Jeff LeBrun is the Clinical Leader of Development at IWK Health in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His background includes graduating with a Business Administration degree from St. Francis Xavier University and a former career as a Construction Project Manager.

In 2014, Jeff returned to Nursing School after being admitted to the Accelerated Program at Dalhousie University. In 2016, upon graduation, he was awarded the University Silver Medal for highest GPA in an Undergraduate Program. Following graduation, he worked as a Staff Nurse in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/Nephrology department at IWK Health.

In 2017, Jeff entered the Master of Science in Nursing program at Dalhousie University. He received a NSHRF Scotia Support Scholarship and served as the Graduate Student Representative on the School Council. His field of research is Interprofessional Education, and he works as a Research Coordinator on a seven-year longitudinal study examining Interprofessional Education at Dalhousie University.

Jeff recently entered a new role at the IWK as a Clinical Leader of Development.

Alexandra (Alex) Harris is a scholar practitioner, educator and healthcare administrator who is passionate about nursing leadership and issues related to the health workforce. She is currently a Manager, Professional Practice and Investigator, Institute for Better Health, at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, Ontario where she leads initiatives aimed as supporting nurse recruitment, retention and transition to practice. Alex is also an independent research consultant specializing in health human resources, working with national and international organizations, such as Health Canada and the International Council of Nurses. Her formal training is in nursing (BNSc, RN), health leadership (MN/MHSc, CHE) and health services research (PhD), including receipt of a Frederick Banting and Charles Best CGS Doctoral Research Award, as well as a Fellowship and Clarkson Laureateship for Public Service from Massey College, University of Toronto (UofT). Alex teaches in the graduate program at the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, UofT and serves on the editorial advisory boards of Nursing Leadership and Healthcare Management Forum.

Associate Professor, Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University

Susan Drouin joined the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) in 1982 as a staff nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH). Since that time, Professor Drouin has filled a variety of roles, including staff nurse, research assistant and nurse manager. She was the associate director of nursing for women’s health for 13 years (1999-2012) and associate director of nursing for clinical and professional staff development from 2012 to October 2016. Additionally, she held positions as associate director of nursing for the MCH and interim positions in this role for mental health services and the surgical mission.

In October 2016, she assumed a full time position as an associate professor at the Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University. Her professional and academic interests include nursing leadership development and change management. At the Ingram school of Nursing she assumed the position of Academic Director, Continuing Nursing Education Office (CNE) and Associate Director, Graduate and Online Educational programs. Susan is presently serving in her second appointment as a member of the university’s Senate. (2018- present)

In addition to her clinical background, Susan Drouin has research publications and committee work to her credit, including as a member of the MUHC Board’s committee on quality & risk and the MUHC Reproductive Centre’s ethics committee. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at the Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University since 1993, including the graduate-level course Professional Issues in Nursing since 2007. She has reviewed grants, served on the McGill Faculty of Medicine’s admission committee for the Med-P Program (2002-2008), and been a clinical instructor in charge of Master of Nursing students on rotation in pediatrics (1987-1999).

Professor Drouin is past president of the MUHC’s Council of Nurses (2008-2012), past president of the Board of Directors of the Professional Association of Management Nurses of Quebec; past nursing representative on the Board of Directors of the MCH (1995-1997); past nursing representative on the Council for Services to Children and Adolescents at the MCH (1997-1999); and past member of the MCH’s Institutional Review Board (ethics of research studies) and the Council of Nurses representative on the MUHC Board of Directors (2012-2016). In 2009, she received the Valerie Shannon MUHC Award of Excellence for Innovative Leadership in Nursing Practice.

Susan Drouin holds a Bachelor of Nursing from the University of New Brunswick, a Master of Science (Applied) in Nursing from McGill University, a Master of Arts in Leadership and Education (Health) from Royal Roads University, and a Doctor of Social Sciences from Royal Roads University. Her doctoral thesis, “Developing Organizational Leadership Capacities in Preparation for a Major Transition in Healthcare” looked at MUHC managers and emerging leaders and the development of their leadership capacity in preparation for the complex transition to the new MUHC clinical facilities, opened in 2015.

