A message from our Chair of the Board and President and CEO

As we reflect on another remarkable year at Unity Health Toronto, we are filled with gratitude for the extraordinary commitment of our teams, the trust of our patients and residents, the support of our communities, and the guidance of our Board of Directors. Together, we have had the privilege of witnessing the talent, dedication and impact of our teams and guiding Unity Health Toronto through a year of meaningful achievements, innovation, and progress.

This past year, we celebrated important “firsts” and strengthened the digital foundations that will transform how care is delivered – expanding access, unlocking the power of data and accelerating breakthroughs that save lives. At the core of each advancement are our Mission and Values – of human dignity, excellence, compassion, community and inclusivity – which guide us as we evolve to meet the changing needs of the people we serve and find new and better ways to address the challenges they face. These values are at the core of what we do and have been since our founding by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Toronto more than 130 years ago.

As a national leader in AI and advanced analytics, Unity Health Toronto is shaping the future of health care innovation in Canada

We continue to fully realize the potential of our network-wide Epic electronic patient record (EPR) system, which is connecting care across our hospital sites – St. Joseph’s Health Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital and Providence Health care – and beyond. In 2026, we partnered with Sinai Health System to support the implementation of their new Epic EPR system, which will give patients and care teams more seamless access to health information across the two organizations. Guided by Unity Health Toronto’s award-winning implementation, this partnership also creates opportunities for future innovation and system synergies, including in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics.

A national leader in AI and advanced analytics, Unity Health Toronto is shaping the future of health care innovation in Canada, developing and implementing game changing data platforms and AI tools to improve patient care and make the health system more efficient. This past year, we celebrated the expansion of Vital, a national health data platform developed by St. Michael’s physicians that will allow scientists and innovators to harness Canada’s rich pool of health data to develop scalable AI tools, expand Canada’s capabilities for research and clinical trials, and provide important insights to fortify the Canadian health care system. Vital recently secured $100 million in new federal funding as part of the Government of Canada’s AI Strategy, bringing the project’s full funding to more than $210 million, a landmark investment in health data innovation for Canada.

To prepare health care organizations for the future of care, Unity Health Toronto joined forces with KPMG Canada and Signal 1 to launch the Health AI Academy. Funded by the DIGITAL Supercluster, the Health AI Academy is a national training initiative designed to equip health professionals across Canada with the knowledge and skills to evaluate, adopt and implement AI responsibly. To date, the Academy has equipped over 320 health professionals across 10 provinces to lead AI adoption across the country, ensuring that innovation translates into safer, more effective care.

The future of AI in health care is robotics. In a world-first, a surgical team at Unity Health Toronto performed a robotic-assisted neurovascular diagnostic procedure remotely over a network connection with the patient at our St. Michael’s site and the surgeon located at our St. Joseph’s site, six kilometres away. This innovation is an important step in advancing health equity by extending specialized care to patients in remote and underserved communities.

As the hospital network serving more people experiencing homelessness than any other hospital system in Ontario, we are advancing this critical need through partnership, compassionate care, and research led by our MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions. This year, St. Michael’s and United Way Greater Toronto received a $25-million donation from the Slaight Family Foundation to support people experiencing homelessness. This donation will establish the Slaight Family Housing Lab – an innovative program that moves people from homelessness into stable housing with wrap-around care and support services.

This past year also marked the launch of an exciting strategic planning process that brought together voices from across our organization, partnerships, and the communities we serve. Our new strategy will guide us over the next three years and reflect what is truly important to our teams, the people we care for, and our partners in care.

From the outset we planned to stay true to our Mission and Values, which are the driving force behind all that we do at Unity Health Toronto. Also clear to us was the importance of embedding financial resilience as a core outcome of our strategy, underscoring our responsibility to steward resources wisely, while remaining committed to delivering exceptional care.

We developed our new strategy in-house, and most inspiring was the extraordinary level of engagement across Unity Health Toronto and our external partners: more than 5,300 people participated, and over 180 frontline engagement sessions were held across programs, units and services, led by members of our own teams. That depth of participation reflects the pride, commitment and shared sense of purpose that will carry Unity Health Toronto forward.

