Nadia Prendergast
Assistant Professor
Department: Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing
Office: DCC-576-C, Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex
Phone: 416-979-5000 x556317
Email: nprendergast@torontomu.ca
Education: BScN, RN, M. Ed., PhD (University of Toronto)
Discipline: Nursing
Areas of Expertise:
Anti-Black Racism & Anti-Racism Studies within Nursing
Community Health
Intergenerational Relationships
Pre-Natal Care
Racialized Women as Users of the Healthcare System
Women's Studies
Research Interests
Narrative Inquiry; Exploratory, Qualitative Research; Anti-Black Racism and Nursing; Intergenerational Approaches.
Dr. Nadia Prendergast is a registered nurse with a background in perinatal education and community health nursing. Born in England, she completed her nursing degree in England. She moved to Canada, where she completed her master's and PhD in Education and Women's Studies, focusing on health professionals and the experiences of international nurses of colour. Dr. Prendergast's areas of interest reside in primary health care, community development, women's health, and race and equity studies.
Amidst COVID-19 reports surrounding anti-Black racism and race-related deaths, she directed her focus to address the social injustices within nursing and the healthcare system. Dr. Prendergast has been actively involved in creating strategies to address anti-Black racism and systemic racism within the classroom and clinical settings. She currently serves as an advisor to several nursing organizations, and her research primarily focuses on the lived experiences of Black and racialized nurses working within Canada's healthcare system. Dr. Prendergast's passion for working across generations and centralizing her research on the flourishing of humanity has led her to create the B.R.A.V.E. project (Building Relationships Across Villages through Enquiry, Engagement and Empowerment)—her research centres on building intergenerational relationships and fostering race relations while dismantling anti-Black racism within society.
As a Triple Crown recipient of Toastmasters, Dr. Prendergast conducts workshops and presentations in academic and community settings and uses art illustrations to promote healthy dialogues across diverse communities, bridging gaps, fostering critical thinking, and implementing relevant cultural forms of critical pedagogy in her teaching. As her work aims to rupture all forms of racism, Dr. Prendergast's vision is to create a positive present and future intergenerationally.
Teaching Interests
- Arts-based & Critical Race Pedagogies
- Experiential Teaching & Learning Approaches
- Nursing & Patient-centred Communication
- Anti-racism, Anti-oppressive & Intersectionality
- Leadership Award in Health Equity, Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, 2024.
- Toastmasters International Triple Crown Award, Region of Peel, 2016.
- Toastmasters Competent Communication Award, Region of Peel, 2016.
- Toastmasters Competent Leadership and Bronze Communication Award, Region of Peel, 2016.
- OISE Award Scholarship, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, 2008.
- OISE Award Scholarship, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, 2007.
- Pushing the Envelope Award, Women’s College Hospital Research, 2007.
Scholarly Calling
My field of research is captured in the acronym BRAVE (Building Relationships Across Villages through Engagement). Operating from the Ubuntu philosophy that I am because we are, I began my process through enquiry, understanding the chronic intent and impact of anti-Black racism against humanity. BRAVE works uses research, teaching, and service to dismantle and rebuild human relationships through a continual process of enquiry, engagement, and empowerment that will lead to equity for all. "There is always light. Only if we are BRAVE enough to see it. There is always light. Only if we are BRAVE enough to be it." By Amanda Gorman
My positionality goes beyond academia, but to the dismantling of anti-Black racism and the flourishing of humanity, and is reflected in the words of Dr. King Junior, "Now let us begin. Now let us re-dedicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world."
My work incorporates visual art and both professional and community engagement that cross all forms of villages erected to preserve dominant ways of thinking and exclude community capacity and engagement.
Related Content
- Prendergast, N. & Obewu, O.A.T. (2024). Imposter syndrome: A reflective discourse into the experiences of Canadian Black nurses through art (external link) . Canadian Journal of Nursing Research.
- Boakye, P.N., Prendergast, N., & Bailey, A. (2024). Challenging anti-racism in nursing education: A moral and professional call to action (external link) . Nurse Education Today, 141.
- Prendergast, N. (2024). "Ain't I a Nurse", implementing a digital illustration of resistance when challenging anti-Black racism in nursing education (external link) . Nursing Philosophy, 25(4).
- Prendergast, N., Bailey, A., Myrie, Z., Pingal, K., Adegbola, A., Andrew, A., Savicevic, N., Cosgrove, C., & Garmaise-Yee, J. (2023). Chapter 1: Understanding Racism and Anti-Black Racism. Open education resource.
- Prendergast, N., Awal, F., Ranieri, V., Cosgrove, C., Garmaise-Yee, J., & Savicevic, N. (2023). Chapter 2: What it Means to be Black. Open education resource.
- Prendergast, N., Boakye, P., Barakati, S-S., & Callahan, S. (2023). Chapter 3: The Invisibility of Black Nurse. Open education resource.
- Prendergast, N., Onwudegwu, A., Awal, F., Ranieri, V., MacEachern, D., Callahan, S., & Lapum, J. Chapter 4: Anti-Racism and Nursing Communication. Open education resource.
- Understanding Black RPNs Experiences to Improve Advocacy, Engagement and Professional Advancement (2024)
- Empowering Mentorship as a Retention Strategy for Internationally Educated Nurses (2024)
- Exploring Black Mothers Transition to Motherhood in the First year Following Childbirth (2024-26)
- Bridging Divides TRS1.4 - Transcultural Intergenerational Empowerment and Solidarity (TIES): A Pilot Intervention with Canadian-born and International Educated Health Care Providers (2023-30)
- Transformative Compassion through Anti-Black racism resistance: The Stories of Black Retired Nurses (2024-25)
- Introduction to anti-racism for the nursing professional. A focus on anti-Black racism (2022-23)
For the latest updates, please visit the faculty page linked below.
Selected Media & Activities
Dr. Nadia Prendergast discusses her vision for a more equitable and just world — one that works across our differences, dismantles health inequities, and encourages our humanity towards each other.
(external link, opens in new window)
Black Nurses Tribute video created and directed by Dr. Prendergast.
Watch Dr. Nadia Prendergast's broader work on the Nursing Hall of Fame and the history of Black and racialized nurses. The video is part of the open educational resource "An Introduction to Anti-Racism for the Nursing Professional: A Focus on Anti-Black Racism."