Dr. Donna Murnaghan is the Dean and Professor of the School of Nursing at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and serves as a member of the Senior Management Team at TRU. Donna’s interests are in leadership, systems change, nursing education, research and improving the health and well-being of the population.
In 2012, shewas awarded the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of her contribution to nursing and nursing education in Canada.
She is Vice-Chair of the Deans and Directors of Health Care BC, a member of the executive of
Nurse Educators Council BC, board member of both the Canadian Association
School of Nursing (CASN) and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI).
Previously, Donna was the Director of the PEI Health Research Institute for 9-years where she was responsible for building, supporting and mentoring faculty research and health research across the Prince Edward Island community, government and university partners.
Dr. Murnaghan was the co-founder of the National Alliance of Provincial Health Research Organizations (NAPHRO) with representation of all the Provincial Health Research Agencies in Canada. NAPHRO continues to contribute to setting the direction for healthresearch funding for each province and for working to set direction for health research funding with the tri-council funding agencies.
Between 2003 and 2013, Donna was a member of the advisory team for restructuring the PEI health system, was one of the founding Board of Directors, and then served as Chair of the Board of Health PEI.
Dr. Murnaghan also served as a volunteer board member of the PEI Division of the
Canadian Cancer Society and Board of Directors for the Canadian Cancer Society. Her contributions included development of the first Provincial Cancer Control Strategy in Canada and being the lead of the largest donor campaign in the province’s history. In 2002, she was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for her contribution to Cancer Control.
Dean Murnaghan’s current area of research expertise is in prevention of chronic disease by working with youth population in areas of tobacco, drugs, alcohol, physical activity, healthy eating and mental fitness. She is a mixed methodologist, with interest in diverse areas of study Biography – Dr. Donna Murnaghan and with variety of populations. She is Co-PI of the Comprehensive School Health Research Unit since 2007.
Dr. Murnaghan’s Master’s Thesis was on The relationship between level of hope and level of coping among patients withcancer and nurses’ perceptions of their patients level of hope. Her PhD dissertation examinedThe influence of policy of high school students knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about tobacco.
Her research funding is in excess of $25,000,000 funding from PEI Government,
Health Canada, Canadian Institute Health
