Dr. Sheila Blackstock RN, BScN, MScN, COHN, FCNEI, PhD is a Gitxsan nursing scholar and an associate professor at Thompson Rivers University|Adjunct Professor at the University of Northern British Columbia. She has over 36 years of nursing experience, ranging from acute care to rural health and Indigenous and occupational health nursing. Her career aspirations upon graduating were to teach nursing, conduct research and to give back to the northern communities where she trained and worked. She completed her doctoral studies, continues teaching nursing, and is active in research and scholarship. She has developed and sustained partnerships with Indigenous leaders and communities throughout her career to create innovative theory and nursing practice courses at undergraduate and graduate levels.
Dr. Blackstock’s research is currently exploring the intersections of racialized incivility and incivility experiences of nurses in varying practice contexts. The findings of her research arm health care administrators with information to organizational structures, processes, and policies to improve the quality of nursing practice environments for nursing leaders and nurses.
Dr. Blackstock has developed and delivered an interdisciplinary Indigenous health course and an Indigenous nursing practice course for the TRU School of Nursing. She is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the First Nations Health Authority. The Minister of Health appointed her to the provincial In Plain Sight task force where she worked to decolonize healthcare legislation and to enact cultural safety and humility for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples at points of care.
Lorelli Nowell, RN, PHD
Associate Professor and Associate Dean Graduate Programs
Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary
Dr. Lorelli Nowell is an accomplished nurse scholar, educator, and leader recognized for her exceptional contributions to nursing education, mentorship, and research in Canada and internationally. She currently serves as an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Programs in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary, where her work advances the scholarship of teaching and learning, mentorship, and professional development in the health professions.
Dr. Nowell’s program of research is grounded in her commitment to creating supportive learning environments that foster growth, belonging, and success among nurses, students, and educators. Her research explores mentorship across academic and clinical settings, faculty development, and the use of innovative pedagogical approaches to enhance teaching and leadership capacity. Through her work, she has illuminated how meaningful mentorship relationships contribute to professional identity formation, retention, and the development of future nursing leaders. Dr. Nowell’s scholarship has been widely published in high-impact, peer-reviewed journals and disseminated through numerous national and international conference presentations.
As an educator, Dr. Nowell is known for her engaging, reflective, and learner-centered teaching philosophy. She teaches across graduate programs, where she inspires students to think critically about their roles as nurses, researchers, and change agents. Her leadership in curriculum development and educational innovation has helped shape the next generation of nurse scholars and educators. Dr. Nowell also serves as a mentor to undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in academia, practice, and leadership.
Throughout her career she has been honoured with numerous national and international awards recognizing excellence in mentorship, teaching, research, and leadership in nursing. Most recently, she received the 2025 UCalgary Nursing Spark Award for Transformative Leadership in Mentorship. In 2023 she was recognized with the Advance Higher Education Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (UK) and the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing Excellence in Nursing Education Award. She also received the Alberta Nursing Education Administrator Committees Choice Award for Leadership in Nursing Education (2022), the Canadian Nurses Association Order of Merit for Nursing Education (2022), and multiple UCalgary awards for educational leadership, research excellence, and scholarship.
Through her sustained contributions in research, teaching, and mentorship, Dr. Lorelli Nowell has become a leading voice in the field of nursing education. Her work continues to shape the ways nurses are taught, supported, and inspired to lead, ensuring that mentorship and scholarly teaching remain central to the future of the nursing profession.