NaDeana Norris is a Dalhousie University School of Nursing doctoral student and a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner at IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she provides family-integrated care to critically ill newborns and their families. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Nursing from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a Master of Nursing from Dalhousie University. Through her clinical practice, NaDeana identified the need to improve the recognition and management of pain in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a brain injury.

Her doctoral research, supervised by Dr. Marsha Campbell-Yeo, CIHR investigator and internationally recognized expert in neonatal pain, focuses on conducting a clinical trial involving pharmacological pain management in neonates with HIE undergoing therapeutic hypothermia, a neuroprotective therapy. The results of this work are expected to inform evidence-based strategies and implementation approaches to optimize pain management and improve health outcomes for this highly vulnerable population.

Outside of her research and clinical work, NaDeana is born and raised Newfoundlander, an avid plant collector, gardener and Mom of three boys. She spends her winters driving across the Maritimes for hockey, or caring for her very spoiled cats.