Current Positions

Associate Professor, Dean, College of Nursing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba
Research Scientist, CHRIM

Education

Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Eastern Mennonite University
MSc, Georgetown University
PhD, University of Manitoba

Research Focus

Health Service Delivery

Research Interests

Health workforce, interprofessional models of care for persons who use substances during pregnancy.

Bio

Dr. Kellie Thiessen is a Midwife Clinician Scientist with extensive clinical experience in maternal and child health. She is both a Registered Midwife and Registered Nurse and has practiced in the United States, Brazil, and Canada, providing her with a broad perspective on health care systems and approaches to care.

Dr. Thiessen led the development of the University of Manitoba's inaugural Bachelor of Midwifery Program and served as its Director for a decade, helping to establish and grow midwifery education in Manitoba. She subsequently served as Director of Midwifery at the University of British Columbia, where she provided academic and strategic leadership for one of Canada's longest-standing midwifery education programs. She currently serves as Dean of the College of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Manitoba and is a Research Scientist with the Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM).

Known for her restorative leadership approach, Dr. Thiessen is recognized for building conditions that allow people, teams, and organizations to thrive. Her work focuses on strengthening relationships, fostering collaboration, and developing responsive health and education systems that can adapt to changing workforce and community needs. Throughout her career, she has focused on creating the conditions for people, partnerships, and systems to thrive, building the human, organizational, and system capacity needed to address complex workforce challenges and strengthen health and education systems.

Dr. Thiessen has established a strong interdisciplinary research program that brings together experts from across health disciplines to address complex policy challenges. Her research focuses on health policy, including health human resource planning, health economics, and their impact on access to maternal and child health services. Through this work, she seeks to generate evidence that informs workforce planning, strengthens health systems, and supports equitable access to care.

By integrating clinical practice, education, research, policy, and restorative leadership, Dr. Thiessen is recognized for advancing innovative approaches that build workforce capacity that are community focused and led.