Kelly Metcalfe Headshot

Breast Cancer Expert Begins Term as Interim Associate Dean, Research and External Relations

30 September 2013

Effective October 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014, Dr. Kelly Metcalfe will begin her new role as Interim Associate Dean, Research and External Relations.  A Bloomberg Nursing professor and researcher who studies the prevention and treatment of hereditary breast cancer, Dr. Metcalfe’s work in the area of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutation has garnered her international recognition throughout her career.

“Dr. Metcalfe is a highly effective leader in the Faculty,” says Dr. Linda McGillis Hall, interim dean at Bloomberg Nursing.  “I very much look forward to working with her as she takes on this important leadership position.”

Previously, Dr. Metcalfe held the role of Director of Research at the Faculty as she covered for the Associate Dean’s sabbatical throughout 2012.  Dr. Metcalfe began her appointment at Faculty of Nursing in September 2002 as an assistant professor and was promoted to full professor in 2013.

The recipient of a highly-competitive New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (2007-2012), Dr. Metcalfe has also received, among other awards, the Excellence in Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Award from the Oncology Nursing Society.

Dr. Metcalfe has published extensively on the psychosocial implications of preventive options, including prophylactic mastectomy and oophorectomy.  She has developed a decision aid for individuals with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation to help them assess their breast cancer prevention choices.

An adjunct scientist with Women’s College Research Institute, Dr. Metcalfe collaborates with the team of investigators in the Familial Breast Cancer Research Unit. At the Unit Clinic, she provides counselling to women identified with a BRCA mutation to help facilitate their decision-making about the options that are available to prevent breast cancer.

Dr. Metcalfe teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate programs, including courses on complex nursing issues in health and persistent illness related to oncology.  She also represents the Faculty on a number of university boards and committees including the Research Advisory Board and the Research Integrity Committee.