Sonia Lala is a human-centered design researcher and strategist with experience in developing and piloting solutions for diverse stakeholder populations across a variety of healthcare settings in Canada, the US and India. She applies design methodologies to explore and address multiple dimensions of well-being as a cohesive system. Social, emotional and cultural factors comprise the significant behavioural component to the effectiveness of healthcare interventions. Sonia is passionate about facilitating change by uncovering the "what" and "why" of individual and community narratives, and working with people to identify a more elegant "how" through ideation, prototyping and implementation.

She is rooted at the intersection of Engineering and Design, with a Bachelor of Engineering Physics (McMaster University), a Master of Clinical Engineering (UBC), and a Master of Design (IIT Institute of Design). While at Institute of Design, two of her team projects (strategic use cases for novel continuous heart rate monitoring technology, and improving the patient experience during external-beam radiation therapy) were nominated for design awards from Fast Company and Core77. Her proposal to explore predictive interventions for minimizing apnea under conscious sedation at UBC earned her the MITACS Accelerate Research Award.

As the former research lead at D-Lab (Harvard School of Public Health) she supported competency-building programs and the evolution of new design methodologies in public health. Prior to that, she was an innovation consultant at Doblin (Deloitte), guiding clients in the public and commercial healthcare space to identify and pursue new opportunities. She transitioned into the field of design from a career as a federal regulator for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, where she focused on radiation safety and human factors in the construction and operation of high-risk environments such as nuclear reactors and cancer care facilities.