Dr. Vanessa Silva e Silva
RN, BScN, MN, PhD
Associate Professor & Interim Graduate Program Director, MA Nursing
Improving healthcare systems through nursing science,
education innovation, and responsible technology.
RN, BScN, MN, PhD
Associate Professor & Interim Graduate Program Director, MA Nursing
Improving healthcare systems through nursing science,
education innovation, and responsible technology.
Dr. Vanessa Silva e Silva is an Associate Professor and Interim Graduate Program Director in the School of Nursing at Brock University's Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. She is a nurse scientist, educator, and academic leader whose research is focused on improving healthcare systems and advancing end-of-life and complex care through implementation science, nursing education innovation, and workforce research.
Her research has evolved from more than a decade of clinical and scholarly work in organ donation and transplantation — an area that brings together critical care, end-of-life decision-making, ethics, interprofessional collaboration, and family-centred care. A former organ donation coordinator, she brings lived professional authority to every dimension of her scholarship.
A parallel and increasingly prominent dimension of Dr. Silva e Silva's scholarship is innovation in nursing education. She develops and evaluates approaches that prepare nurses and educators for rapidly evolving practice environments, including through simulation, experiential learning, and responsible AI integration. She chairs the School of Nursing AI Committee, working alongside Co-Chair Dr. Amina Silva to guide Brock's institutional approach to pedagogically sound AI use across teaching, scholarship, and practice.
Her emerging work in AI and digital health is grounded in healthcare-system and human needs — examining how responsible digital tools can improve workforce sustainability, clinical decision-making, and patient and family outcomes in complex settings. Across her research, teaching, and leadership, her work is connected by a central goal: to improve how healthcare systems educate, support, and connect the people who deliver and receive care.
Co-founded by Dr. Vanessa Silva e Silva and Dr. Amina Silva, Vanami Research and Training Inc. delivers evidence-informed continuing professional development at the intersection of nursing science and educational innovation. Vanami programs are built directly from active research and designed for immediate application in healthcare education settings across Canada and internationally.
Through education, innovation and evidence to advance end-of-life and complex care. People at the centre: better care, stronger professionals, healthier communities.
Preparing today's and tomorrow's nurses through innovative, inclusive and technology-enhanced education: simulation and immersive learning; curriculum development; digital and AI-enhanced education; faculty development and mentorship.
Designing and evaluating human-centred technologies to support education, practice and decision-making: AI in nursing education and practice; digital decision support; ethical, equitable and responsible use; human–AI collaboration.
Supporting and sustaining a healthy, skilled and resilient healthcare workforce: burnout and compassion fatigue; resiliency and retention; leadership and professional development; cross-national and comparative research.
Advancing person- and family-centred care across complex care contexts: organ donation and transplantation; MAiD and end-of-life care; cancer care and technology-enabled patient support; critical care.
Turning evidence into practice to strengthen care delivery and system performance: knowledge translation and exchange; quality improvement; policy and system-level change; interprofessional collaboration; cross-sector and international partnerships.
Implementation Science; Participatory Approaches; Knowledge-to-Action (KTA); Mixed Methods; Qualitative Inquiry; Social Network Analysis; Scoping Reviews.
Multi-site Ontario study developing and piloting a rule-based clinical knowledge system to support ICU practitioners during the organ donation process.
Responsible AI readiness in nursing education: a Canada–Mexico collaboration. Co-PI at Brock University. $248,994 under review.
Cross-national study comparing burnout and compassion fatigue in Canadian and Brazilian organ donation coordinators. View project ↗
National educational initiative for competency development and preparation of organ and tissue donation coordinators through evidence-informed education and simulation.
40-hour, four-module microcredential supporting educators in understanding and responsibly integrating AI into nursing education.
To see the full list of publications, go to Google Scholar or ResearchGate.
To see the full list of publications, go to Google Scholar or ResearchGate.
To see the full list of publications, go to Google Scholar or ResearchGate.
Prepares nursing educators — faculty, college instructors, clinical placement instructors, and simulation facilitators — to lead the governed integration of AI across all domains of nursing education. Participants move from critical AI literacy through evidence-informed teaching and assessment design into clinical supervision, simulation governance, and program-level leadership. Each module produces a usable artifact grounded in nursing regulatory and professional standards.
Capstone: A 6–8 page Program AI Integration and Governance Readiness Brief — a curriculum map, governance framework, equity integration plan, and national standards alignment table ready for a curriculum committee or accreditation review.
Sharing research at international conferences, through media, and in public forums to drive real-world change in transplantation and nursing practice.
