Dr. Shannon Vandenberg completes her third degree at ULethbridge

A three-time graduate of the University of Lethbridge, Dr. Shannon Vandenberg (BN ’08, MSc-Nursing ’13, PhD ’24) is a dedicated scholar and researcher who’s been on both sides of the desk. 

Having met the requirements for her PhD, Vandenberg officially receives her degree at the Fall 2024 Convocation. 

“Completing my PhD was a very positive experience; my supervisor, Dr. Tracy Oosterbroek, and my committee members, including my colleague Dr. Peter Kellett, were very supportive,” says Vandenberg. “The University of Lethbridge has excellent programs with an abundance of support and mentorship available. Sometimes, I think smaller institutions are overlooked but, for me, it was my life circumstances and knowing that there were people who had graduated with a good experience in the program."

“It requires a lot of dedication. I have three young children at home, and when they go to bed, I crawl behind my computer until all hours of the night,” she says. “The funding opportunities were another important piece. I was granted research funds at the beginning of the program and the Dr. Shannon Spenceley Legacy of Nursing Scholarship was immensely helpful. I very much appreciated that as well.” 

After she completed her Bachelor of Nursing, Vandenberg returned to ULethbridge as an instructor to teach in the nursing program. She began working on a master’s soon after she became an instructor with Professor Emerita Dr. Judith Kulig as her supervisor. While Kulig encouraged Vandenberg to go straight into studying for a doctoral degree, Vandenberg had a detour in mind as she was starting a family. In 2021, she was ready to proceed with her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Tracy Oosterbroek. Vandenberg chose to do her doctorate in Population Studies in Health after she became interested in climate-driven, vector-borne diseases, such as Lyme Disease and West Nile. 

“In 2020, the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing put out a call for experts in climate-driven, vector-borne diseases,” she says. “They were looking for experts to work on the development of an online resource for nurse educators and students. A colleague and I applied, and we got the job.” 

They created three out of the five modules for the resource, which was launched in 2021. Now widely available as a free online resource, Vandenberg continues to be involved with revising and creating additional content. 

“Working on this project sparked my interest in climate-driven, vector-borne diseases,” she says. “We found there was really no research, particularly in nursing.” 

Vandenberg conducted a quantitative study and surveyed registered nurses across the country about their knowledge, attitudes and practices toward vector-borne diseases, focusing on West Nile virus and Lyme disease. Her results indicated that overall, nurses’ knowledge of vector-borne diseases was limited, and nurses in eastern Canada were more knowledgeable about these diseases compared to nurses in western and northern Canada. This is not surprising since the incidence of these diseases is higher in eastern Canada. 

“But there is definitely a knowledge gap for nurses,” she says. “We do have Lyme disease and West Nile virus in Alberta, so nurses should know what to look for.” 

Vandenberg has many ideas for further projects and hopes to do more research in the future related to planetary health. 

As an instructor, Vandenberg encourages her students who want to pursue a graduate degree to take the opportunity and not be afraid of the cost because opportunities for research and scholarship funds are available. 

“With all of my students, I always talk about how important it is for them to be lifelong learners,” she says. “I feel like I model that.”