Pictured: Dr. Leah Lambert (middle) receiving her award at the NPPBC awards gala.
Dr. Leah Lambert, executive director and senior scientist, Nursing and Allied Health Research and Knowledge Translation (NAHRKT), BC Cancer, recently received the Excellence in Advanced Nursing Knowledge and Research Award from the Association of Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of British Columbia (NNPBC).
This award is given to a nurse who demonstrates excellence in nursing research whether through their own work, by advancing nursing research, through knowledge translation or fostering the development of new nurse researchers.
"Leah is a tireless nursing leader and advocate who has developed a unique role focused on nursing science and research that advances the profession immensely," says Dr. Natasha Prodan-Bhalla, vice president, Quality, Safety, Clinical Informatics, and Chief of Nursing and Allied Practice, Quality, Practice and Clinical Informatics Team.
Dr. Lambert’s research is focused on examining the health service needs of people diagnosed with cancer and their families, and expanding multidisciplinary approaches to problem solving within the care system. It’s intertwined with the NAHRKT team’s collaborative research and knowledge mobilization initiatives aimed at generating evidence-informed improvements in care, better patient outcomes and increased system performance.
"Leah’s efforts to advance research and KT have elevated organizational awareness of what nurses can contributions at a systems level," says Dr. Prodan-Bhalla.
For Dr. Lambert, this award is meaningful for the spotlight that shines on the importance of nurse-lead research.
"The value and contributions nursing research perspectives can make to advancing cancer care cannot be overstated," says Dr. Lambert. "Enabling nurses to focus their efforts on impact-oriented projects identified as a priority by the organization will help to create more responsive, relevant, timely, and useful research that can be translated back to practice for rapid learning and improvement."