Dr. Cheryl Mitchell is the Academic Director for the MBA in Sustainable Innovation. Dr. Mitchell’s research focuses on the business of healthcare, with an emphasis on the context and processes that support or impede care delivery. Specifically, her current projects examine how process, professions, legitimacy and the use of current and historical narratives inform organizational design and change. Cheryl is also a Principal Investigator at the Cardiac Network of Canada (CANet), a National Centre of Excellence (NCE) where she researches collaboration in research networks. Dr. Mitchell teaches primarily in the MBA program and has taught courses on collaboration, design thinking & innovation, organizational development, leadership, as well as overseeing all Capstone Consulting projects. She has a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology as well as a PhD in Human & Organizational Systems.
Prior to joining the University full-time, Dr. Mitchell worked as a freelance advisor, facilitator and social science researcher, who has provided organizational system solutions across the public service and social service sector for more than 20 years. During that time, she designed and facilitated hundreds of group programs for over forty thousand participants. Over the years her practice evolved from team building and leadership development, through engagement and strategic planning, to a focus on organizational structure, team crisis interventions, change management, and identity & culture development. Since 2016, Dr. Mitchell has specialized in healthcare working with on various projects both locally, provincially and nationally. She currently specializes in health system design & facilitating multi-stakeholder collaborative processes to develop sustainable solutions to complex system issues, and to drive innovation.
Dr. Mitchell has also developed curriculum and training programs on many topics for organizations and conferences, as well as delivered several keynote presentations. She uses her skills in social science to apply qualitative research methods for data collection and thematic analysis to better understand organizational dynamics and ensure the development of comprehensive and sustainable solutions. As well, she also has an understanding of implementation science, and the process required for system innovation and transformation. As a practitioner, she is known for her solution-focused approach, her ability to apply a range of collaborative strategies including design thinking and agile scrum methods, and her style of navigating through all types of conversations from resolving issues, identifying opportunities for innovation, and creating sustainable systemic strategies. Dr. Mitchell is also a certified executive & team coach and qualified to deliver a wide range of assessments.