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Dr. Laschinger's current curriculum vitae is available on PDF, and was published on Sept. 27^th, 2010

Dr. Heather Laschinger

Since 1992 Dr. Laschinger has been Principal Investigator of a program of research designed to investigate the impact of nursing work environments on nurses’ empowerment for professional practice, and their health and well-being. A major focus of Dr. Laschinger’s research is assessing the impact of nursing work environments on nursing and client outcomes.  Much of this work has focused on the role of leadership in creating empowering work environments that support professional practice and promote nurses’ health and well-being.

Since 2003 Dr. Laschinger has received 5 major awards in recognition of her work. She was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing; in 2008 she was elected to the prestigious Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, considered one of the highest honours for individuals in the Canadian health sciences community.  In 2007, she was awarded the Distinguished University Professor Award at the University of Western Ontario, and in 2003, Dr. Laschinger was the first Canadian researcher to receive the prestigious Sigma Theta Tau International Elizabeth McWilliams Miller Award for Excellence in Research from the International Honour Society of Nursing. Most recently, Dr. Laschinger won the Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research from The University of Western Ontario.  She has served on numerous advisory groups at the provincial and federal levels in relation to healthy workplace issues and is currently a Healthy Workplace Champion for the Ontario Ministry of health and Long Term Care.

Dr. Laschinger recently completed a national study profiling nursing leadership/management structures across Canada and concluded a provincial study testing a multi-level model of the impact of unit nursing leadership on nurses’ worklife and mental and physical health (SSHRC). Her current projects include co-leading the Enhancing Workplace Communities study, which is testing a workplace civility intervention in Ontario and Nova Scotia hospital settings and Principal Investigator on a CIHR funded national study of nurses' career aspirations to management positions across the country.  In 2009, she was awarded the Arthur Labatt Family Nursing Research Chair in Health Human Resources Optimization and will lead a 5 year program of research focusing on factors influencing new graduate nurses’ successful transition to practice and workplace violence.