She completed the Healthcare Excellence Canada EXTRA Fellowship in 2011 (cohort #6) and earned her Certified Health Executive (CHE) credentials from the Canadian College of Health Leaders in 2015. Professor Drouin is a member of the Canadian College of Health Leaders and the Ordre des infirmières et infirmiers du Québec.  Susan is fluent in English and French.

Christina received her PhD in Nursing Administration in 2016 from the Ingram School of Nursing (ISON), McGill University.  Her PhD work used a qualitative approach to explore the process for developing effective collaborative partnerships among nurse and physician managers. She completed a post doctorate at L’Université de Montréal 2016-2017 looking at competency-based education. During her career in nursing over the last 20 years, Christina has worked as a nurse clinician, clinical nurse specialist, nurse researcher and educator. Her areas of interests have included global health initiatives within the graduate nursing program at McGill as well as developing and implementing educational initiatives on interprofessional collaboration for both faculty and students as a course director for the Office of Interprofessional Education, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University. Christina continues to be involved in graduate student teaching at the ISON as a faculty lecturer as well as in the Masters of Teaching Program for the University of Sherbrooke. In her current role as the site lead for the McGill Nursing Collaborative for Education and Innovation in Patient- and Family-Centered Care, Integrated Health and Social Services University Network for West Central Montreal, she developed and implemented a Nursing leadership program for Nurse managers within their regional health network. She is also a co-investigator for a Partnership Grant funded by CIHR and SSHRC, 2018-2023 that has recently launched a Leadership training program working to transform nurses’ work environments through a Strengths-Based Approach.

As part of her vision, Christina is dedicated to enhancing a strong and thriving community of nursing scholarship in Montreal as well as continue to focus on professional development, research and continuing education initiatives.

Dr. Kirsten Woodend is an Associate Professor at the Trent University.  Kirsten has occupied numerous leadership positions including 10 years as the Dean of the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing, Director & Associate Dean of Nursing (Ottawa University), Director of Research (CPHA), Clinical Scientist, Nursing (UOHI) and Director of an epidemiology department in a public health unit.   Kirsten has received more than 10 million dollars in grant funding, as primary or co-applicant, over the past 10 years and has authored or co-authored 61 peer reviewed articles and 169 peer reviewed presentations in addition to numerous non-peer reviewed articles and invited presentations.  She is committed to both her academic and local community, serving on the board of the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (President 2014-16); working to address the peer support needs of amputees regionally and nationally; member of the Board of the Alliance for Healthier communities and chair of the board of the local nurse-practitioner-led clinic.

Dr. Price is a Professor with the School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, and an Affiliate Scientist at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

She is a Collaborator with the Pan-Canadian Health Human Research Network (CHHRN), a Co-Investigator with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Workforce Planning and an Associate Research Scholar with the Healthy Populations Institute.

Dr. Price’s research is focused in the areas of health services, professional socialization, interprofessional collaboration and healthcare work environments. Dr. Price has lead several innovative knowledge translation and dissemination projects including the use of arts-based media to promote career choice, recruitment and interprofessional education and collaboration within the health professions.

Maura is a Professor of Nursing at the University of British Columbia-Vancouver. She studies healthcare work environments, and has focused on those health work environment characteristics associated with Magnet-like work environments, such as nurse leadership at all levels of the organization, resource adequacy, workload management, professional development, shared governance and respectful communications and interdisciplinary relationships. Magnet-like work environment characteristics are evidence-based strategies for nurse recruitment and retention. She also studies educational innovations and is a Fellow in CASN’s Nursing Education Institute. Maura teaches leadership and healthcare administration at the undergraduate and graduate levels; she was Academic and Research Lead in the creation of the British Columbia Nursing Leadership Institute (NLI), and she adapted the model with executive nurse leaders in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Brazil. Maura uses mixed methods research (qualitative, quantitative) specializing in program evaluation and participatory action research. Most recently, she has been studying and applying realist methods with colleagues in Canada, Switzerland and the UK.

Maura is a Professor of Nursing at the University of British Columbia-Vancouver. She studies healthcare work environments, especially evidence-based Magnet-like characteristics that attract and retain nurses. Maura teaches leadership and healthcare administration at the undergraduate and graduate levels; she was co-lead in the creation of the British Columbia Nursing Leadership Institute (NLI), and she adapted the model with executive nurse leaders in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Brazil. She is currently doing realist research with colleagues in Canada, Switzerland and the UK.

