Dr. Martha Mackay PhD, RN, CCN(C)


Clinical Nurse Specialist, Clinical Associate Professor

School of Nursing

University of British Columbia

Gender, Society, and Health

Dr. Mackay spent 40 years at St. Paul’s Hospital, 25 of which as the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) in Cardiology at the Heart Centre. For the last 12 years she has functioned as a clinician-scientist, combining the roles of CNS and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing, and she continues on faculty at the School of Nursing.

Completing her initial nursing education at George Brown College (Toronto), and earning her BSN, MSN and PhD at UBC, she practiced for 42 years in critical care and cardiac nursing. Dr. Mackay’s clinical focus was on improving the care of patients with acute coronary syndrome and myocardial infarction. Her expertise and leadership in cardiovascular nursing is recognized nationally and has earned her several awards.

Dr. Mackay currently holds UBC School of Nursing MacMillan Nursing Research Scholar Award. Her research examines sociodemographic and behavioural influences on cardiac health, such as sex/gender, ethnicity and depression. She serves on CIHR and Heart & Stroke grant review panels, the Executive Committees of Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Sciences and the UBC/Providence Health Care Research Ethics Board, as well as the Editorial Boards of The Canadian Journal of Critical Care Nursing and the Canadian Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.


Area of Research Expertise
Nursing; Cardiovascular nursing; Acute coronary syndrome/Myocardial infarction; Sex; Gender

First Nations land acknowledegement

We acknowledge that the UBC Point Grey campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.


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