Biography:

Meaghan is a registered nurse and senior practice leader at the BC Centre for Disease Control, where she started her career as a street nurse and has moved into policy and leadership roles in the overdose and HIV response.  She holds advance practice nursing certification in sexual and reproductive health as well as an addiction nursing fellowship and advanced training in HIV and public health. She is currently working on her PhD part-time as a Trudeau Scholar at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Evidence Based Intervention researching the impact of child welfare policy on marginalized women’s health.

As a clinical nurse specialist Meaghan has provided technical assistance to international organizations such as WHO, UNAIDS and the World Bank supporting improved access to care for people who use drugs in Central Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. In Canada she was the clinical coordinator of Insite and also led the implementation of the STOP HIV program for Vancouver Coastal Health where they successfully doubled the region’s HIV testing and treatment rates. She has won multiple work for her dedication to the nursing profession and her work improving health equity including an Award for Excellence in Interprofessional Education Teaching at UBC, a British Columbia Premier’s Award Innovation Category and an Excellence in Nursing Education from the College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia.  She is also an active volunteer in her community where she serves as a volunteer Director with the housing and social care agency PHS Community Services Society.