Dr. Sonia Udod is an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Saskatchewan and Brandon University. She is a co-Principal Investigator of an overarching research program to advance healthcare leadership, nurses’ work environments, health systems, and healthcare policy called Translating Evidence for Nursing LEADership (LEAD) and Health Services to Improve Outcomes Program, or “LEAD Outcome Research (https://leadoutcomesresearch.ca/).

In the LEAD Outcome Research Program, Dr. Udod works with Dr. Pamela Baxter (McMaster University) and Dr. Maura MacPhee (University of British Columbia), to conduct research focusing on building nurse leader capacity. Drs. Udod, MacPhee, and Baxter were recently invited to provide an editorial on crisis leadership for the Journal of Nursing Administration (Fall, 2021 publication). She has several published scholarly works to her credit, both as first author and contributory author in international and national journals.

Dr. Udod is a recipient of both national and provincial funding, and was the recipient of a Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation Establishment Grant, the Top Researcher Award in Socio-Health, as well as a Research Manitoba grant.  She received the Martha Donavan Leadership Award for academic leadership training.

Dr. Udod serves in several leadership capacities within and outside Manitoba. She was recently appointed the International Director for the Association for Leadership Science in Nursing and an Editorial Board member of Nursing Reports, a new peer-reviewed online journal and Topic Editor for the current issue of Nursing and COVID-19. In addition, Dr. Udod serves as a Vice-Chair of the Leadership, Management, and Policy Interest group and an Inaugural Member of the James W. Burns Leadership Institute, Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba. Furthermore, she is a member of the Canadian Health Human Resources Network, Academy of Management, International Institute for Qualitative Methodology (IIQM), and the Sigma Theta Tau International, Xi Lambda Chapter.

In addition to Dr. Udod’s passion for enhancing nurse leader capacity in the workplace, she also has a passion for teaching students to be effective leaders. Her teaching expertise includes leadership and management, research methods, advanced qualitative methods, and she has taught in undergraduate and graduate-level nursing courses using various teaching modalities. Additionally, she supervises and mentors undergraduate students in senior years and graduate and doctoral students in their capstone, thesis, and dissertation projects.

Dean & Professor
College of Health Sciences, University of Alberta
Principal Investigator, CLEAR Outcomes Research Program

Dr. Greta Cummings is a former healthcare administrator, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing, and currently Dean, College of Health Sciences, at the University of Alberta. Passionate about relational nursing leadership that empowers individuals, teams, and organizations to achieve shared goals, Dr. Cummings leads both the CLEAR Outcomes (Connecting Leadership Education & Research) research program in leadership science in healthcare systems, and the Older Persons’ Transitions in Care (OPTIC) research program to examine the quality of transitions of frail elderly from residential care facilities to acute care and back.

Dr. Cummings has published over 230 papers, is a 2014 Highly Cited Researcher in Social Sciences (Thomson Reuters) and a fellow in both the American and Canadian Academies of Nursing, and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Dr. Cummings has received the Canadian Nurses Association Order of Merit for Research, was inaugurated into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame and has served as President of both the Canadian Association of Oncology Nurses (2005-2007) and the International Society of Nurses in Cancer (2010-2014).

Linda McGillis Hall, RN, PhD, FCAHS, FCNEI, FAAN, FCAN is a Professor in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto and was named the Kathleen Russell Distinguished Professor from 2013 to 2019. She served as the Associate Dean Research at the Faculty (2007-2013 and 2014-2018), Acting Dean (July-Dec 2011), and Interim Dean (July 2013-August 2014). Her work has been acknowledged through national and international fellowships including as the first Canadian nurse inducted as an American Academy of Nursing ‘International’ Fellow (2007), a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2010), was named a Senior Massey Fellow (2015), a Fellow of the Canadian Nurse Educator Institute (2018), and a Fellow of the Canadian Nurses Association (2020).

She also received numerous national and international research honours including being the inaugural recipient of the Canadian Nurses Association Order of Merit for Nursing Research in Canada (2008), the Award for Excellence in Nursing Research from the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (2011), the Research Mentorship Award from the U.S. Health Services Research Organization – ‘Academy Health’s Interdisciplinary Research Group on Nursing Issues (2013), and selection to the Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society of Nursing, Nurse International Researcher Hall of Fame (2016). Her research also earned her a number of prestigious awards including the Pat Griffin Scholar from the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (2017), a Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care [MOHLTC] Nursing Senior Career Research Award (2009-2012), a Canadian Institutes of Health Research [CIHR] New Investigator Award (2002-2007), and a Premier’s Research Excellence Award from the Government of Ontario (2003-2008).

