Dr. Nicole Letourneau

...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

Brief CV

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

Participation in university strategic initiatives

Brain and mental health

Child health and wellness

Infections, inflammation and chronic diseases

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

Publications

Parenting and Child Development: Issues and Answers. Woodside: London, UK. (2020)
What Kind of Parent Am I? Self-Surveys that Reveal the Impact of Toxic Stress and More. Dundurn: Toronto, ON. (2018)
Scientific Parenting: What Science Reveals About Parental Influence. Dundurn: Toronto: ON. (2013)

Scopus

Google Scholar

Pubmed

In the News

Opinion Editorials appearing in various news outlets. Evidence Network.
Mental Health and Indigenous Child Welfare. Ottawa Citizen. (2022)
COVID-19 and Mental Health Care. Globe and Mail. (2022)
Personalized Medicine. Huff Post. (2017)
Genomic Research Lacks Diversity. Toronto Star. (2022)