Nicola McCleary

Dr. Nicola McCleary is a Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences Program at SickKids Research Institute and an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. She completed her academic training in Scotland, gaining a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Dundee, and both an M.Sc. in Health Services Research and PhD in Applied Health Sciences from the University of Aberdeen. Her PhD studies focused on understanding factors influencing primary care physicians’ antibiotic prescribing for upper respiratory tract infection. Following her PhD, she worked at the University of Edinburgh, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and the Eastern Ontario Regional Laboratory Association. In these roles, she led collaborative research projects with clinical colleagues and health system partners focused on identifying effective ways to support clinical practice change. She also previously co-led the Psychology and Health Research Group at the Ottawa Hospital. Dr. McCleary is an Implementation Scientist, focused on identifying effective ways to support the uptake of health evidence to improve health outcomes, including implementation of evidence-based practices and de-implementation of ineffective practices. She draws on her background in psychology by framing implementation problems in relation to behaviour change. Dr. McCleary has led projects focused on a wide range of clinical topics, including improving the provision of asthma self-management support, reducing opioid prescribing in primary care and reducing over-use of laboratory test-ordering in hospital settings.