Report to Community

In the Fall of 2024, nine students started their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree through UCalgary in Drayton Valley. The program builds on the successes of Alberta Health Services and the University of Calgary in Wainwright, where the rural nursing degree program was launched in 2021.  Kelsey Letendre, a local licensed practical nurse at the Drayton Valley Hospital and Care Centre, is among the first cohort of students.  

UCalgary Research Excellence Chair

In addition to being among 15 recipients named UCalgary Research Excellence Chairs in 2024, professor Dr. Shane Sinclair released a study that measured the impact of compassion in the 14 busiest provincial emergency departments in Alberta. The paper published in BMC Emergency Medicine found that compassion was identified as the greatest predictor of patients' overall quality care ratings. He also received the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) Medal of Honour for his groundbreaking evidence-based patient-centered compassion research. 

Canadian Institutes of Health Research Tier 1 CRC in Black and Racialized Peoples’ Health 

Dr. Bukola Salami is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Black and Racialized Peoples' Health at the Cumming School of Medicine and Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary. Her research program focuses on policies and practices shaping migrant health as well as Black People’s health. Dr. Salami is also the Canadian Nurses Association’s vice-president and became a professor in the Faculty of Nursing on Sept. 1, 2024.

Canadian Institutes of Health Research Tier 2 CRC in Patient and Family Centered Cancer Survivorship 

In November 2024, the Government of Canada announced the renewal of six Canada Research Chairs (CRC) at the University of Calgary, along with eight new CRC appointments, earning UCalgary more than $10 million in federal funding to solve some of our most complex problems. Dr. Cuthbert continues her second term as a CRC chairholder and on building momentum, she says, “my ultimate goal is to develop innovative and sustainable ways to support patients and their families as they grapple with their many biopsychosocial health and supportive care needs."

Associate professor and associate dean, research and innovation Dr. Tracie Risling and Alberta Health Services leaders are co-leading study-focused ways to stabilize and support more sustainable nursing workforce. Risling says the study REACHing (Retention through Experienced and Aspiring Career Harmony) Excellence: A Transformative Mentoring Solution for Late-Career Nursing Workforce Retention, will work toward delaying late-career nurses' retirement, combat system ageism and enhance novice nurse retention through significant mentorship matches.

Sue Crawford, manager of the Health Systems Transformation Initiative (HIVE) in the Faculty of Nursing was featured in an episode of Now Innovating, a research-to-impact podcast and video series at UCalgary. She shared how HIVE initiatives utilize nursing expertise to empower innovators and change agents to enhance health and health care delivery by applying transdisciplinary solutions.

Dr. Karen Benzies, PhD, is a leading researcher in maternal and child health in the Faculty of Nursing. At the annual ASTech Awards in November 2024, which recognizes Alberta’s science and technology innovation sector, Benzies was recognized in the category of Social Innovation/Educational Technologies – Research Collaboration. Her social enterprise Liminality developed Merge, a clinical trial-validated model of family-integrated care for the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In June 2025, she was named a 2025 Parex Innovation Fellow. The Parex Resources Innovation Fellowships recognize UCalgary researchers engaged in academic exploration and community collaborations that lead to impactful startups and advancements in technological and social innovation. 

The Faculty of Nursing was a collaborator with One Health at UCalgary for One Health in the Park: Pooches, Plants & Pests, a community event in September 2024. Second-year nursing students were part of an interprofessional team along with other UCalgary staff and students. They greeted guests in Fish Creek Provincial Park and provided health tips related to ticks and tick-borne diseases and demonstrated how to remove ticks. In addition, they ran activities and games for children about pet safety. 

The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) has partnered with RadiCare Ventures — a company co-founded by third-year UCalgary Nursing student Bill Zheng — to implement the city’s first dedicated washroom attendant program at the new public washroom facility. The goal: ensuring it is a safe and welcoming space for East Village visitors.  To ensure the washrooms are safe, welcoming and inclusive for all visitors, CMLC partnered with RadiCare Ventures to deliver a one-year washroom-attendant pilot program. RadiCare is a for-profit social enterprise, specializing in delivering cleaning services in urban areas, with an emphasis on hiring those facing employment barriers. 

Many women enter the menopausal transition unaware of the decades-long hormonal and physical changes it brings, often mislabeling it as a brief phase rather than a significant health shift. In May 2025, the Faculty of Nursing’s Health Systems Transformation Initiative (The HIVE) along with collaborators from UCalgary, the University of Alberta and Mount Royal University hosted the event Post-Reproductive Women's Health and the Menopausal Transition. It raised public awareness misconceptions about the menopause transition and how systemic gaps in awareness, research, and care for women's post-reproductive health affect not just individuals, but workplaces, families, and the broader health-care system.

The financial commitment of the Canadian Nurses Foundation to the University of Calgary, Faculty of Nursing NP-Led Mental Health and Wellness Clinic has facilitated the development, and implementation of our student-led Mental Health Peer Wellness Mentorship program. We have supported the mental health of our students thus far by increasing awareness of our NP-Led Mental Health & Wellness Clinic, having open and honest discussions about mental health, and promoting a sense of community. 

Dr. Sandra Davidson, RN, PhD, former dean of the Faculty of Nursing, provost and vice-president (academic) of the University of Calgary was recognized by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) as a visionary academic nurse administrator with the 2024 CASN Academic Administrative Excellence Award. This award celebrates leaders in academic nursing management in Canada who have developed innovative strategies to strengthen the quality of nursing academic programs at the university level. 

UCalgary Nursing’s partnership with Faculty of Arts and Alberta Health Services streamlines delivery of electronic health records system training for students. In August 2024, UCalgary Nursing was part of a Connect Care training pilot establishing AHS satellite training labs at select schools. This demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary relationships and how collaboration among community partners can streamline processes to improve the student experience. The success of the pilot means that this process will once again be implemented August 2025 before the fall semester begins. 

In July 2024, Dr. Nicole Letourneau was appointed as Assistant Dean, Mentorship for Research and Grant Success. The role was created to provide guidance for graduate students, post-doctoral trainees and early career faculty members developing competitive grant funding applications and enhancing their research capabilities. The position focuses on providing mentorship, guidance and support to nursing faculty and graduate students in pursuit of tri-council and national grants. 

We take seriously our responsibility to answer Call #24 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (2015), calling on nursing schools to teach about the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization on the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.  

The Four Elements Indigenous Framework centers Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, connecting, and being; enlivening the UCalgary ii’taa’poh’to’p conceptual model. Through the ongoing development of the Four Elements curricular themes, we commit to embedding them in our undergraduate and graduate curriculum, faculty development and faculty culture.