Sayra Cristancho, PhD
Associate Professor, Dept. of Surgery and Dept. of Anatomy & Cell Biology
Senior Scientist, Centre for Education Research & Innovation (CERI)
Dates of Visit: October 20 – 22, 2026
Purpose of Visit
During this visit to CHES, Dr. Cristancho will be meeting with individual members of the CHES community to discuss their research ideas, offer advice, and explore areas of joint interest. Dr. Cristancho is also the Gordon Page Invited Lecturer at the 2026 CHES Celebration of Scholarship on October 21, 2026.
Biography
Dr. Sayra Cristancho is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Anatomy & Cell Biology, and a Scientist at the Centre for Education Research & Innovation (CERI) at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, Canada. She earned her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia.
Her research program investigates the nature of teamwork during crisis, with the aim of showing how best to support resilient teaming in healthcare. To this end, she has developed a distinctive research approach that cross-pollinates qualitative inquiry, sociobiology, and engineering principles with insights from diverse sectors including healthcare, business, music, tactical operations, and emergency response. Her work contributes both theoretically and practically to understanding how professionals and communities adapt under pressure.