Kimberley Thomas

Kimberley is a Master’s student of Health Sciences at the University of Northern British Columbia. She received her Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Biology and minor in Sociology from the University of Calgary.

Kimberley has spent several years volunteering for organizations working towards social justice in Canada. Her interest in rural medicine grew from her role as a patient support volunteer in palliative care at Foothills Country Hospice in Alberta, as well as through spending time visiting her father in Burns Lake, BC. Though building relationships with First Nations families while volunteering at the Calgary Urban Project Society in Calgary’s downtown core, she learned of the critical need to address pressing issues of inequity in the quality of healthcare for Indigenous peoples.

Kimberley’s collective experiences have driven her research interests in improving local, community-based palliative care access for rural and remote northern and Indigenous communities in British Columbia. She is very grateful to be a part of the Health Arts Research Centre and is excited to learn how to use the creative arts in holistic approaches to healthcare, knowledge-sharing, and advocation for diverse communities in our province.