Picture of Dr. Letourneau

Dr. Nicole Letourneau

PhD MN BN RN FCAHS FAAN FCAN FRSC
Pronouns: she/her/elle

Positions

Assistant Dean, Mentorship for Research and Grant Success

Faculty of Nursing, Dean's Office

Professor

Faculty of Nursing, Faculty

Research Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics

Research Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry

Research Professor

Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences

Child Health & Wellness Researcher

Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Owerko Centre

Full Member

Hotchkiss Brain Institute

Full Member

Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education

Contact information

Phone number

Office: 403.210.3833

Location

Office: PF3260E

For media enquiries, contact

Lynda Sea, Senior Manager - Communications

Office: +1.403.471-9762
Email: lsea@ucalgary.ca
Twitter: @ucalgarynursing

I'm looking for...

Funding

...to support outstanding students, PDFs, and research in AVA, APrON, & ATTACH. Consider joining or supporting our dynamic, productive, innovative, & impactful team team of 30+ people!

Background

Educational Background

Post-Doctorate - Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy Social Support and Social Policy, University of New Brunswick, 2004

Post-Doctorate - Centre for Health Promotion Studies Social Support, University of Alberta, 2003

PhD Nursing, University of Alberta, 1998

MN University of Alberta, 1994

BN University of New Brunswick, 1991

Biography

Nicole Letourneau PhD RN FCAHS FAAN FCAN FRSC is Professor in the Faculty of Nursing and Cumming School of Medicine (Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Community Health Sciences) at the University of Calgary, where she holds the University of Calgary Research Excellence Chair in Parent and Child Health. Formerly, she was the Chair in Parent-Infant Mental Health (2011-23; numerous funders including Palix, Newall, and Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation) and Canada Research Chair in Healthy Child Development (2007-11). She is Scientific Director of CIHR's National Health Research Training Plaform and Women's and Girls' Health Hub, called AVA (Alliance against Violence and Adversity), comprised of more than 200 academic and community partners across Canada, focused on implementation science training and knowledge mobilization to address violence and adversity affecting girls and women. She is also Director of RESOLVE (Research and Education for Solutions to Violence) Alberta.

She is Principal Investigator (PI) of the Child Health Intervention and Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Studies Program, examining parenting and child health and development in the context of maternal depression, family violence and other toxic stressors and early childhood adversity. She is also Principal Investigator of APrON, the Alberta pregnancy cohort of 2200 families funded for follow-up to 17 years of child age. Her research mainly focuses on predictors of child health and development including parental mental health, early childhood adversity (especially family violence), parent-child relationships, and genetics and epigenetics. She is founder of the ATTACH and VID-KIDS parenting programs, designed to help stressed or depressed parents support their children’s healthy development. ATTACH is currently scaling across the Canadian Prairies, Brazil, and Denmark.

She has attained $75 million CAD in research funding. She is the author of three books including Scientific Parenting (2013) and What Kind of Parent Am I? (2018) and Parenting and Child Development (2020) as well as 270+ peer reviewed papers. A regular contributor of opinion-editorials appearing in online/print media such as the HuffPost and Toronto Star, she is the world's most followed Nursing Professor on Twitter, with more than 30K followers.

She has attained many honours including Canada’s Top New CIHR Investigator in 2006, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2007, Awards for Research Excellence from the College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta in 2015 and Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing in 2017, and the Excellence in Leadership Award from Canadian Association of Perinatal and Women’s Health Nurses in 2019. In 2020, she was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing and received the prestigious Canadian Nurses Association Jeanne Mance award for population health impacts. In 2023, she was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada, one of few Nurse scientists to receive this honour. 

She is past Chair (2020-22) of the provincial college regulating 40,000 Registered Nurses in Alberta. She oversaw their change from a dual mandate regulator to a single mandate regulator, now known as the College of Registered Nurses of Alberta. She has served on multiple boards of directors including those of Discovery House Family Violence Prevention Society, Canadian Nurses Association, and CIHR. She is a certified corporate director. 

Research

Areas of Research

Vulnerable children, Social support, Parent-infant/child relationships, Maternal mental health, Domestic abuse, Family environmental effects on child development, Genetics and epigenetics

Projects

https://avatraining.ca/

https://apronstudy.ca/

https://attach.teachable.com/

https://childstudies.ca/

Awards

  • Fellow, Royal Society of Canada. 2023
  • Top Researcher Award, International Society of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurses. 2022
  • Fellow of Canadian Academy of Nursing, Canadian Nurses Association. 2022
  • Fellow, American Academy of Nursing. 2020
  • Killam Award for Research Excellence, University of Calgary. 2021
  • Jeanne Mance Award - Highest nursing achievement in Canada for contributions to health of Canadians , Canadian Nurses Association. 2020
  • Canadian Association of Schools of Top Nurse Researcher Award - , Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing. 2017
  • Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Difference Maker , Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. 2017
  • Faculty of Nursing Research Pursuit of Excellence Award, The University of Calgary. 2017
  • Change Agent in Health, Alberta Health Services. 2016
  • Inspiration Award for Family Violence Prevention, Alberta Ministry of Human Services. 2016
  • Peak Scholar Award for Research Innovation, University of Calgary. 2016
  • CARNA Award of Excellence in Research (highest honour bestowed to Alberta Nurse Scientist), College and Association of Registered Nurses in Alberta. 2015
  • Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. 2014
  • Nurses Association of New Brunswick Award of Merit: Research, Nurses Association of New Brunswick. 2011
  • Visitorship Award, Harrison McCain Foundation. 2010
  • Canada's Top 40 Under 40, Caldwell Partners. 2007
  • Canada's Premier New Investigator (Peter Lougheed/CIHR Award), Canadian Institutes of Health Research. 2011
  • Young Scholars Award, Harrison McCain Foundation. 2006
  • Alumni Horizon Award, University of Alberta. 2005
  • Canadian Institute of Advanced Research, New Investigator, Canadian Institute of Advanced Research. 2007
  • Outstanding New Investigator, Canadian Association for Nursing Research. 2004

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