Above all else, the strategy reflects the importance of our people, who are the foundation of our success and our greatest strength. We are excited to launch the new strategy this September, and to share it broadly with our patients, families, partners and communities.

Our people choose to build their careers at Unity Health Toronto and we are committed to investing in their growth through high-quality education, health and wellness support, workplace safety programs and learning experiences that match the excellence they bring to their work every day.

This year, our Student Centre supported more than 7,000 placements across 50+ disciplines, and we partnered with academic institutions to pilot new multi-site clinical placement models that better prepare learners for practice across the full continuum of care. We also invested in our people through the Centralized Education Fund and Tuition Assistance Program, which supported 758 applicants, and 9,595 education days across the organization.

Our teams are the essential enabler of everything we hope to achieve. Their expertise, compassion, and unwavering dedication form the foundation of our success and allow us to deliver care that is not only excellent, but deeply human. This includes our focus on health equity and a meaningful expansion of the Indigenous Health Program through the Office of Indigenous Wellness, Reconciliation and Partnerships, which is working to improve care for those who face the greatest disparities in access and outcomes.

We extend our sincere thanks to Unity Health Toronto staff, physicians, learners, volunteers and partners for their continued guidance and support. It has been an honour to serve alongside you this year.

We also extend our heartfelt thanks and deep appreciation to our donors and foundations. Your generosity and partnership make a meaningful difference—helping to advance innovation, strengthen care, and bring hope and support to our patients, residents and communities.

Nora Aufreiter
Chair of the Board of Directors

Altaf Stationwala
President and CEO

Thank you to Nora Aufreiter

I want to extend profound thanks to Nora for her exceptional leadership and steady guidance as Board Chair of Unity Health Toronto over the last three years. Nora joined the Board in 2012 and has made significant contributions playing a key role in the amalgamation of the three hospitals that now form Unity Health Toronto and providing steadfast support as the organization navigated ongoing system pressures.

Nora has led the Board with rigour and care and has been instrumental in supporting decision-making as we worked to build out our strategic plan and recruit new members to the Board of Directors. She also provided leadership and guidance as we worked to strengthen the organization’s financial resilience while continuing to sustain operational excellence.

When I joined Unity Health Toronto last summer, Nora’s thoughtful counsel and stewardship helped ensure a smooth transition and provided important continuity as I began my role. Her unwavering support has helped Unity Health Toronto advance key priorities over the years, including the implementation of our electronic patient record system, supporting the planning and development of the new patient care tower at St. Joseph’s, and fostering world-leading advancements in AI development and robotics at St. Michael’s.

Her integrity and unwavering commitment to strong governance was the bedrock that allowed our teams to focus on what matters: delivering exceptional, compassionate care to the communities we serve.

Nora, on behalf of the Board of Directors and all of Unity Health Toronto, thank you for your years of service. We wish you all the best and continued success and achievement as you move into your next role.

Thank you.

Welcoming Kate Stevenson

I am pleased to introduce Kate Stevenson as our new Board Chair. Kate brings more than 20 years of governance experience, with a strong track record of leadership on both public company and not-for-profit boards across North America. Kate provides insights from her years of experience in corporate boardrooms across several industries including the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.

She has served on boards at The Bishop Strachan School, Capital Power Corporation, and Open Text Corporation, and has been Chair of the Board of CIBC since 2021. She has also had a distinguished career as an executive in the telecommunications and financial services sectors and was named one of the 2018 and 2025 Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.

Over her five years of commitment on the board of Unity Health Toronto, Kate has served as vice-chair over the last year, acted as Chair of the Resources Committee and played an instrumental role in supporting Unity Health Toronto during organizational change and renewal. She also served as a member of the Governance Committee and the Planning and Construction Committee.

I look forward to a fruitful relationship guided by our board’s shared vision for the future of Unity Health Toronto.

I’m encouraged by what lies ahead as we continue building on our momentum.

Altaf Stationwala
President and CEO

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