Cathy Kline is the Assistant Director, Patient & Community Partnership for Education, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. Cathy joined UBC in 2003. She manages research and development initiatives that promote patient and public involvement in health professional education and has helped to build a network of over 150 patient educators and 80 community organizations at UBC. Her work involves collaborations between the university and community to integrate patient expertise and experience into mainstream educational practice. Her research interests are in the outcomes of patient engagement, particularly the impacts on professional identity, health care communication and decision making.