Uppala Chandrasekera

Uppala Chandrasekera, MSW, RSW, is a Social Worker with over 20 years of work experience in the health sector, ranging from frontline work assisting individuals and families with mental health and addictions issues, to supporting mental health and addictions programming province-wide, and implementing public policy strategies to address mental health and addictions across Canada.

Most recently, Uppala was the Deputy Registrar & Chief Professional Practice Officer at the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers. From 2022-2025, she was the Director of Public Health at Toronto Public Health. From 2013-2022, Uppala was the Director of Public Policy at the Canadian Mental Health Association Ontario.

Uppala currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Daymark Foundation, a national foundation committed to supporting the mental health of Canadians. From 2017-2020, she served on the Toronto Police Services Board, the first mental health professional to be appointed to this role. From 2012-2018, she served on the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, the national organization mandated to improve the mental health system through sound public policy. From 2008-2014, she also served on the Board of Directors of Parkdale Community Health Centre, a primary care health centre focused on engaging with traditionally underserved communities in Toronto.

Uppala has an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Toronto (2005) and a Master of Social Work Degree from Wilfrid Laurier University (2009). She has had a long history with the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, where she was an Ontario Visiting Scholar in 2009, a Sessional Instructor from 2020-2025, and an Assistant Professor (Status Only) from 2022-2025. She began her PhD in Social Work in Fall 2025, is currently completing a Collaborative Specialization in Addiction Studies at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and is a member of the student training program at the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network. Through her research, published writings and work in the community, Uppala examines the impact of the lived experience of discrimination and racism on the health, mental health, and wellbeing of marginalized populations. Her doctoral research focuses on expanding the role of social work in the response to the ongoing drug toxicity crisis.