Dr Leah Macaden is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Highlands & Islands in Scotland. Her career as a senior nurse academic spans 32 years including her Professorship in India’s highest-ranking College of Nursing and a WHO Collaborating Centre at the Christian Medical College, Vellore with a wide range of academic, clinical, management and research expertise. Since moving to Scotland in 2011, she has successfully navigated two unchartered territories: nurse education for the care of older people and online / blended approaches to dementia education for workforce development. Over the past decade, she has harnessed technology, innovation and collaboration with interdisciplinary experts to codesign educational resources to support three key areas in gerontological nursing: dementia; dignity and sensory impairments with national/international significance, reach and impact.
She has successfully integrated two dementia curricula initiatives as core components in undergraduate nursing programmes in Scotland [Being Dementia Smart (BDS, 2014) and the Dementia Enhanced Education to Promote Excellence (DEEPE, 2017)] with six online workbooks [for blended learning that have produced a 1400-strong dementia-enhanced graduate nursing workforce with core dementia competencies (to date) for Scotland and beyond.
She was recognised as a Churchill Fellow in 2019 for her innovative approaches and leadership in dementia education for workforce development. During the recent pandemic, she designed the first comprehensive dementia education resource for blended learning for staff working in care homes and home care.
The American Academy of Nursing (Academy) has recently recognised Leah as a Fellow of this prestigious Academy in recognition of her outstanding contributions to health and health care through dementia education and workforce development. She is one of 250 distinguished nurse leaders from around the world to be inducted into the 2022 Class of Fellows. The inductees will be recognized for their significant contributions to health and health care at the Academy’s annual Health Policy Conference, taking place on October 27-29, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Leah has also been recognised as a National Teaching Fellow – a high profile national award that recognises, rewards and celebrates individuals who have made an outstanding impact on student outcomes and higher education in the United Kingdom.
Her invited positions in recognition of her nurse education expertise include leadership at the Northern Nursing Education Network of the UArctic, International Nursing Advisory Board, Gulf Medical University, Expert Reviewer for the UAE Ministry of Education and member of the Executive Committee of the Scottish Dementia Research Consortium.
Alzheimer Scotland would like to congratulate Leah on this wonderful achievement.
