Allison Sohanlal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. Allison began her career as a Certified Child Life Specialist in Boston, MA after graduating from the Wheelock College MSc Child Life & Family Centered Care program. Across her clinical career, Allison has worked in early intervention services, community hospitals, tertiary paediatric hospitals and community non-profit organizations.
Allison has also been involved in child life and paediatric psychosocial care education since 2009 at McMaster University. In 2017, she completed the McMaster University MSc Health Science Education program with a thesis titled “The Educational Impact of the Evaluation Tool for Child Life Interns: A Mixed Methods Study”. Allison currently is a full-time faculty member of the MSc Child Life & Pediatric Psychosocial Care program and the Clinical Education Coordinator for Stream 1: Entry to Child Life Practice. For more than a decade, she has served in the Clinical Education Coordinator role, guiding students through one of the most important steps in their journey: completing child life clinical internships. In this role, Allison not only helps facilitate the national matching process, but also nurtures strong relationships with preceptors and internship sites across Canada to ensure students feel supported every step of the way. Mentorship is at the heart of her work, whether she's teaching clinical education courses, cheering on interns, or sharing her own experiences. As one of the founding faculty of the CLPPC program, Allison is especially proud of the program's growth and the community if fosters.
In 2024, Allison was accepted into the Online Learning Consortium's Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning. As the only Canadian member in a cohort of 50 academic scholars, Allison completed a leadership project exploring microcredential continuing education opportunities for the Department of Pediatrics.
Being an active and contributing member of the child life community has always been important to Allison. She has served on committees within the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) and in 2025, was invited to be a contributing member in the first strategic planning meeting for the Child Life Certification Commission. Allison is also a proud member of the Child Life Academic Society and is currently co-chair of the Internship Experience Task Force. This two year task force is focused on benchmarking and producing an evidence-based recommendation document to improve best practices in clinical training for the child life profession.
Allison lives in Burlington, Ontario with her husband and two daughters.