She has supervised a number of PhD students who have gone on to successful faculty careers at universities across Canada including the University of Ottawa, Dalhousie University, and McMaster University, as well as several who went on to innovative healthcare system leadership and/or scientist roles in both Canada and the U.S. She currently teaches courses on advanced nursing leadership theories and concepts in the Masters of Nursing, Health Systems Leadership and Administration program at the University of Toronto. Professor McGillis Hall is a recognized leader in nursing health services and systems research, with a particular focus on regulated and unregulated professions (particularly nursing), health human resources, health care work environments and outcomes of models of care She gives invited presentations nationally and internationally, contributes to review panels and works extensively with policy leaders, professional, health system and union leaders, and federal and provincial governments. Her current work is focused on evaluating the models of care implemented by health care organizations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Linda McGillis Hall is a Professor in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto. She currently teaches courses on advanced nursing leadership theories and concepts in the Masters of Nursing, Health Systems Leadership and Administration program and is a recognized leader in nursing health services and systems research and leadership, with a particular focus on nurse staffing and creating healthy work environments. Linda was named the 2017 Pat Griffin Scholar by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing, and a Fellow of the Canadian Nurse Educator Institute (CNEI) in 2018. She also has been named as a fellow of the the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2010), the American Academy of Nursing (2007) and the Canadian Nursing Association (2020).

Dr. Sonia Udod is an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Saskatchewan and Brandon University. She is a co-Principal Investigator of an overarching research program to advance healthcare leadership, nurses’ work environments, health systems, and healthcare policy. The research program is dubbed “LEAD Outcome Research (https://leadoutcomesresearch.ca/), for Translating Evidence for Nursing LEADership (LEAD) and Health Services to Improve Outcomes Program. Her research program focuses on enhancing nurse leader development critical to creating high-quality healthcare workplaces, leading to quality nurse, patient, and organizational outcomes.

Dr. Udod is passionate about enhancing nurse leader capacity in the workplace and teaching students to be effective leaders. In the LEADS Outcome Research Program. Dr. Udod works collaboratively with intra- and interdisciplinary teams to conduct research on nurse leader capacity building. Findings emerging from her research program have significant potential to inform and improve leadership practices and health services through translating relevant knowledge for nurse leaders. Dr. Udod is a recipient of numerous provincial and national funding awards and serves in various leadership capacities, including the International Director for the Association for Leadership Science in Nursing. In addition, several published scholarly works and presentations are accredited to her.

Her teaching expertise includes leadership and management, research methods, advanced qualitative methods, and she has taught in undergraduate and graduate-level nursing courses using various teaching modalities. In addition, she supervises and mentors graduate and doctoral students in their capstone, thesis, and dissertation projects.

Maura is a Professor of Nursing at the University of British Columbia-Vancouver. She studies healthcare work environments, especially evidence-based Magnet-like characteristics that attract and retain nurses. Maura teaches leadership and healthcare administration at the undergraduate and graduate levels; she was co-lead in the creation of the British Columbia Nursing Leadership Institute (NLI), and she adapted the model with executive nurse leaders in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Brazil. She is currently doing realist research with colleagues in Canada, Switzerland and the UK.

Dr. Donna Martin is a Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Programs at the College of Nursing, University of Manitoba.  As a nurse researcher, Dr. Martin works collaboratively with interdisciplinary teams and marginalized groups to conduct community-driven research focusing on health equity and social justice.  Primarily through the use of qualitative methods, her research explores health equity and social justice from the perspective and lived experience of marginalized groups.  She currently serves as a co-principal investigator on a CIHR-funded study to explicate the micro and macro contruction  of induced displacement from the perspective of Little Saskatchewan First Nation youth impacted by 2011 human-made flood.  Dr. Martin was the recipient of three teaching awards and she’s a Past President of Xi Lambda Chapter, Sigma Theta Tau International (Nursing Honor Society).  She supervises students with interest in health equity and social justice and students passionate about quality nursing education and health services