From her roots as a mental health counsellor in a Community Health Centre, Penny was always driven to understand how improving team performance could result in more effective and responsive healthcare service delivery. As the founder and principal of Instincts at Work, Penny and her team have developed evidence informed programs and tools to evolve people’s thinking to meet the demands of complex systems.

Over 25 years of experience in healthcare as a frontline provider, health care leader and coach, Penny has developed a depth and breadth of solutions to liberate people from internal and external barriers to high performance. In addition to a Master’s degree, she is a Certified Neuroleadership Coach through the Neuroleadership Institute and a faculty member with the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the Dorothy Wylie Health Leaders Institute.

Most recently, Penny and her team developed and delivered a Leadership and Mentoring Program for the OCFP’s Leadership in Primary Care Collaborative Mentoring Network which equipped physician leaders with the leadership skills to influence local and regional change.

In March of 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Penny co-founded Primary Care 2025, an influential thought leadership and innovation in complexity lab with the shared purpose of strengthening the patient provider relationship through establishing patient medical neighbourhoods. Penny’s evidence-based approach and extensive experience coaching leaders in complex stakeholder environments make her one of the most qualified consultants in the province in physician leadership and system integration.