Currently

I am a registered nurse and an Assistant Professor with the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto and a Faculty Associate with the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus. I am Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Governance, Accountability, and Transparency in the Pharmaceutical Sector at the University of Toronto. My research explores the interactions and intersections between medically-related industry and the public health system, health professionals, and health researchers and the implications for health information, healthcare delivery and scientific evidence.

Education and experience

I served as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the mentorship of Professor Lisa Bero at the Charles Perkins Centre at The University of Sydney where I held a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). I am a member of the Evidence Policy and Influence Collaborative, which is focused on multidisciplinary studies of corporate and other influences on scientific research and health policies.

I was awarded my PhD in Nursing from the University of California, San Francisco in the innovative Nursing, Health Policy program under the supervision of Dr. Ruth Malone, an internationally-recognized expert in the activities of the tobacco industry. My dissertation was the first in-depth exploration of the relationships between nurses and medically-related industry and was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

I earned a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of Alberta, where I was awarded the McClure Medal in Nursing. From 2005 through 2013, I worked as a research assistant to Dr. Olive Yonge in the area of preceptorship, using grounded theory and photovoice methodologies.

I practiced clinically at the San Francisco Department of Public Health Medical Respite and Sobering Centre. This 24/7 nurse-managed program provides support to individuals acutely intoxicated with alcohol. Serving as a pre-hospital diversion program and an alternative to jail, the Sobering Centre accepts clients directly from police and ambulance services, offering safe, short-term, supportive and responsive care to the multiple needs of clients with chronic alcohol dependence.

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