Dr. Ambreen Sayani is a physician and critical social scientist whose scholarship advances health systems transformation to improve equitable, high quality, person centred cancer prevention and care. Her research addresses a persistent challenge: evidence based interventions often fail to achieve their intended impact when implementation does not account for structural conditions, policy, power, or the priorities of people experiencing social disadvantage. Grounded in an equity first worldview, her scholarship strengthens how evidence is generated, implemented, and mobilized within complex health systems. Drawing on critical social science, health policy, and implementation science, she develops theories, methods, and approaches that connect knowledge co-creation with changes in research, practice, policy, and health systems. Central to this work is the principle that health systems should be designed with and by people, not for people.
Dr. Sayani’s scholarship connects research with policy and health system change in Canada and globally. She provides scientific leadership through international initiatives such as G7 Cancer, where she co-leads the Cancer Outcome Inequities Working Group examining policy levers to address inequities in cancer outcomes across countries. In Canada, she serves as Health Equity Advisor to the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, contributing research and expertise to national cancer system priorities, and has provided expert testimony to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Women and Cancer. Her research has informed cancer strategies and policy documents in Canada and internationally.
Dr. Sayani advances her research program through the Advancing Cancer Care Equity (ACCE) Lab, a transdisciplinary, community engaged research platform that she founded and leads. A core area of her scholarship is inclusive team science, through which she develops theories, methods, and practical approaches for addressing power within research partnerships and strengthening the co-production of knowledge. She applies and advances this work in cancer prevention and care, including research to improve lung health and reduce lung cancer mortality, accelerate cervical cancer elimination, and identify policy solutions for health system change. These areas provide important contexts for developing and testing theories, methods, and approaches with relevance across cancer systems and beyond.
At the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, Dr. Sayani brings this research and policy expertise into teaching, mentorship, and capacity building. She teaches health policy by connecting theory with contemporary policy and health system challenges, encouraging learners to critically examine how policy problems are defined, whose knowledge informs decision making, and how evidence is mobilized within health systems. Her commitment to capacity building extends beyond the classroom through mentorship and experiential learning with graduate students, researchers, clinicians, policymakers, people with lived and living experience, and health system leaders. Through active participation in research, policy, and knowledge co-creation, learners and partners develop the knowledge and skills to critically engage with complex health system challenges.
Professional and research interests:
- Health systems transformation
- Cancer prevention and care
- Health equity
- Inclusive team science and knowledge co-creation
- Health policy and policy research
- Implementation science
- Evidence based interventions
- Community engaged research
- Person centred models of care
- Lung and cervical cancer