President and CEO of VON Canada
Dr. Judith Shamian, RN, PhD, LLD
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JUDITH SHAMIAN, R.N., Ph.D., L.L.D. (hon), D.Sci. (hon) is currently the President and CEO of the Victorian Order of Nurses. Judith was of President of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and was the Executive Director of the Office of Nursing Policy for 5 years. Prior to that she was Vice President of Nursing at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto for 10 years and has held various academic positions since 1989.
As President and CEO of VON Canada, Judith has guided this 110 year old organization through a time of great transition and transformation to bring it under one organizational umbrella. This reorganized structure will allow VON to maintain its place as Canada’s largest, not-for-profit, charitable home and community care provider through its next century of existence. In this role Judith is championing the home and community care agenda in Canada, as well as working to strengthen partnerships between formal health care providers, families and friends who provide care, volunteers and community organizations in order to recognize and support the entire spectrum of care.
Dr. Shamian obtained her PhD from Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, Ohio, her Master's in Public Health from New York University, and her Baccalaureate in Community Nursing from Concordia University in Montreal. She is the 1995 recipient of the Ross Award for Nursing Leadership, the Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 by the Governor General of Canada, the Award of Merit by CNA and CFNU in 2004, and is the recipient of two honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Lethbridge, Alberta in 2005, and Ryerson University, Toronto in 2006.
Judith has published and spoken extensively nationally and internationally on a wide range of topics. She is often called upon as an expert to speak to, and consult on, many issues surrounding nursing, health human resources, leadership, and health care policy by provincial and federal government departments and agencies, and internationally by other governments, academic bodies and the World Health Organization.
Judith was recently featured in Pivotal Moments in Nursing Volume II: Leaders who changed the path of a profession, published by the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
Judith is a proud mother of three and grandmother of 14.