A champion of compassion: embedding and advancing a central pillar of quality healthcare
Dr. Shane Sinclair is the Cross-Canada Chair in Compassionate Care and a Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary. A leading international scholar on compassion in healthcare, he directs the Compassion Research Lab, a nationally funded, transdisciplinary research group advancing the science, practice, and impact of compassionate care within nursing and the larger healthcare system.
Dr. Sinclair has secured more than $8M in research funding, published over 150 peer-reviewed works, and delivered hundreds of invited talks worldwide. His team’s empirical models, validated measures, and evidence-based training programs have been widely adopted in clinical, educational, and policy settings.
A past recipient of the Alberta Medical Association Medal of Honour and a UCalgary Research Excellence Chair, Dr. Sinclair has served in numerous national and international advisory roles, contributed to leading psychosocial oncology and palliative-care guidelines, and was the youngest president of the Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology.
Through public-facing knowledge-translation initiatives, including the Compassion Research Lab’s interactive tools and resources, the Sinclair Compassion Questionnaire, and the EnACT compassion training program, he remains committed to ensuring that research has meaningful impact and improves the experiences of patients, families, and care providers.
Shane Sinclair: EnACT: Evidence-informed, Competency-based, Accredited, Compassion Training
Compassion Research Lab
Collaborators/Partners
- Alberta Health Services
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Health Quality Council of Alberta
- Covenant Health
- Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, University of Valencia
- Institute of Health Sciences, Catholic University of Portugal
- Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Nevada Las Vegas
- Department of Neurosciences, University of Turin
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Faculty of Medicine, Queen’s University
- Department of Health Sciences, Lakehead University
- Innovate Calgary
- Geriatric Medicine, Ghent University Hospital
- Focus Area for Compassion and Ethics, The Task Force for Global Health
- St. Joseph's Care Group
- St. Joseph's Health System
- 100+ healthcare organizations
In the News
UCalgary researcher pushes compassion measure internationally
Nursing professor sees translation of compassion measure for healthcare into Spanish
Inspired Albertan: Shane Sinclair
Dr. Shane Sinclair discusses his research on compassion in healthcare with Darrel Janz of CTV News.
New study on compassion in Alberta emergency departments linked to quality care
UCalgary Nursing professor Shane Sinclair says results show compassion cannot be considered ‘optional.’
Podcast: The Science of Sweetness with Dr. Shane Sinclair
On Tapestry, Dr. Shane Sinclair shares how he and his team are putting compassion under the microscope to understand how healthcare workers can provide better experiences for their patients.
UCalgary Nursing professor receives Alberta Medical Association Medal of Honour
Dr. Shane Sinclair, UCalgary Nursing professor and director of the Compassion Research Lab, has been selected as the recipient of the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) Medal of Honour.
UCalgary researcher named new Cross Canada Chair in Compassionate Care
Dr. Shane Sinclair, UCalgary Nursing professor and director of the Compassion Research Lab, has been named the Cross-Canada research chair in Compassionate Care.