About

When Megan Evans joined The Hospital for Sick Children in 2007, also known as SickKids, there was no general counsel or equivalent position at the Toronto-based institution. There were only two lawyers working in the hospital, which is the second-largest hospital-based paediatric research facility, and their roles were largely confined to reviewing contracts for research. Since 2007, Evans has developed the legal function and it now operates as a full service department providing services hospital-wide. The creation of the team is particularly important as it is a vital support mechanism that ensures SickKids achieves its strategic objectives. ‘It has elevated the discussion about legal and risk issues within the organisation, which has had a positive impact in encouraging leaders everywhere to share a sense of ownership and responsibility within their portfolios as far as identifying and managing risks to the business’, says Evans. She now also has oversight for risk management, insurance, privacy, compliance, emergency preparedness and internal audit. Evans has received high praise from her peers for her work to oversee the enterprise risk management framework at the hospital that has since become embedded into its operations. Prior to joining SickKids, Evans spent most of her legal career focusing on health law, working at Cassels Brock, a leading business law firm in Canada and before that, Goodmans. She graduated from the University of Windsor Law School with the Board of Governor’s Medal (awarded to the student graduating with the highest cumulative grade point average).