UHN Mission Excellence Awards spotlight health care innovation and leadership

The second annual UHN Mission Excellence Awards celebrated TeamUHN members who have made an extraordinary impact across the organization and contributed to our mission of A Healthier World.

"These awards honour the dedication, ingenuity and creativity of TeamUHN, celebrating excellence in clinical care, education and research," said Dr. Kevin Smith, President and CEO of UHN, at a ceremony held in the DeGasperis Conservatory at Toronto General Hospital on Jan. 28.

"The work of this year's recipients challenges all of us to raise the bar."

UHN Experience Excellence Award

This award recognizes TeamUHN members who have gone above and beyond to support the mission of UHN and demonstrate exceptional service excellence.

Dr. Richard Dunbar-Yaffe has been a driving force behind UHN's Home First Initiative. A trusted mentor, he equips colleagues with the language and confidence to champion Home First principles, fostering excellence in patient transitions. He led the development of the Home First Provider Tip Sheet, now the primary learning tool across UHN. His leadership has contributed to a half-day reduction in acute-care length of stay, freeing more than 50 additional beds daily for patients in need.

The Connected Care Hub Clinical Team is a nurse practitioner-led, interdisciplinary team providing transitional care from hospital to home for patients with complex needs. Physicians can confidently send patients home, knowing the team will follow up within 24 hours, ensuring smooth transitions, reducing unnecessary hospital stays and maintaining clear communication with care teams. The Hub has helped improve patient self-management and outcomes while reducing readmissions and Emergency Department visits.

UHN Health Solutions Award

This award honours TeamUHN members who drive trailblazing innovations and discoveries, pioneering tomorrow's health care solutions, today.

Dr. Keyvan Karkouti has revolutionized transfusion practices for patients undergoing major surgery, particularly cardiac surgery. Through his relentless, systematic approach, he developed protocols that reduce unnecessary transfusions, improve patient safety and recovery, and conserve Canada's blood supply. His system is now standard of practice at UHN and around the world, and his research has informed regulatory guidance on the safe use of hemostatic drugs.

The AlloBMT Long-Term Virtual Follow-Up Clinic has reimagined post-transplant care, turning annual survivorship check-ins into an accessible and scalable virtual model. Their innovative approach brings care directly into patients' homes, reducing the stress and burden of hospital visits while improving engagement and satisfaction. The work has streamlined operations and freed clinical teams to focus on care.​

UHN Board of Trustee Directors, the Hon. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, left, and Jaime Watt, right, attended the event to celebrate 12 individual and team recipients of UHN Mission Excellence Awards. (Photo: UHN)

UHN President's Environment & Social Impact Award

This award recognizes outstanding examples of UHN's foundational commitments to advancing A Healthier World through environmental and social impact stewardship in action.

Linxi Mytkolli, Director of Patient Engagement at Diabetes Action Canada, housed at UHN, leads Canada's largest patient partner community and has redefined what patient engagement means in health research. Drawing on her lived experience with Type 1 diabetes, she co-founded the Research to Action Fellowship, a global first that trains patient partners to turn complex research into practical, culturally relevant learning tools. Downloaded in over 30 countries, the program is turning research into action for patients.

UHN's Indigenous Wellness Centre Project Team led the creation of a first-of-its-kind centre at Toronto Western Hospital, reclaiming institutional space for Indigenous healing, ceremony and community connection. Their work demonstrates that reconciliation, sustainability and healing are not separate goals — they are interconnected responsibilities. The centre stands as a model for culturally safe and sustainable health care design, empowering healing that goes beyond medicine.

UHN President's Quality & Safety Award

This award honours significant contributions to the design and delivery of the safest and highest quality systems, experiences and care at UHN with outstanding impact, scale and sustainability.

Silvi Groe has strengthened quality and safety at UHN's Schroeder Arthritis Institute by establishing an Integrated Quality Framework that aligned previously siloed structures, and engaged physicians, operational leaders and Patient Partners in collaborative solutions. Under her leadership, the institute created a culture where safety is a shared purpose, delivering measurable reductions in patient harm — including a 76 per cent reduction in patient falls.

The Reducing CLABSI in ICUs Project Team addressed one of the most serious threats to ICU patients — life-threatening infections caused when bacteria enter the bloodstream through catheters placed in major veins to deliver medicines or fluids. In UHN's multi-ICU program, the team achieved a 77 per cent reduction in infections by standardizing protocols, strengthening education and providing real-time feedback. The cross-disciplinary team co-designed solutions with point-of-care staff, embedding a culture of safety across the critical care network and improving patient outcomes. 

Dr. Kevin Smith co-hosted the presentation, acknowledging the dedication, ingenuity and creativity of the Mission Excellence Award winners. ​(Photo: UHN)

UHN Inventor of the Year Award

This award celebrates outstanding achievements that drive commercialization, foster partnerships and translate research into real-world impact.

Dr. Pamela Ohashi's leadership and innovative vision have led to a promising advance in cancer research, creating the potential for a new kind of cell therapy. She discovered a new immune receptor (gamma delta T cell receptor) in a patient whose tumour was eliminated. Dr. Ohashi and her team successfully cloned the receptor and developed a therapy, which could reach more patients, more quickly and with fewer barriers, including those with lung, melanoma or ovarian cancers. Although still in the translational stage, the discovery shows promise and has a clear, credible pathway towards a new cancer therapeutic.

HALO (Human Attended Live Observation) is a two-way, audio-visual monitoring system that streams live video to a central observation point. Developed to protect patients at risk, it allows trained virtual observers to monitor up to 12 patients at once, reducing falls, preventing adverse events and easing workload pressures. HALO is now UHN's standard of care and has expanded across Canada, operating at more than 30 sites, including acute-care hospitals and long-term care homes.

UHN President's Patient Partner Award

This award celebrates Patient Partners for their vital role in co-creating models of care, advancing person-centred care and driving health system transformation at UHN.

Santa Cuda has been a UHN Patient Partner since 2019, bringing more than 30 years of experience as a caregiver for her mother. She has contributed insight, leadership and compassion across multiple initiatives, including the Seniors Emergency Medicine Initiative, Outpatient Care Strategy, and Patient and Family Escalation of Care Safety Priority. Her work demonstrates a depth of expertise and lived experience matched only by her commitment to ensuring every patient and family feels heard, valued and safe.

The Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Task Force stepped into profoundly complex and sensitive work with bravery and purpose. Drawing on their expertise, lived experience and survivor-centred insight, they shaped training materials, provided deeply personal and system-focused feedback, and delivered IPV training directly to Emergency Department staff, helping transform a pilot initiative into an organizational priority embedded across UHN.