Carmela Redhead, RN, MScN, HBSc (she/her)

Chair, Communications and Marketing Committee

Carmela is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Epilepsy Program at Vancouver Coastal health. Carmela previously worked in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at University Hospital, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), London, ON. Carmela received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Windsor. Her interest in research started in Windsor while completing her undergraduate thesis on the neuropharmacology of the auditory system in rats. Carmela then received her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing with distinction from Western University. She then completed her MScN at Western University with a thesis focused on exploring the experience of women with epilepsy relating to sex-specific health issues. Carmela is very passionate about epilepsy care, epilepsy research, nursing education, and community engagement. For the ILAE Nursing Section, Carmela is one of three regional leads for North America, a member of the Nursing Curriculum Taskforce, and one of three chairs of the Best Practice and Guidelines Taskforce. During her time as an EMU nurse, Carmela led the development of nursing specific education resources, such as the EMU Nurses Resource Manual and the EMU Nurses Seizure Videos Database. Her passion for community engagement led her to be actively involved in Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario (ESWO) for three years, working to connect patients with this much needed resource and to facilitate the involvement of ESWO in the functioning of LHSC’s epilepsy programme. This passion continues at VCH with Carmela leading quality improvement projects and the development of interdisciplinary education resources.