Kath M. Melia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Professor Kath M. Melia | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Cheshire |
| Died | 22 October 2022 Edinburgh |
| Occupation(s) | sociologist, professor of nursing, researcher, academic author and campaigner for ethics in healthcare |
| Employer | University of Edinburgh |
Kath M. Melia (died 25 October 2022) was a sociologist, professor of nursing, researcher, academic author and campaigner for ethics in healthcare.[1]
Melia was born in Cheshire, the middle of three sisters. She undertook her undergraduate studies to obtain a BA (Hons) in nursing at Manchester University. She worked in intensive and coronary care. In 1975, she moved to take a PhD at the University of Edinburgh Nursing Research Unit, where she later became lecturer and eventually in 1996 a professor of Nursing Studies.[2] She was the first head of the School of Nursing and Social science for five years, and retired when she had served for 40 years as a lecturer, researcher and then professor.[1] Melia won research funding at a time when few grants were made to nurses, and this included Leverhulme Trust researching nursing ethics in the USA (New York and San Francisco) and an ESRC programme studying 'Nursing in the new NHS'.[2] As Head of the School, Melia led a £2.5m joint bid with Queen Margaret University and Edinburgh Napier University to create a centre for integrated healthcare research which in turn developed into UK-wide Clinical Academic Careers for Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals.[2]
Melia was visiting scholar to numerous universities including; University of Alberta, University of Vancouver, UCSF (School of Nursing), International Scholar – Hastings Center, New York, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore, King Edward Memorial Hospital and University of Western Australia, Perth, Institute of Bioethics, University of Monash, Melbourne, University of Navarra Pamplona, Spain, Visiting Professor University College Dublin, and the Swedish School of Nursing, Helsinki, University of Turku, Finland. She was an External Examiner to the Universities of Manchester, Nottingham, Liverpool, King's College London, University of Wales, City University London, University of Tromsø. She supervised in excess of 30 PhD students and was a member of Editorial Boards of the Journal of Sociology of Health and Illness (1985–1989), Qualitative Health Research (1990–1994), Social Sciences in Health: International Journal of Research and Practice (1994–1997).[2]
