After five and a half years leading major digital advancements at Niagara Health, Sonali Kohli, Executive Vice-President of Digital Transformation and Chief Information Office is taking her passion for improving patient care to the provincial level, joining Ontario Health as their Senior Vice-President, Digital Health and Chief Technology Officer.
When Sonali Kohli reflects on her career, impact is the measure that matters most.
Whether it’s helping a patient navigate a complicated healthcare journey, supporting frontline team members with better tools or transforming how information flows through the hospital, the Niagara Health Executive Vice-President of Digital Transformation and Chief Information Officer has always been driven by one question: How can this make things better for patients?
Over the past five and a half years at Niagara Health, that mindset has helped shape some of the organization’s most significant digital transformations. Now, as she prepares to take on a new role as Senior Vice-President, Digital Health and Chief Technology Officer at Ontario Health, her focus is expanding from making an impact across Niagara Health to helping improve healthcare experiences for patients across the province.
“The opportunity to help improve the patient journey across the continuum of care is incredibly exciting,” says Kohli. “It's an opportunity to take what I've learned and help create a more connected experience for patients and families across Ontario.”
Kohli joined Niagara Health during one of the most challenging periods in modern healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic was reshaping hospital care delivery, creating an urgent need for virtual services and digital solutions.
“My first few months were a whirlwind,” she recalls. “We were moving quickly to respond to the needs of patients and the community. That year, we launched Virtual Urgent Care and remote monitoring for patients recovering from surgery, while also laying the groundwork for a Hospital Information System (HIS) that we knew would be critical to Niagara Health's future.”
Those efforts culminated in the successful implementation of Niagara Health's HIS in 2024, one of the largest transformation projects in the organization's history.
But ask Kohli about the accomplishment, and she won't talk about software.
She'll talk about people.
“Implementing our HIS was truly a team effort,” she says. “It wasn't something owned by IT alone. It was a transformation led by our clinical teams, physicians and team members across the organization. That shared commitment was key to making it successful.”
Kohli credits staff, physicians and leaders across Niagara Health for embracing change and keeping patients at the centre of every decision.
“What I'm most proud of is what we accomplished together,” she says. “Time and again, I saw people step up, embrace change and support one another through challenges, always with patients at the centre of their work. That's what made so much of this progress possible.”
It's also the people who will stay with her long after she leaves.
“I've always been inspired by the people at Niagara Health,” she says. “Their collaboration, creativity and resilience are remarkable, but what stands out most is their kindness. Even when things are difficult, people continue to show up for each other and for the patients they serve.”
As she looks ahead to her next chapter, Kohli says Niagara Health will always be part of her story.
“The Be Kind culture isn't just something people talk about here, it's something people truly live,” she says. “You see it in the way colleagues support one another, in the compassion shown to patients and in the willingness to step up when things get tough. To me, that's Niagara Health's secret sauce.”
