CAP Innovation Fellowship Program
Application Deadline
The deadline for the 2025-26 CAP Innovation Fellowship Program is on July 7, 2025 at 12:00 pm. If you have questions, kindly book an appointment with one of the faculty or email CAPFellowship@uhn.ca.
Stories about past fellows and their leadership journey...
 Kim McLeese BScN, BA, RN |
Kim focused on improving equitable access to care for patients with sickle cell disease in the emergency department. Her primary goal was to reduce the time from triage to opioid administration for patients experiencing a vaso-occlusive episode. Through educational initiatives, standardized workflows, and the promotion of sublingual fentanyl, the percentage of patients receiving opioids within 30 minutes of triage increased from 8.8% to 42.9%, aligning with Ontario's Quality Standard of Care guidelines. Notably, these improvements have been sustained since the project's completion in March 2024. |
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Kim remains committed to advocating for patients living with sickle cell disease while focusing on the sustainability and spread of her work. She has presented at national and international conferences, participated in Ontario Health's community of practice webinars, and collaborated with healthcare institutions across Canada. Significantly, her project became the first nurse-led initiative to win the top prize at the UHN ED Quality Improvement Awards.
In addition to this work, Kim continues to grow as a nursing leader. She co-chairs the UHN ED Professional Nursing Council and the UHN Corporate Professional Nursing Council, ensuring nurses have a strong voice in decision-making and shared governance. Kim also serves as the UHN DAISY Award coordinator, recognizing excellence in patient care, and actively engages in quality improvement through rapid improvement events, working groups, and task forces. She remains dedicated to bedside care in the emergency department while expanding her impact through leadership and scholarship. Currently, she is working on publishing her project.
 Yahlikah Mahesuwaran BScN RN |
In 2024, Yahlikah completed her CAP Fellowship project focused on preventing post-operative pneumonia in the General Surgery Department at TG. The project emphasized early patient education, beginning before surgery and continuing afterward, and implemented five evidence-based prevention strategies. As a result, there was a 77% reduction in pneumonia cases within the General Surgery Department. |
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- Following the fellowship, Yahlikah presented her findings at several conferences, including the 2024 ACS Quality and Safety Conference in Denver, Colorado. She is currently a Quality Improvement Specialist at the Sprott Centre for Quality Safety, where she continues to expand her pneumonia work across all post-operative units at TG and TW while also leading other quality initiatives. Yahlikah reflects that the fellowship was a pivotal moment in her career, as it sparked her interest in advancing healthcare quality and improving patient outcomes.
 Emma Bingham MN, RN, CNN(C) |
The Neurovascular Response Nurses (NVRN) at Toronto Western Hospital are responsible for monitoring patients who have suffered strokes and are at high risk for life-threatening complications. Emma implemented simulation-based education sessions to enhance the preparedness of NVRNs to respond to these critical events. These sessions resulted in a significant increase in participants' knowledge and their self-reported confidence. |
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- This project has been incorporated into the NVRN orientation and presented at local and international conferences. Since completing this CAP Fellowship, Emma has led larger-scale funded initiatives and is currently working in a leadership role coordinating UHN's Stroke Accreditation.
 Molly McDonald RN |
Molly dedicated her efforts to creating educational resources for registered nurses (RNs) to learn the paracentesis procedure. Her project aimed to increase the capacity to perform paracentesis in an outpatient setting, thereby reducing admissions for this procedure in the Emergency Department (ED) and General Internal Medicine (GIM). |
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She developed educational materials specifically for RNs, conducted classroom instruction, and facilitated hands-on experiences. As a result of this project, the team successfully increased the number of RNs capable of performing paracentesis at Toronto General Hospital by 40%.
Following the completion of her fellowship, Molly presented this project at the Canadian Association of Hepatology Nurses conference. We have also received interest from various units within the University Health Network (UHN) and external organizations to implement similar nurse-led models in their practice areas.
 Maggie Chen Hon. BSc, RRT, CCAA |
In 2020, UHN launched an organization-wide campaign called STOP the POP to improve rates of post-operative pneumonia. The campaign encompasses all three phases of a patient’s perioperative journey, implementing evidence-based interventions for each phase. Maggie played a vital role in the intraoperative phase of the campaign by enhancing the use of quantitative neuromuscular blockade (NMB) monitoring. |
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This monitoring method, mandated by the Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society (CAS) to improve patient safety, provides objective measurements of the depth of paralysis, helping clinicians maintain appropriate intra-operative muscle relaxation and ensuring complete reversal post-operatively.
By adopting the Model for Improvement process, Maggie's project achieved an 83% increase in NMB monitoring rates at TG and a remarkable 230% improvement at TW. Additionally, process measures indicated a 71.5% increase in nursing confidence when assisting with the application of the NMB monitor.
Currently, Maggie serves as co-chair of the Anesthesia Assistant Professional Council and has been awarded a UHN Physician Quality Improvement Grant to further her work. She also continues her scholarly activities by presenting at the QSC Conference. On top of her professional achievements, Maggie is completing her Master of Education degree with a focus on health professions education.
 Carly Stier OTReg.(Ont). |
Carly completed her CAP fellowship in March 2024 and has since made notable progress on her CAP project. She presented her work to Ontario Health, the Rehabilitation Cancer Community of Practice group, and at two conferences through poster presentations. Currently, Carly serves as the Service Coordinator for the inpatient Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) neuro-cognitive unit, where she remains committed to quality improvement initiatives. |
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Her CAP project focused on developing a standardized goal-setting process to support neuro-oncology prehabilitation. The aim was to optimize patient functioning before radiation therapy for individuals with malignant brain tumours. Carly and her team created structured timelines, documentation guidelines, and patient resources to facilitate meaningful goal-setting discussions using the Model for Improvement Framework.
An educational workshop was delivered to ABI providers across two inpatient units, and continuous Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles guide further improvements. This work is continually evolving and is being integrated into the broader neuro-oncology care pathway.
 R.J. Edralin, RN |
The Innovation Fellowship program education seminars helped me build knowledge and skills in many areas such as change management. Through further reflection, I developed an understanding and appreciation for “collaborative ownership” in project management and how it is more effective than buy-in to enable changes in culture and practice... |
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- I began my nursing career as a staff nurse at University Health Network (UHN) and was working in the Emergency Department at Toronto Western Hospital when I participated in the Innovation Fellowship program. Since the fellowship, I have held formal and informal leadership roles, and eventually decided to pursue graduate education. Currently, I am enrolled in the Master of Nursing Program at Ryerson University, in the Leadership in Health Policy and Education stream, while working within the Collaborative Academic Practice (CAP) portfolio as the Clinical Care Coordinator for Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), which is a new program impacting patients, families, and interprofessional teams across UHN.
Stories about patient partners and how they became involved...
 Chado Brcic |
When signing up for Patient Partners, I had no idea what would be involved. All I knew was that I wanted to volunteer in some useful manner, to express in some small way, my gratitude for my life-saving double lung transplant at Toronto General Hospital (TGH)... |
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Among the most interesting of my assignments, is reviewing and scoring the Innovation Fellowship Program projects. It proves to me how important and useful the projects are with their focus on health quality improvement; as well as, their impact at the point of patient care. As a patient, I can clearly relate to how valuable and enlightening these projects are and how innovation and patient centered care are priorities at University Health Network (UHN).
I enjoy attending the project presentations and I am very impressed with the passion and energy that staff display for their projects!
 Marcella Calouro & Paul Moffatt |
Marcella: I am a Cardiovascular Technologist with 17 years of experience in the Cardiac Rehabilitation program at Rumsey Centre. I developed a strategic relationship with Paul, a retired Firefighter, past patient in the cardiac rehab program and who is now a Patient Partner at UHN. Paul: I chose to give back as a Patient Partner and supporting this CAP Innovation Fellowship project provided the opportunity to tell "my story" and share my own experiences... |
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We teamed up to educate the cardiac post-surgical team at Toronto General Hospital regarding the importance of cardiovascular rehabilitation following heart surgery. The project goal was to emphasize the importance of bedside patient engagement in conversations about the next step in their journey following surgery, and the referral to and participation in Cardiovascular Rehabilitation.
Our project’s results showed that patient education at the bedside, significantly improved the post-surgical team’s attitude and confidence in talking to their patients about attending a Cardiovascular Rehab program. As a result, patients were better informed, better prepared and eager to begin the next step of their journey!