Judith Shamian
President, Victorian Order of Nurses; Professor, Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto.
Last Contribution:
Clever Compassion
Contributor Biography
Dr. Shamian [R.N., Ph.D., LL.D. (hon), D.Sci. (hon)] is currently the President and CEO of the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON), Canada. She was of President of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and was the Executive Director of the Office of Nursing Policy for 5 years. Prior to that she was Vice President of Nursing at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto for 10 years and has held various academic positions since 1989.
As President and CEO of VON Canada, she has guided the 110 year old organization through a time of great transition and transformation to bring it under one organizational umbrella. This reorganized structure will allow VON to maintain its place as Canada’s largest, not-for-profit, charitable home and community care provider through its next century of existence. In this role she is championing the home and community care agenda in Canada, as well as working to strengthen partnerships between formal health care providers, families and friends who provide care, volunteers and community organizations in order to recognize and support the entire spectrum of care.
She obtained her Ph.D from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, her Master's in Public Health from New York University, and her Baccalaureate in Community Nursing from Concordia University in Montreal. She is the recipient of the 1995 Ross Award for Nursing Leadership, the 2002 Golden Jubilee Medal by the Governor General of Canada, the Award of Merit by CNA and CFNU in 2004 and of two honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Lethbridge, Alberta (2005) and Ryerson University, Toronto (2006).
She has published and spoken extensively on a wide range of topics. She is often called upon as an expert to speak and consult on many issues surrounding nursing, health human resources, leadership and health care policy – nationally by provincial and federal government departments and agencies; and internationally by the Word Health Organization, other governments and academic bodies.
She was recently featured in Pivotal Moments in Nursing Volume II: Leaders who changed the path of a profession, published by the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
She is a proud mother of three and grandmother of 14.
