Rebecca DeBruyn joined the Cicely Saunders Institute as a Research Assistant in October 2025, supporting Dr. Therese Johansson and Prof Katherine Sleeman on a mixed methods project exploring health and care service utilisation amongst people with dementia at end of life.

Rebecca has a background in clinical nursing with a focus on community nursing in deprived communities in Canada, and more recently has worked as both a nursing manager and epidemiologist with Médecins Sans Frontières across many different medical humanitarian projects. Rebecca holds a Master’s degree in Nursing from McGill University in Canada (2013), and a MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2024).

She is passionate about understanding patient and community experiences of health and healthcare, working to improve access to healthcare for all, and addressing the research to practice gap. Her research interests include community-based care, health inequalities, and palliative and end of life care.