Ismália De Sousa, PhD(c), MSc, RN is a registered nurse with advanced practice expertise in stroke care, and a PhD candidate at the School of Nursing, University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. She is a first-generation Afro-Portuguese.
Training: Ismália obtained a Bachelor of Science in Nursing with honors from Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal) and a Master's in Neuroscience Nursing Advanced Practice from King's College London (London, United Kingdom). She has 14 years of experience as a registered nurse and an advanced practice nurse in stroke care in clinical and leadership settings in the UK and Canada. She also has extensive teaching experience in both direct clinical practice and academic environments.

Research areas: Ismália’s primary research interests lie at the intersection of stroke care and health disparities. Her doctoral studies and future research program focus on implementing equitable healthcare systems and practices that reduce health inequities in stroke care and improve outcomes for stroke survivors, their families and caregivers. She is particularly interested in the influence of social, economic, and environmental disadvantages, and social determinants of health on stroke outcomes, survivorship, and care. Her secondary research interests include nursing philosophy, pedagogy and history.
Awards: She is one of the inaugural recipients of the Heart and Stroke Foundation Canada Personnel Awards for Black Scholars funded by three major funders in heart and brain health research in Canada: The Heart and Stroke Foundation Canada, Brain Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health. She has also received funding from the Canadian Association of Neuroscience Nurses, the Women’s Health Research Institute and the British Columbia Women’s Health Foundation.

Professional: Ismália has held several roles in regional and national groups in the UK and Canada. She was a member of the Royal College of Nursing Neuroscience Forum Steering Committee (2015-2022) and led the development of the Career Framework for Stroke Nurses in the UK. She represented stroke nurses on the National Intercollegiate Stroke Working Party Group (2017 – 2019) and co-chaired the UK National Senior Nurse Endovascular Group (2018 – 2019). In Canada, Ismália served as a member of the British Columbia Stroke Standard Development Committee (2021) and chaired the Communications & Marketing Committee of the Canadian Association of Neuroscience Nurses (2021-2024). She is a member of the Executive Stroke Steering Committee in British Columbia, a board director for the Stroke Recovery Association of British Columbia, and sits on the editorial board of the British Journal of Neuroscience Nursing. Ismália is a strong advocate for equity and anti-racism in healthcare and serves as an advisory member on local and national committees focused on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Justice and Belonging. She is also the co-founder of the Coalition of African, Caribbean and Black Nurses in British Columbia, a grassroots nurse-led organization in British Columbia, and served as the 2023-2024 President.

Publications: Ismália has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals on stroke and cardiovascular disease, knowledge translation/mobilization, nursing philosophy, history and pedagogy. Her work can be accessed on her ResearchGate profile (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ismalia-De-Sousa-2).

In Private: When not working on her PhD, Ismália enjoys swimming, reading and spending time outdoors