RN, MScN, PhD, FAAN, FCAN
Professor & Sally Smith Chair in Nursing

Research Interests: 

• Global maternal and newborn care

• Risk Factors & Intervention Targets for Perinatal Health

Faculty Bio

My teaching philosophy is a work in progress as it continues to evolve as I develop as a teacher, clinician, researcher, and person. As a teacher, I wish to promote scholarship and learning related to the relationships among practice, theory, and research and to do this through a collaborative teaching approach. I hope to expand the student’s powers of reason and reflection and facilitate life-long learning skills so that they can apply learning in a rapidly changing health care environment, as well cope in such an environment. I strive to promote global awareness amongst all students to engender global citizenship to create innovative solutions to health problems that transcend geographic boundaries.

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Research Interests

Maternal perinatal distress, most commonly depression and anxiety, now affects one in three women over the time of conception to one year following the birth of the baby. Prevalence rates are higher for women in low- and middle-income countries and immigrant women who represent one-fifth of Canada’s female population. Perinatal distress is predictive of preterm birth, poor paternal health, and poorer child development. My program of research (1) investigates psychosocial, cultural, and environmental factors (acute and chronic stress) as both risk factors and target of intervention to prevent adverse health outcomes; (2) explicates the biological mechanisms whereby psychosocial health contributes to poor health outcomes, and (3) aims to bring innovation in delivery of perinatal mental health care. I lead the Maternal infant Global Health Team (MiGHT) Collaborators in Research which is an international team of academics, researchers, clinicians, and policy decision-makers from Pakistan, Tanzania, Kenya, United States and Canada. Funders include International (Shastri Institutional Collaborative Research Grant, Global Alliance for Chronic Disease), National (Canadian Institute of Health Research), Provincial (Alberta Centre for Child, Family & Community Research/Policy Wise for Children & Families, IMPACT Child Health Award), and local (Maternal Newborn Child & Youth Strategic Clinical Network TM Health Outcomes Improvement Fund) agencies.

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I am currently accepting thesis-based students in the graduate program in the area of global maternal and newborn care: paternal perinatal mental health, infant health and mental health, psychosocial interventions. Frameworks of interest: allostatic load, sustainable development, life course approach. Research approaches: quantitative research, qualitative research, mixed methods, systematic review.