Sally Thorne

Sally Elizabeth Thorne, PhD, FAAN, FCAHS, RN, (b. 1951) is a Canadian academic nursing leader, teacher, researcher, theorist, and author well known for research in the human experience of chronic illness and cancer, and for her advancement of qualitative research methodologies including metasynthesis and interpretive description.

Biography & Career

Thorne obtained her RN Diploma (1972) from the Atkinson School of Nursing at Toronto Western Hospital, BSN (1979) and MSN (1983) from the University of British Columbia School of Nursing, in Vancouver, Canada, and PhD from the Union Institute for Advanced Studies (1990), now the Union Institute & University, in Cincinnati, OH, USA.

Thorne joined the faculty of the University of British Columbia School of Nursing in 1983, quickly establishing a program of substantive research, methodological development, and social critique in the intersection between health service delivery and the experiential world of those who navigate them in order to live well with cancer and chronic disease.