Ambreen Sayani

Faculty Member

Accepting Students

Dr. Ambreen Sayani, MD PhD is a scientist at the Women’s College Research Institute, Women’s College Hospital and an Assistant Professor (status) at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. As a physician and a critical social scientist, Dr. Sayani applies a health equity lens to study patient engagement, health policy, change management and cancer care.

Dr. Sayani is a global expert in equity-promoting cancer policy and strategy and has held clinical, consulting and leadership roles across multiple healthcare industries and received leadership, research, innovation, early-career investigator, presentation and quality awards for her work. She is Principal Investigator for the Improving Cancer Care Equity (ICCE) Lab that aims to improve cancer outcomes for all populations groups by promoting equitable cancer prevention, early detection and access to high quality care. The ICCE Lab is guided by Equity-Mobilizing Partnerships in Community (EMPaCT), a co-designed model of diverse and inclusive patient engagement.

Dr. Sayani co-designs healthcare services that are person-centric by using community-engaged participatory research methods to partner with interdisciplinary teams, including policymakers, healthcare providers and patients (defined as community members with relevant lived/living experience). The ICCE Lab generates timely knowledge on equity-promoting patient engagement methods, co-designs evidence-based interventions and collaborates extensively to implement effective solutions. While specifically promoting person-centered cancer care, Dr. Sayani’s research program generates knowledge and learnings that are transferable across the healthcare sector so that we can provide timely, effective, safe and equitable care to all.

Professional and research interests:

  • Equity-promoting person-centred care
  • Patient engagement
  • Cancer care
  • Health equity
  • Health policy
  • Models of care
  • Community-engaged participatory research methods
  • Community Engaged Dissemination and Implementation Research
  • Change management
  • Social determinants of health