The Systems and Policy Research Network (SPRNetwork) is proud to announce Dr. Eyal Cohen as the recipient of the 2026 Pediatric Complex Care Mid-Career Achievement Award. This honor recognizes Dr. Cohen’s significant contributions to the field of pediatric complex care and his leadership in developing innovative models of care for children with medical complexity and their families.

Through clinical innovation, research, quality improvement, and a commitment to learning from families and colleagues, Dr. Cohen has helped advance the growing field of complex care and continues to shape how care is delivered to children with complex needs.

About the Award

The Pediatric Complex Care Lifetime Achievement Award is supported by the Systems & Policy Research Network, Family Voices, the Academic Pediatrics Association Complex Care and Disability Special Interest Group, and the Children’s Hospital Association.

Building a New Model of Care

Dr. Cohen co-founded the Complex Care Program at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) with colleagues in the Division of Paediatric Medicine. What began as a small, “side of desk” effort grew into a program that now serves approximately 700 children and is part of a provincial program serving approximately 1,600 patients.

Early in his career, Dr. Cohen helped develop a new approach to caring for children with medical complexity, one that moved beyond an episodic model of care focused primarily on hospitalizations and recognized the need for coordinated, ongoing support for children and families. His work contributed to the development of new approaches to defining children with medical complexity and understanding the models of care needed to support them.

Today, Dr. Cohen is Program Head of Child Health Evaluative Sciences at the SickKids Research Institute and Co Executive Director of the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children. He is also a Professor of Paediatrics and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, a Scientist with the CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, and an adjunct scientist at ICES.

Research, Quality Improvement, and the Willingness to Change

As an applied child health services and policy researcher, Dr. Cohen’s work has focused on improving outcomes for children with medical complexity and their families. His research includes defining and understanding the needs of children with medical complexity, as well as developing, evaluating, and disseminating evidence based interventions designed to improve health outcomes, support families, and reduce unnecessary health care expenditures.

“No one knows these kids better than their parents. We’re not the experts; they’re the experts. And you need humility to recognize that.”

For Dr. Cohen, research and clinical care are closely connected. He emphasizes the importance of evaluating new approaches, sharing results for critique, and remaining open to changing course when evidence shows that something is not working. He views research and quality improvement as an ongoing cycle of planning, implementation, evaluation, and adaptation.

That willingness to learn has also shaped how Dr. Cohen thinks about the goals of complex care. Over the course of his career, his perspective has evolved from a focus on reducing health care utilization and costs to a broader understanding of success, one centered on improving the lives of children, families, and the communities that surround them. For Dr. Cohen, the value of complex care cannot be measured only by the number of hospitalizations avoided. Its impact is much broader.

Listening to Families and Learning Across Systems

Throughout his career, Dr. Cohen has sought opportunities to learn from families, colleagues, and health systems beyond his own institution. As a Harkness Fellow supported by the Commonwealth Fund, he spent a year exploring innovations in the United States, including at Stanford, and has also looked to Europe and other health systems to understand different approaches to caring for children with medical complexity. These experiences reinforced his belief in the importance of collaboration, shared learning, and creating opportunities for people working in different settings to learn from one another.

At the center of that work is partnership with families. Dr. Cohen describes family advisors as some of the most important teachers in his career, emphasizing that parents and caregivers bring expertise about their children that clinicians cannot gain through medical training alone. He believes successful complex care depends on recognizing that expertise and working alongside families as essential members of the care team.

After serving as medical director of the SickKids Complex Care Program for a decade, Dr. Cohen stepped away from the administrative leadership role, recognizing the importance of allowing new leaders with fresh ideas to take the program forward. He remains deeply involved in the program and continues to see the clinic as a place that grounds him in the work.

A Lasting Impact

Dr. Cohen’s career reflects the evolution of pediatric complex care itself, from a small number of programs developing innovative approaches independently to a growing field focused on collaboration, evidence, shared learning, and continuous improvement. His contributions to clinical care, research, quality improvement, and family partnership have helped shape the field and will continue to influence how children with medical complexity and their families receive care.

As the field continues to grow, Dr. Cohen remains focused on the importance of curiosity, collaboration, and a willingness to continually learn and improve. His work is a testament to the power of bringing together clinicians, researchers, families, and communities to develop creative solutions to difficult challenges and build better systems of care for children with medical complexity and their families.