Sandy Rao
Areas of Expertise
- Health Equity and Social Determinants of Health
- Mental Health
Biography
I received my PhD in Social Work from the University of Calgary, where I was supported by the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Doctoral Scholarship, Eyes High Doctoral Scholarship, Alberta Innovates Graduate Studentship and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) awards and received the J.B. Hyne Research Innovation Award. I also hold a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto and an Honours BSc in Psychology from McGill University. Prior to joining Laurier, I completed postdoctoral (PDF) fellowships at the University of Toronto and a CIHR PDF at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). I am a Registered Social Worker and Registered Psychotherapist in Ontario.
My research examines healthcare accessibility, health equity through critical realism and participatory health research, with a particular focus on improving mental healthcare for minoritized youth and young adults with mental health-related disabilities. I founded the Mental Health Accessibility & Policy Solutions (MAPS) Lab and serve as Secretary of the International Association for Critical Realism and Founder of the North American Critical Realist Network. My work brings together philosophy, social work, implementation science, and health services research to develop innovative approaches that bridge theory, policy, and practice.
Before returning to academia, I spent more than a decade leading mental health system transformation in Ontario. As former Director of Mental Health & Addictions at Ontario Health and a Provincial Advisor with the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Mental Health and Addictions, I led provincial initiatives in system redesign, implementation, quality improvement, and integrated models of care. These experiences continue to shape my research, teaching, and partnerships, with the goal of producing scholarship that is theoretically rigorous, methodologically innovative, and directly relevant to policy, practice, and systems change.