Charlene Esteban Ronquillo

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Health and Social Development, School of Nursing

Email: charlene.ronquillo@ubc.ca

Research Summary

health informatics; nursing; health equity; artificial intelligence; implementation science

Courses & Teaching

Jan 2026
NRSG 507 - Quantitative Research
HINT 322 - Clinical Informatics

Biography

Prospective MSN thesis stream and PhD students interested in research on the intersection of health equity and health informatics, please visit the Health Informatics Equity Lab website for details and supervision inquiry guidance.

Please note that applications must be made to the relevant UBC Graduate program and no decisions can be made until your application is seen in the application system

 

I am a Filipina Scholar, Registered Nurse, and health informatician researching the intersections of health informatics, health equity, nursing, and health services research. Our work is underpinned by implementation science and critical theories. One of our key aims is to ensure meaningful inclusion of non-dominant groups in the conceptualization, design, development, and implementation of health technologies in health systems and progress technically-informed discussions of artificial intelligence and healthcare and nursing practice.

I have expertise in mixed methods, participatory, and co-production approaches . I have experience with various aspects of health information technology in health systems and nursing, including nursing informatics competencies, usability research, user-centered design and development, rapid and exploratory prototyping, and technology adoption and usage.

I obtained my BScN from McGill University (2007), and MSN (2010) and PhD (2021) from UBC. Prior to joining UBCO, I was a Health Service Improvement Research Fellow at the University of the West of England (2016), an Associate Research Fellow in Implementation Science at the University of Exeter Medical School (2016-19), and an Assistant Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University (2019-21).

Websites

Health Informatics Equity Lab @ UBCO Nursing
Nursing and Artificial Intelligence Leadership (NAIL) Collaborative
Google

Degrees

PhD - University of British Columbia
MSN - University of British Columbia
BScN - McGill University

Research Interests & Projects

For the most recent updates, please see the Health Informatics Equity Lab website.

Selected Publications & Presentations

For my updated publication list, please see my Google Scholar Profile.

Select Recent Publication Highlights

• Ronquillo, C.E., 2026. Beyond Time Saved: Implementation, Equity, and the Utility Threshold for Nursing AI Scribes. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 28, p.e101190.
• Shin, H.D., Ronquillo, C.E., Lee, J., Lokmic-Tomkins, Z., Reid, L., You, S.B., Davies, S., Block, L.J., Ozbay, I., Lukitasari, M. and Cho, H., 2026. Integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion in generative AI applications for healthcare education: a scoping review. International Journal of Medical Informatics, p.106582.
• Soliman, M., Abdelziz, O., Radwan, A., Shehata, M.S., Ronquillo, C. and Shearer, K., 2026. Secondary use of health data: applications, models, algorithms, and ethical considerations. AI and Ethics, 6(2), p.165.
• Chu, C.H., Siganevich, Y., Donato-Woodger, S., Nguyen, M., Zavalunov, R., Wang, J., Beekhoo, Z., Ronquillo, C.E., Ibrahim, S., Flaming, D. and Green, N., 2025. Teaching Informatics Competencies within Nursing Education: A Scoping Review of Teaching Strategies. Applied Clinical Informatics, 16(04), pp.911-929.
• Topaz, M., Peltonen, L.M., Michalowski, M., Stiglic, G., Ronquillo, C., Pruinelli, L., Song, J., O’connor, S., Miyagawa, S. and Fukahori, H., 2025. The ChatGPT effect: nursing education and generative artificial intelligence. Journal of Nursing Education, 64(6), pp.e40-e43.
• Topaz, M., Peltonen, L. M., Michalowski, M., Pruinelli, L., Ronquillo, C. E., Zhang, Z., & Babic, A. (2025). The Overlooked Dark Side of Generative AI in Nursing: An International Think Tank’s Perspective. Journal of Nursing Scholarship.
• Jin, R., Li, X., Block, L.J., Beschastnikh, I., Currie, L.M. and Ronquillo, C.E., 2024. Fairness in Classifying and Grouping Health Equity Information. In Innovation in Applied Nursing Informatics (pp. 368-372). 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London, EC1Y 1SP: SAGE Publications.
• Ronquillo, C.E., Mitchell, J., Block, L., Alhuwail, D., Peltonen, L. M., Topaz, M., & Block, L. J. (2022). The Untapped Potential of Nursing and Allied Health Data for Improved Representation of Social Determinants of Health and Intersectionality in Artificial Intelligence Applications: A Rapid Review. Yearbook of Medical Informatics.
• Ronquillo, C. E., Peltonen, L. M., Pruinelli, L., Chu, C. H., Bakken, S., Beduschi, A., … & Topaz, M. (2021). Artificial intelligence in nursing: Priorities and opportunities from an international invitational think‐tank of the Nursing and Artificial Intelligence Leadership Collaborative. Journal of advanced nursing.
• Ronquillo, C., Currie, L. M., & Rodney, P. (2016). The evolution of data-information-knowledge-wisdom in nursing informatics. Advances in nursing science, 39(1), E1-E18.

Selected Grants & Awards

2025       Nominated for UBCO Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence and Innovation

2023       UBC School of Nursing Recent Alumni Award (Vancouver)

2022       Women Leaders in Digital Health Award (Emerging Leader) – Digital Health Canada

2022       Kelowna Chamber’s Top 40 Under 40 Program

Professional Services/Affiliations/Committees

• President-Elect of the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association
• Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Nursing and Artificial Intelligence Leadership (NAIL) Collaborative
• Affiliated Investigator at the Interior Health Authority
• Affiliated Investigator at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute