We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Sandra Li-James to the role of Vice President, Quality, Best Practice, Education and Chief Nursing Executive at VHA Home HealthCare.

Sandra is a passionate and committed health care leader with over 25 years of diverse experience guiding and engaging interprofessional teams and promoting excellence in practice and education to provide safe, quality care for clients and families. She is known for her strong leadership skills, her expertise in fostering best practices while cultivating a strong safety and learning culture and her deep commitment to leading with compassion to optimize provider and client experience.

Sandra comes to VHA from University Hospital Network (UHN) where she has held various roles, most recently as a Director of Professional Practice for the past six years. Her many responsibilities at UHN have included developing interprofessional practice standards, directing clinical practice reviews and overseeing a varied team including palliative care team members and clinical nurse specialists. She has also played a key role in UHN’s pandemic response and recovery efforts including leading best practice and education within the COVID Recovery Hotel initiative.

“Sandra is an accomplished senior leader with a proven track record of developing strong interpersonal relationships to influence best care”, noted Kathryn Nichol, President and CEO at VHA. “Her commitment to empowering team members and her focus on engaging with clients and families as partners in care aligns with VHA’s mission of creating possibilities for more independence, championing the needs of our clients and families and delivering high quality, integrated care. I am confident Sandra will be a significant contributor and a valued addition to our senior team.”

A Registered Nurse, Sandra began her career at the Hospital for Sick Children and The Toronto Hospital in the Cardiovascular units. She then transitioned to quality, education and best practice roles including many years at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at Toronto General Hospital. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Education focused on adult education, both from the University of Toronto (U of T) and she has been an Adjunct Faculty member at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at U of T for many years.

Sandra’s successes include effectively developing and implementing major practice changes within complex environments; engaging point-of-care staff at various stages in their career to advance nursing practice through involvement in quality improvement, nursing research and professional development projects; and championing a spirit of critical inquiry that gave rise to a learning culture. In addition, the change initiatives she established positively impacted patient experience in the areas of pressure injuries prevention and delirium care, among others.

“I am very excited to be joining VHA,” shared Sandra. “I am inspired by VHA’s strategic plan and I believe that my experience and skillset will be valuable to this position in leading quality, best practice and education with the interprofessional team. I am especially excited about working closely with clients, carers and families to co-create the best care possible.”

Sandra will join VHA on January 10, 2022.