dr tranmer

Joan Tranmer

PhD
Roles
  • Clinician scientist, KGHRI
  • Professor and Sally Smith Chair, School of Nursing, Queen’s University
  • Site Director (Queen's), Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences

 

Interests
  • Patient, caregiver, and system outcomes of care for persons living with chronic cardiovascular and cancer conditions
  • Development and testing of nurse-led delivery systems to enhance quality of care
  • Quality work environments for healthcare workers and the development of policy and strategies to improve healthcare work environments, with a particular focus on female workers and cardiovascular health

 

 

Bio

Joan Tranmer is a Professor in the School of Nursing and Department of Public Health Sciences and the Scientific Director of Nursing and Health Research at Queen’s University. She is an affiliated scientist with the Centre for Health Services and Policy Research at Queen’s University, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and the Nursing Health Services Research Unit at University of Toronto.  She received her PhD in Nursing from University of Toronto (1999), and her MSc (1992) and BNSc (1975) from Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.  Previous to joining Queen’s School of Nursing as a full time faculty member in 2005, she worked at Kingston General Hospital in a variety of clinical and leadership positions.  

 

Education and Honours
  • RN, BScN, MSc, Queen's University
  • PhD, University of Toronto
Research

Joan has an active health services research program with 2 foci.  The first research focus is on understanding the health care needs of, and optimizing the care of individuals with complex chronic illness conditions.  The second focus is on understanding the relationships between work related factors, such as shift work patterns, and cardiovascular and cancer risk in women. 

As a clinician scientist, she has garnered peer reviewed funding for this  comprehensive research program. She recently completed a group of cohort studies that explored personal, social and clinical factors related to optimization of function and health in older patients with chronic cardiovascular or cancer conditions. The next stage of this program, which is currently in progress, involves the development and evaluation of system-level interventional strategies, of relevance to the practice of nursing, to enhance the effectiveness of patient care in these patient populations.  The Ontario Ministry of Health Career Scientist Award (2002 -2007) and the Ontario Women’s Health Council and CIHR Mid-career Investigator Award (2007-2012) provided personnel support for this program.  

As well, Dr. Tranmer, in collaboration with a strong trans-disciplinary team, have developed an innovative clinical-health services, population-based research program focused on understanding the work-related factors, such as shift work, associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease or breast cancer.  This team recently completely a CIHR-funded comprehensive biomarker study designed to determine the mechanisms through which exposure to night work may influence health. Findings from the studies in this program of research have received international media attention, have been presented and published widely.