Cara Lachance

Cara Lachance is the founder and CEO of Innovative Health Pathways, where she draws on more than 20 years of experience across healthcare, occupational health, quality improvement, patient safety, and process improvement. A Registered Nurse by profession, her career has spanned front-line clinical practice, healthcare quality and patient safety, organizational improvement, and occupational health and wellness.

Cara began her career as a perioperative nurse and nurse clinician at Sudbury Regional Hospital before transitioning into quality and process improvement roles at Health Sciences North. She served as a Process Improvement Consultant and later as Clinical Nurse Specialist, Quality and Patient Safety, leading and supporting initiatives related to surgical safety, patient flow, operational excellence, patient engagement, and Accreditation Canada standards. Her career later expanded into the mining sector, where she held leadership roles in process improvement and occupational health, safety, and wellness.

Cara holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Laurentian University and has completed professional training in patient safety, Lean methodology, Prosci Change Management, coaching, and risk management. She is a Lean Sensei, Lean Green Belt, Master-trained coach, and Certified Patient Safety Officer.

Throughout her career, Cara has worked to apply quality improvement principles across complex healthcare and workplace environments. She has contributed to operating room safety initiatives through the Canadian Medical Protective Association and brings experience in using data, process improvement, risk assessment, and change management to support safer systems and improved organizational performance.