CPHA Canvax

C. Meghan McMurtry

Dr. Meghan McMurtry

C. Meghan McMurtry completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS and her psychology residency at Brown University in Providence, RI in 2010. She is an Associate Professor in the CPA-accredited Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology program at the University of Guelph, director of the Pediatric Pain, Health, and Communication Lab, and a Clinical and Health Psychologist with the Pediatric Chronic Pain Program at McMaster Children’s Hospital. She is an Adjunct Research Professor in Paediatrics at Western University and an Associate Scientist at the Children’s Health Research Institute. Dr. McMurtry’s research and clinical interests in child health psychology focus on acute and chronic pain, medical procedure-related fear, as well as communication and family influences in these contexts. Her research has been funded by the Canada Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, Team for Research with Adolescents and Children in Palliation and Grief, Genome Canada, and the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation. Dr. McMurtry was the Co-Principal Investigator and an Evidence Lead on the national Help Eliminate Pain in Kids and Adults Team which undertook a series of systematic reviews and created two clinical practice guidelines regarding vaccination pain and needle fear management; aspects from the pain management guideline were endorsed for vaccinations worldwide by the World Health Organization (WHO). Recently, Dr. McMurtry was part of the subcommittee for the WHO’s Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety for creating guidance on immunization stress-related responses.