Adjunct Professor in the School of Health, Debra Jackson, will be awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award by Flinders University at an award dinner tomorrow night in Oxford, England. The award recognises her extensive international contribution to and leadership roles in nursing and allied health research.
Prof. Jackson holds a position of Professor of Nursing at Oxford Brookes University and is the Director of the Oxford Institute of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Research (OxINMAHR). She is also Editor in Chief of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
An interview with Debra follows:
You are the only Professor of Nursing in Oxford and the first for 25 years. What was the path that took you to Oxford?
Oxford has an amazingly generative academic environment; world-leading clinical facilities and the research infrastructure is truly phenomenal. All those factors, plus the unique opportunity to realise a vision for the development of a world-leading centre for nursing, midwifery and allied health research were what brought me here.
You have had a distinguished career as a research leader. Have there been any highlights or milestones?
There have been so many wonderful moments in my career. But to select only a couple, one was being the only nurse named as a Principal Fellow of the NIHR-funded Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (2016-2019). This award reflects significant and sustained contribution to internationally excellent translational clinical research that has created a positive impact on patients. And then there is being named a Distinguished Alumni of Flinders University, which is also a great honour.
Your research output has been enormous but you seem to get as much satisfaction from mentoring others.
Being able to work with gifted and talented nurses, to help them to get the skills to uncover the knowledge that will result in improvements to patient care is a great privilege and one of the best things about my job. There is nothing more worthwhile than walking alongside bright young people as they develop and mature in their thinking, and in their ability to clearly articulate their thoughts and ideas.
When did you decide that Nursing was the career for you?
My favourite aunt was a nurse. I admired her greatly. She always had interesting things to tell me about nursing and I thought it was a career that would suit me well. Forty-plus years on, I have absolutely no regrets. Nursing was and is a wonderful career.
Nursing has changed greatly in recent years. Do you see that continuing? What of the future?
Nursing is a dynamic profession that is flexible and adaptable to the needs of patients, families and communities. So, I think there will be continued development and role expansion. I think nurses will be working alongside a greater range of providers at the point of care.