“"I aspire to change the way we go about research in health services in Canada, bringing patients and their families out of the sidelines and into the centre, where they will drive forward real-world research with real-world relevance and impact."”

Natasha Yasmin Sheikhan is a doctoral student in Health Systems Research at the Institute for Health Policy Management and Evaluation and a trainee at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Her motivations in the health system include patient and family engagement, with the goal of transforming how we prioritize co-design with patients and families in mental health system. Her career goals are to be an academic and health services researcher, with a focus on mental health and patient-oriented research. She has served as vice-president of the IHPME Graduate Student Union, and sits on several committees to represent the student voice. In her community work, she is a patient partner on the Mid-West Toronto Ontario Health Team (MWT-OHT) Executive Advisory Committee, chairs the Selection Committee, and cochairs the Population Health Task Force. Through this work, she has advocated for the patient voice and changed the governance structure of the MWT-OHT to include a patient vice-chair and Patient and Caregiver Advisory Council. In leading this work, I aspire to change the way we go about research in health services in Canada, bringing patients and their families out of the sidelines and into the centre, where they will drive forward real-world research with real-world relevance and impact.