migrant children, and children with disabilities.
Congratulations Dr. Schiariti
| Past Award Winners |
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2022 - Dr. Verónica Schiariti 2021 - Dr. Steven Miller 2020 - Brynn Boback-Lane, President and CEO of Jim Pattison Children's Hospital Foundation 2019 - Dr. Jean-Yves Frappier; Director, Department of Paediatrics, University of Montreal and the CHU Sainte-Justine 2018 - Dr. Samina Ali, Emergency Physician, Stollery Children’s Hospital 2017 - Dr. Christine Chambers; Research Chair (Tier 1) in Children’s Pain and Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology & Neuroscience, Dalhousie University 2017 - Dr. Peter Rosenbaum; Professor of Paediatrics at McMaster University, Co-Founder of CanChild 2016 - Dr. Shoo Lee; Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health 2015 - Dr. Denis Daneman, Paediatrician-in-Chief at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Chair of the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Toronto 2014 - Sheila Jarvis, President & CEO, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital 2013 - Anne McGuire, Former President & CEO, IWK Health Centre 2012 - Tracy Wrong & Darlene Boliver 2011 - Dr. Rick Cooper 2010 - Dr. Gerarda Cronin |
Organizational Leadership Award
The Children’s Healthcare Canada Award for Organizational Leadership recognizes the leadership of an organization, a foundation, or a corporation that enables the best healthcare for Canada’s children and youth. The recipient organization has demonstrated leadership to inspire change and innovation with a significant and sustained impact on child and youth healthcare system(s), and/or populations served.This award also recognizes the value an organization places on partnerships and collaboration within the healthcare community.
Health equity is a strategic priority of this organisation due to the harm Islamophobia has caused to communities over many years. In her role on the Family Advisory Council of McMaster Children’s Hospital, their team reports about anti-racism and Islamophobia in the healthcare sector. They have consistently and effectively developed this professional relationship and worked on various initiatives, such as participating in research initiatives, to ensure diverse perspectives are taken into account. Through their dedication, drive and progressive experience, they are working to ensure that the health implications of Islamophobia are further researched, recognized and advanced across Canada.
| Past Award Winners |
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2022 - Muslim Advisory Council of Canada 2021 - The Safehaven Project for Community Living 2020 - Ronald McDonald House Charities Canada 2019 - CanREACH 2018 - Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital 2017 - Child Health BC 2016 - Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation 2015 - UNICEF Canada 2014 - Accreditation Canada 2012 - Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) 2011 - Stollery Children’s Hospital 2010 - SickKids Foundation 2009 - Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI) |
Family-Centered Care Award
The Children’s Healthcare Canada Award for Family-Centered Care was created to honour teams that have implemented innovations that improve the human experience of healthcare. This award will highlight and recognize innovations that include the four (4) concepts of family-centred care:
- Dignity and Respect: Health care practitioners listen to and honor individual and family perspectives and choices and incorporate individual and family knowledge, values, beliefs and cultural backgrounds into planning and delivery of care.
- Information Sharing: Health care practitioners communicate and share complete and unbiased information with individuals and families in ways that are affirming and useful. Timely, complete, and accurate information is shared with families to support effective participation in care and decision-making.
- Participation: Individuals and families are encouraged and supported in participating in care and decision-making at the level they choose.
- Collaboration: Individuals, families, health care practitioners, and health care leaders collaborate in policy and program development, implementation, and evaluation; in facility design; in professional education; and in research; as well as in the delivery of care and have made a change to how patients, residents, clients, their families, and communities experience healthcare services.
Demonstrable improvements in or impact on culture, quality, safety, and/or financial indicators will be used to determine the recipient of this award.
2022 Award Winner - Janeway Lifestyle Program (JLP)
The Janeway Lifestyle Program is a multidisciplinary program supporting children with risk factors for the development of chronic disease to live healthy, active lives. JLP focuses on reducing barriers to improving health behaviors with the vision of Good Health for everyBODY. Care is provided using a body positive approach, creating a non-judgmental environment. Family-centered care is integral to their practice as they strive to offer exceptional care through culturally relevant services, training and evaluation.
| Past Award Winners |
| 2022 - Janeway Lifestyle Program |
Nomination Information
Nominators must quantify the impact of the eligible teams’ innovations and actions in the following areas:
- Patient experience and culture of inclusion: This can include, but is not limited to, organizational structures that engage and support patients', caregivers', and families' use of electronic tools or media to support continuous engagement with patients, caregivers, and families as well as organizational processes that elevate the collaborative efforts of patients, caregivers, families, staff, and communities in the planning and delivery of care;
- Training and development of staff, clinicians, patients, caregivers, and families to support a culture of innovation and excellence in the planning and delivery of high-quality patient- and family-centered care;
- Quality of care over a minimum of 12 months, including tangible performance or process improvements in clinical outcomes (e.g., hospital- or facility-acquired infections, falls, length of stay (LOS), alternate levels of care (ALC)), performance outcomes (e.g., patient experience rates), and other indicators demonstrating quality improvements (e.g., enhanced foundation revenues, decreased workplace injuries); and
- Alignment of a high-performance patient experience with all other aspects of the healthcare system (e.g., the satisfaction and engagement scores of staff, clinicians, and medical staff).
