Dr. Cathy MacDonald is the first Vice-President, Academic Affairs at Saint Francis Xavier University. She was previously the Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, and the Acting Director at the Rankin School of Nursing. She has been employed at StFX since 2001. She received a PhD in Nursing from Dalhousie University (2013), a Master of Nursing (2003) and BScN (1990) from Dalhousie University, and a diploma in Nursing from the Victoria General School of Nursing (1986). Her nursing expertise in oncology began in Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplant where she practiced in both Canada and the United States. Cathy's teaching expertise is in adult medical-surgical nursing, leadership, and trends and issues in nursing. She has taught distance palliative care and leadership courses to graduate Nursing students in Qatar, Doha.

Her previous research focuses on cancer and marginalized individuals, Aboriginal women and Pap smear screening, participatory action research, and Indigenous health. More recently, her research focuses on Indigenous student success at university. She has also been a co-applicant and co-investigator (Canadian Institute Health Research, Health Canada, Canadian Immunization Research Network, Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat) on several national research grants. She has published in national and international peer-reviewed journals (i.e., The Canadian Journal of Action Research, Cancer Nursing, Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, Nursing Ethics, The International Journal Regional and Local History, The Canadian Journal of Action Research, Journal of Education and Nursing Practice and The Journal Nursing Education). She has supervised honors nursing students and graduate students on topics related to her research area. Cathy has presented her research work at conferences locally, nationally, and internationally.