Nancy Walton

Dr. Nancy Walton is the Associate Dean, Student Affairs in the Yeates School of Graduate Studies, and an Associate Professor in the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing, at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). At TMU since 2003, she has previously served as Director of the School of Nursing, as Director of eLearning, and as the Chair of the TMU Research Ethics Board. In 2016-17 she was seconded to the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities as Special Advisor to the Deputy Minister. 

Dr. Walton also serves as the Chair of the Women's College Hospital Research Ethics Board and Deputy Chair of the Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada’s Research Ethics Board. 

Dr. Walton has a PhD in Nursing with completion of the Collaborative Program in Bioethics from the University of Toronto (2003) and an undergraduate degree in nursing science from Toronto Metropolitan University (1992). She has published and presented on priority setting and decision-making in cardiac surgery, ethical considerations of internet-based research, research ethics board composition, and ethical and legal considerations in research on children and adolescents and most recently on ethical issues arising in the Ebola virus disease outbreak as well as the ethical concerns and opportunities of new mobile technologies. She was a co-investigator for the CIHR Team Grant-funded project CCORT 2 (Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Team 2) and co-investigator for the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care-funded project on Variations in Revascularization Practices in Ontario. As a PI, her areas of research and interest are the experiences of parenting children with disabilities, the ethical considerations in the use of technologies and innovations in healthcare and moral courage.  

Dr. Walton was a longstanding member with expertise in ethics on the Research Ethics Board at the Hospital for Sick Children, a founding member of the Research Ethics Board at the Ontario College of Art and Design University, a scientific member of the REB at Women's College Hospital and she remains an ad hoc member of the TMU REB. She was a previous member of the National Council on Ethics in Human Research (NCEHR) and is a member of both CAREB (Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards) and PRIMR (Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research). In 2016, she received the Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards (CAREB).

She is the Canadian author of the textbook, “Ethics and Issues in Contemporary Nursing” (3rd edition) and is the co-editor of the textbook, “Leading and Managing in Nursing” (2019).

• Ryersonian of the Year Award, 2013
• Faculty Service Award, Ryerson University, 2013
• The Joan Lesmond Quality Excellence Award, Women’s College Hospital (as part of the Women’s College Hospital Ethics Assessment Process for Quality Improvement Projects team), 2015
• Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards, 2016