I am a tenured professor and academic leader with interdisciplinary roots in kinesiology and nursing, and over two decades of experience across higher education, healthcare, fitness, and sport.
My work is driven by a central concern: we continue to ask individuals to be resilient inside systems that make resilience unsustainable. While resilience is often framed as a personal capacity to cope, evidence from healthcare, organizational psychology, and other high-pressure fields suggests that resilience under chronic stress is primarily a leadership and systems issue.
I study how leadership decisions, structural constraints, and organizational design shape burnout, moral strain, and workforce sustainability—particularly in professions responsible for caring for others. Rather than focusing on individual endurance, my work challenges leaders to examine what their systems are asking people to absorb, normalize, or compensate for, and what only leadership is positioned to change.
Leadership & Academic Roles
I currently serve as Scientific Director of the Institute for Population Health at the University of New Brunswick, where I lead research and knowledge mobilization initiatives that bridge evidence, practice, and policy. Across my leadership roles, I have worked with values-driven teams navigating complexity, constraint, and change—conditions that demand clarity, trust, and thoughtful system design rather than heroic individual effort.
My leadership approach has been shaped by experiences inside and outside academia, including athletics, student leadership, and professional roles in high-pressure environments. These experiences continue to inform my focus on sustainable performance, ethical responsibility, and collective capacity.
Research
My program of research focuses on leadership and innovation in health services and nursing education, with particular attention to:
- leadership and team dynamics under chronic stress
- empowering work environments and structural conditions
- moral strain and professional wellbeing in healthcare
- the impact of technology and complexity on healthcare work
I am especially committed to improving the work life and professional development of nurses and other care providers, not by asking them to do more with less, but by examining the systems in which their work takes place.
Speaking & Public Scholarship
I am frequently invited to speak to leaders and professional audiences about resilient leadership under chronic stress, reframing resilience as a property of systems rather than an individual obligation.
My talks are grounded in research and designed to help leaders think differently about responsibility, trade-offs, and system design when pressure and uncertainty are persistent—not episodic.
Teaching & Mentorship
I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in leadership, research methods, social determinants of health, wellness, and chronic health. I was nominated for the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Nursing Teaching Excellence Award in 2021.
Mentorship is a core part of my academic work, particularly supporting graduate students in building clarity, confidence, and intellectual momentum. I am currently accepting new graduate students (Master of Nursing, Master of Applied Health Services Research, and Interdisciplinary PhD) for Fall 2026.
A note on connection
If you are looking for a keynote speaker, research collaborator, or a serious voice on resilience, burnout, and leadership in complex systems, you are welcome to reach out.
Emily Read, PhD, RN 