Ellen Hodnett’s research program focuses on rigorous evaluations of forms of care for childbearing women and on the effects of the health care environment on health outcomes. She has over 90 publications and she has presented over 100 papers at conferences.

Dr. Hodnett was an Editor for the Pregnancy and Childbirth Group of the Cochrane Collaboration, a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Group of the World Health Organization Maternal and Reproductive Health Research Program, and one of the Inaugural Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 1996 she was appointed to the first endowed chair in nursing research in Canada, a position she held for 15 years.

Dr. Hodnett is strongly committed to mentoring young researchers who wish to conduct randomized controlled trials. She was the driving force behind the development of the Randomized Controlled Trials Unit (RCTU), which has state-of-the-science human and technical resources to assist colleagues and graduate students with the design and conduct of trials of simple and complex nursing interventions