AstraZeneca PhD Nursing Award

I chose to pursue a career in nursing due to my passion for maternal-child health. Since graduating from McMaster University’s BScN program in 2016, I have worked clinically as a registered nurse in a tertiary-level neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In this setting, I care for premature neonates and critically ill infants and their families. An interest in research and higher education motivated me to begin a thesis-based Masters of Nursing program at McMaster University in 2018. Following a successful first year of graduate studies, I transferred to the Nursing Ph.D. program in 2019. In the course of my clinical work, I provide care to infants with complications from maternal type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes. I also witness the psychological impact that having an infant in the NICU has on families. My doctoral work was inspired by these clinical experiences and explores optimizing maternal diabetes self-management during pregnancy, the goal of which is to improve perinatal outcomes. I am specifically interested in technology-based solutions to support mothers in diabetes self-management during the antenatal period. I am honoured to receive the AstraZeneca Award from the Canadian Nurses Foundation.