Meet Blythe Owen: 2025 Multidisciplinary Healthcare Award: Physiotherapist Recipient  

 For more than 20 years, Blythe Owen has been a dedicated physiotherapist at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, helping children with cystic fibrosis (CF) with compassion, expertise, and her commitment to patient-centred care. Blythe’s first job after graduating was in CF, an experience that immediately captured her heart and ultimately defined her career. Blythe Owen has awarded Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s 2025 Multidisciplinary Healthcare Award: Physiotherapist, an honour she describes as meaningful not only to her, but to her entire team. 

Blythe’s passion for CF care is deeply tied to the relationships she builds with patients and their families. Spending one to two hours at a time with a patient has allowed her to gain a holistic understanding of her patients, learning about their interests, their families, and their personalities beyond their diagnosis. 

One of her favourite memories reflects this connection. Early in her career, she helped organize a lip‑sync concert for a young patient who loved music. “You get to know the families on such a personal level,” she shared. “Those memories stay with you.” She has also participated in numerous Walk To Make Cystic Fibrosis History events to fundraise and increase awareness about CF and future therapies.  

Over the years, Blythe has supported patients through every stage of their CF journey, from infancy through adolescence and the transition to adult care. She values celebrating milestones, whether it’s improved lung function, making the hockey team, increased activity, or even watching a child grow taller than she is! 

Education is central to Blythe’s approach. “I don’t want patients to do therapies just because we told them to,” she explained. “I want them to understand why.” 

This philosophy led her to develop an educational website for adolescents with CF through a Circle of Care grant, featuring illustrated, accessible content tailored to different learning styles. She also plays an important advocacy role when training new physiotherapists or supporting patients in acute-care settings, ensuring that CF care is understood, prioritized, and delivered with expertise. She has status appointment at the University of Toronto as a Lecturer through her lab instruction, clinical education, and subject matter expertise.  

During her two decades in the field, Blythe has seen remarkable advances in CF treatments. In the early years, she often treated patients with severe lung disease, managing frequent admissions, and supporting those preparing for lung transplants. Today, mucolytics, improved antibiotics, and CFTR modulators have transformed the landscape. 

“These therapies have been game‑changing for most,” she said. Families tell her about improved sleep, more energy, and newfound ability to participate in sports and activities, changes that were far less common 20 years ago. Still, she emphasizes that ongoing maintenance therapies remain essential and continued research and innovation are important for those who are not eligible for CFTR modulators 

Blythe hopes future research will continue to reduce the treatment burden. Key questions remain about how much airway clearance and nebulization are needed and how care can be safely streamlined, areas she is eager to see evolve. 

Receiving the multidisciplinary award was a meaningful moment for Blythe. “This felt like recognition of not just my work, but the work we do together,” she said. She credits her colleagues, the broader CF team and community, and the patients and families who inspire her daily. “Working in CF care has always felt like a second home,” Blythe reflected. “It’s a privilege to walk alongside these families for so many years.”