Meet research assistant Lindsay Komar

Lindsay Komar

Lindsay Komar was born in Virginia, but grew up in Edmonton. She felt called to both the art and science aspects of the nursing profession and graduated from the University of Alberta with a BScN in 2006, after which she worked as a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse. 

“Caring for families in my clinical practice was so rewarding. In the NICU, I discovered my love for teaching. I enjoyed precepting new nurses and working as an instructor teaching basic life support and neonatal resuscitation. I was inspired to return to the U of A to pursue a master of nursing in the teaching and learning stream,” says Komar.

Komar graduated from the master of nursing program in December 2022. She says she learned a lot from the program, but her “greatest discovery was a passion for planetary health, or understanding that human health and well-being is inseparable from the well-being of the Earth. My capstone research focused on developing student-centred learning modules designed to equip nurses with a planetary health lens that will enable them to meet complex planetary health challenges.” 

While pursuing her master’s degree, Komar also became the Alberta co-representative for the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment, who will be partnering with their Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment counterparts to make planetary health a priority in the upcoming provincial election. She is also in a Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing nurse-educator special interest group to promote integration of planetary health into nursing curricula across Canada. 

With February being Heart Month, we caught up with Komar to ask about her current role as research assistant for Colleen Norris — a well-known expert in women’s heart health — the support she provides to the associate dean of research portfolio, and her involvement with City Wide Nursing Rounds.

Can you tell us about your work with Dr. Norris?

I met Dr. Colleen Norris as a student in her graduate quantitative research course in 2020. Her teaching style really resonated with me, so I asked if I could work with her as a teaching assistant. We have stuck together ever since! I was Colleen’s TA for two nursing research classes and have worked in a variety of roles as her research assistant (RA) since 2021.

In my first class with Dr. Norris, she said, “A candle loses nothing by lighting another flame.” That idea permeates everything she does in nursing research, education and practice. Currently, I am assisting Dr. Norris to implement her strategic plan as the associate dean of research. Our work together is about finding ways to amplify nursing voices and help make the profession a little brighter.

Can you tell us about City Wide Nursing Rounds, its objective and your role in it?

Part of Dr. Norris’ strategic plan is to change up research rounds to make them nursing “research in practice” rounds. We bring nurses together to discuss clinical issues and celebrate the incredible work nurses are doing across the province. We are trying to build a strong connection between nursing research and practice to unite our profession and promote optimal health in Alberta.

My role is to organize the rounds by connecting with presenters and promoting the sessions to nurses throughout Alberta. We are lucky to work with some amazing people in Alberta Health Services, the nursing faculty and supporting organizations to help us reach nurses across the province.

Nurses are under a lot of strain in every area of practice. We want to support their excellent work and respect the time and energy it takes to continue learning in an ever-changing health-care landscape. I try to make the rounds as fun and interesting as possible so nurses will feel energized and inspired at the end of each session — this is both challenging and rewarding.

What would your co-workers be surprised to learn about you?

I love music and listen to a wide variety of genres. Lately, my kids and I have been playing a lot of ‘70s glam rock. T-Rex and Bowie are always played at top volume on the way to school.

City Wide Nursing Rounds will be held on Feb. 22, 2023 from 2 - 3 p.m. to celebrate Heart Month and the amazing research nurses are doing in the area of women’s heart health. Register here for the live Zoom session.