Andrea Maria Laizner, RN, PhD, is an Associate Investigator in the Cancer Research Program at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and Regular Researcher at Quebec Nursing Intervention Research Network (RRISIQ). Dr. Laizner’s research focuses on care of patients and their families in a variety of clinical contexts by examining family functioning and psychosocial adjustment in families at diagnosis as well as later in the illness trajectory, such as palliative care. Her research collaborations have also focused on interventions that are provided by members of the health care team or through electronic media. She is involved in various quality improvement initiatives, including the development of the Canadian Association for Psychosocial Oncology’s (CAPO) Start the Talk Modules financed by the De Souza Institute and the Rossy Cancer Network. Moreover, she has been involved in the creation of a Professional Practice Resource for nurses alongside the Electronic Implementation of Patient- and caregiver-reported outcomes Across cancer centres in Quebec (e-IMPAQc) Team. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator to the project entitled “Exploring the relationship between Family Caregiver Distress and Burden in Psychosocial Oncology,” funded by the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology (CANO).

Dr. Laizner collaborates with the Kildea Lab by bringing qualitative research expertise on several funded stakeholder co-design initiatives, including the Trottier Webster Innovation Award, whose aims are to put research participation in the hands of patients; the OncoBuddy and OncoConseil project – A research project to integrate two types of peer support into the Opal Patient Portal; and the Quebec Smart Care Consortium.

At the MUHC, Dr. Laizner is part of the Nursing Directorate and is a Nursing Practice Consultant-Research. Moreover, she is an Assistant Professor (part-time) at McGill University’s Ingram School of Nursing, Associate Member of the RI-MUHC’s Injury Repair Recovery Program and Adjunct Researcher at the Centre de recherche de l’Hôpital Sainte-Justine CHU Mère-Enfant.