Department of Anesthesia, Pain Management & Perioperative Medicine

Faculty of Medicine

Alexandra Neville, PhD

Assistant Professor

alexandra-neville
Department of Anesthesia, Pain Management & Perioperative Medicine

Email: alexandra.neville@dal.ca
Research Topics:
  • Pediatric Psychology
  • Children's Pain
  • Patient Partnership
  • Diagnostic uncertainty

Education

  • BA (Honours), Psychology, University of Guelph
  • MSc, Clinical Psychology, University of Calgary
  • PhD, Clinical Psychology, University of Calgary
  • Pre-doctoral Residency, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Stanford University School of Medicine

Cross Appointments

 

  • Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Faculty of Science
  • Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicin
  • Scientific Staff, IWK Health Centre

Research Interests

My research primarily explores the phenomenon of diagnostic uncertainty among youth with chronic pain, their caregivers, and clinicians. I’m interested in understanding how the clinical encounter shapes experiences of uncertainty and influences clinical decision-making and children’s health outcomes. My work emphasizes meaningful collaboration with patient partners to improve the quality and relevance of research, pediatric pain services, and policies. As Scientific Lead of Patient and Family Partnerships at Solutions for Kids in Pain, a national knowledge mobilization network, my focus is on advancing patient partnership practices and ensuring that patient voices remain central to systems-level change in children’s pain management.

Selected Publications

Birnie, K. A., Marbil, M. G., MacKenzie, N. E., Neville, A., Richards, D. P., Jordan, I., Mohabir, V., Chambers, C. T., & Hadjistavropoulos, T. (2026). Ethical issues in patient partnership in psychology and health research. Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne, 67(1), 21–32. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000443

Neville, A., Clemente, I., Meldrum, M. L., Zeltzer, L., Jordan, J., Oberlander, T. F., Watson, K., Daly-Cyr, J., Noel, M. (2025). How the Clinical Encounter Shapes Diagnostic Uncertainty in Pediatric Chronic Pain. The Journal of Pain. 32:105406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2025.105406.

Birnie, K., & Neville, A. (2025). Patient partnership is essential to the advancement of pain research. The Journal of Pain. 32, 105438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2025.105438

Neville, A., Kopala-Sibley, D. C., Soltani, S., Asmundson, G. J. G., Jordan, A., Carleton, R. N., Yeates, K. O., Schulte, F., & Noel M. (2021). A longitudinal examination of the interpersonal fear avoidance model of pain: The role of intolerance of uncertainty. PAIN. 162(1):152-160. https://doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002009.

Neville, A., Noel, M., Clinch, J., Pincus, T., Jordan, A. (2021). ‘Drawing a line in the sand’: Clinician diagnostic uncertainty in pediatric chronic pain. European Journal of Pain. 25(2), 430-441. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1682

Neville, A., Jordan, A., Beveridge, J. K., Pincus, T., & Noel, M. (2019). Diagnostic uncertainty in youth with chronic pain and their parents. The Journal of Pain. 20(9), 1080-1090.

For full publication list see: Google Scholar

Selected awards and honours

  • Governor General’s Gold Medal
  • Canadian Psychological Association Certificate of Academic Excellence
  • The Southwood Paediatric Pain Award

Other Service and Activity

  • Associate Editor, Pediatric Pain Letter