Linda Watson

Dr. Linda Watson has been an oncology nurse in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for over 30 years.  She has held a variety of nursing and inter-professional leadership roles within the Cancer Care Alberta (CCA) provincial program and is currently the Scientific Director within Alberta’s provincial cancer care program. 

Dr. Watson holds an adjunct professor position with the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary, but her passion for improving the patient experience has kept her committed to her full-time position as an embedded researcher within the Alberta cancer system. Committed to enhancing the person centredness of the cancer system she has worked to design, implement and study new processes, systems, and programs to enhance clinical capacity to deliver tailored, individualized care to cancer patients. These include using Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) to improve patient experience and outcomes, the implementation and evaluation of a provincial cancer patient navigation program to improve access for marginalized populations, and a provincial transition post-treatment program that aims to improve the transition between the cancer program and primary care, while also striving to improve survivors’ outcomes. 

Dr. Watson is the past President of the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology (CANO) and is currently serving a four-year term with the International Society for Nurses in Cancer Care (ISNCC).