Linda Nguyen

Dr. Linda Nguyen is an Azrieli Accelerator Assistant Professor in Youth, Sibling, and Community Engaged Research in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary.

She graduated from the Honours Health Sciences Program (BHSc), Child Health Specialization, at McMaster University. Her research interest in goal-setting for children and adolescents with disabilities in family-centred services led her to pursue graduate studies. She completed her Masters in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University, and her Masters thesis was focused on understanding parents’ perspectives and experience with botulinum toxin treatment for non-ambulatory children and adolescents with cerebral palsy. Following her Masters, she completed her PhD studies in 2022 under the supervision of Dr. Jan Willem Gorter. Her PhD studies focused on understanding the experiences of siblings of youth with a disability during the transition to adulthood, including the transition from pediatric to adult health care.

She continued to expand her knowledge about the engagement of siblings in research and share her research experiences by completing an internship in The Netherlands under the co-supervision of Dr. Jan Willem Gorter and Dr. Marjolijn Ketelaar. Throughout her research, she aims to engage with collaborators nationally and internationally. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy (SPOT) at McGill University with a team of co-supervisors with Dr. Keiko Shikako, Dr. Jennifer Zwicker, Dr. Marjolijn Ketelaar, and Dr. Jan Willem Gorter.

Her current research focuses on co-developing programs to support youth with disabilities and siblings during the transition to adulthood, including a program to train youth to engage in research. She also aims to mobilize knowledge into research, practice, and policies including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). She engages with interested parties including youth, siblings, families, healthcare professionals, civil societies, and policy makers throughout her projects. She also holds a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Patient-Oriented Research Transition to Leadership Stream Award (2020 – 2027).