Cheryl Mitchell

Associate Teaching Professor; Academic Director, MBA in Sustainable Innovation

Contact:: Office: BEC 258 clmitch@uvic.ca

Credentials:: BA, Psychology, Queen’s University; MA, Counselling Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute; PhD, Organizational Systems, Fielding Graduate University

Area of expertise:: Healthcare complex system design, moral distress, crisis leadership, systemic blame, collaboration, implementation science, qualitative research, design thinking and wicked problems

Related links:

ORCID

Biography

Cheryl L. Mitchell is an associate teaching professor, and academic director of the MBA in Sustainable Innovation at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria. Her research examines how contextual phenomena—such as crisis, moral distress, systemic blame, and climate change—shape leadership, collaboration and institutional decision-making in health systems.

Cheryl’s work has been published in leading healthcare journals including Medical Care Research & Review, Journal of Healthcare Management, and Journal of Medical Internet Research. Her co-authored article on crisis leadership was named Best Paper of the Year by Medical Care Research & Review and her work on moral distress received national recognition from the American College of Healthcare Executives. She is co-founder of the Academy of Management’s Crisis Leadership Research Network and incoming co-chair of the AOM Health Care Management Division’s Practitioner Table.

In addition to her academic research, Cheryl contributes to interdisciplinary health policy initiatives across Canada. She serves as academic co-chair of Academic Perspectives for the Rural Coordination Centre of BC, is a research fellow with UVic’s Institute on Aging & Lifelong Health and an affiliate at Gustavson’s Centre for Regenerative Futures. She is a collaborator on multiple national health system grants, including CIHR and SSHRC-funded research on health system bureaucracy, supply chains and climate adaptation.

Prior to transitioning to academia full-time, Cheryl worked extensively as a public service healthcare consultant and facilitator. Her professional background in systems design and collaboration continues to inform her qualitative, phenomenon-based approach to research and her leadership in curriculum innovation.

Teaching

Courses taught

Design Thinking and Innovation
Consulting & Capstone Consulting Projects
Strategic Collaboration & Partnerships

Selected publications

Journal publications

Hertelendy, A.H., Richmond, J., Lassier, W., Mitchell, C.L., Mayo, M., Vilendrer. S., Devereaux, A. Burkle, F., Ullmann, S. (2025). Disaster Preparedness Training Relevance for Organizational Response Effectiveness: A Healthcare Executive Perspective. Journal of Healthcare Management.

Hertelendy, A.H., Mitchell, C.L., Durneva, P., Banaszak-Holl, J., Dadich, A., Porter, T.H., Gutberg, J., Richmond, J.G., McNulty, E., Zang, Y., Singer, S. (2024). Climate Change in Master of Healthcare Administration Curriculum: An Untapped Opportunity. Journal of Health Administration Education.

Sriharan A, Sekercioglu N, Mitchell C, Senkaiahliyan S, Hertelendy A, Porter T, Banaszak-Holl J. (2024). Leadership for AI Transformation in Health Care Organization: Scoping Review. J Med Internet Res. 2024 Aug 14;26:e54556.

Hertelendy, A. J., Chekijian, S., McNulty, E., Mitchell, C. L., Grimes, J. O., Durneva, P., ... & Ciottone, G. R. (2022). Crisis leadership: a case for inclusion in accredited Master of Public Health program curricula. Public health, 209, 14-18.

Hertelendy, A. J., Gutberg, J., Mitchell, C., Gustavsson, M., Rapp, D., Mayo, M., & von Schreeb, J. (2022). Mitigating Moral Distress in Leaders of Healthcare Organizations: A Scoping Review. Journal of Healthcare Management, 67(5), 380-402.

Zhang, J., Mitchell, C., Kushniruk, A., & Guitouni, A. (2022). Facing disruption: Learning from the healthcare supply chain responses in British Columbia during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Healthcare Management Forum (Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 80-85).

Hertelendy, A. J., McNulty, E., Mitchell, C., Gutberg, J., Lassar, W., Durneva, P., & Rapp, D. (2021). Crisis leadership: The new imperative for MBA curricula. The International Journal of Management Education, 19(3), 100534.

Sriharan, A., Hertelendy, A. J., Banaszak-Holl, J., Fleig-Palmer, M. M., Mitchell, C., Nigam, A., Gutberg, J., Rapp, D.J. Singer, S. J. (2022), Public Health and Health Sector Crisis Leadership During Pandemics: A Review of the Medical and Business Literature. Medical Care Research and Review. 2022;79(4):475-486.

Hertelendy, A. J., Ciottone, G. R., Mitchell, C. L., Gutberg, J., & Burkle, F. M. (2020). Crisis standards of care in a pandemic: navigating the ethical, clinical, psychological, and policy-making maelstrom. International Journal for Quality in Healthcare (Oxford Academic).

Awards & grants

Awards

Best Paper of the Year (2022), Medical Care Research & Review, for crisis leadership framework.
Recommendation for Edgar C. Hayhow Award (2022), Journal of Healthcare Management, for work on moral distress.

Grants

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), 2025. $2,103,750. Overcoming the Impact of Historical Trauma on Health Outcomes for Indigenous Populations: How an Indigenous Led Health Care Partnership can Address the Trauma of Health Care Bureaucracy.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), 2022. $2,489,160 Development of a Community of Practice to Advance Supply Chain Resilience, Workforce Sustainability and Economic Recovery in Canada’s Post Pandemic Future.
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), 2020. $1,378,607. Co-Applicant, Operating Grant: COVID-19 May 2020 Rapid Research Funding Opportunity.