Francine Buchanan is the Senior Manager, Patient, Family & Community Engagement at The Hospital for Sick Children (Ontario, Canada) and the Ontario Child Health Support Unit (OCHSU). In this role, Francine supports a Patient-Centred Health Care philosophy by ensuring patients and families can partner with the healthcare system to co-create a future for children’s health care that reflects their lived experiences. Francine’s goal is to ensure patient, family and community voices are key drivers for change in healthcare.
Francine is a sought-after speaker and storyteller on the value and methods of including the patient and family perspective in health system design and research. Her research and teaching interests include Patient Engagement, Shared Decisions-Making, Co-Design and Patient-Oriented Research Methods. Francine brings a diverse background of skills and experience to her work, as parent to a child with complex healthcare needs, a health researcher, a parent research partner, and a former strategy consultant. Her educational background includes an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English and Philosophy from McMaster University, a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Western Ontario and a PhD in Health Services Research from the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto.