Dr. Joan McNeil

Dr. Joan McNeil (1950-2018) graduated from the University of Alberta with an RN BSN in 1972. After two years of nursing in Canada, she volunteered with the Canadian Medical Association in St. Lucia. In 1978, Joan and her husband Gordon relocated to Senegal, Africa, where she worked on various assignments. In 1981, she returned to Canada to complete a master’s degree in Health Sciences at McMaster University. Joan then worked for the Canadian Nurses Association in Ottawa as International Affairs Manager and in 1988, she and her husband moved back to Africa, this time to Cote d’Ivoire. There, she managed an HIV/AIDS care and management project for the International Council of Nurses. This became the foundation for her next academic challenge, a PhD in Nursing at Wayne State University (Detroit) that she completed in 1994. For the next decade, Joan continued with her work on health care policy in the United States, Asia, and elsewhere.

In 2003, she joined the World Bank as Senior HIV/AIDS Specialist. In late 2005, Joan and Gordon returned to Canada, settling in Victoria. Joan joined the School of Nursing faculty at the University of Victoria in 2006, where she remained until her retirement in 2013. Joan’s primary scholarly and practice interests were HIV/AIDS prevention, transcultural nursing, and health policy. She passed away in December 2018.