Colonel Kristiana Stevens served in all components of the military, commencing her life in uniform as an Army Cadet, then moving on to join the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Reserve as a Cadet Instructor Cadre officer where she worked with Army, Air and Sea Cadets, employed at numerous Cadet Summer Training Camps across the country including Whitehorse in the Yukon.

In 1985 Colonel Stevens joined the CAF Regular Force as a Direct Entry Nursing Officer and on completion of her basic occupation training, she served as a staff nurse at the Base Hospital at Canadian Forces Base Kingston. Following a move to Ottawa she was the Surgical Ward Head Nurse at the National Defence Medical Centre. She returned to “basic training”, but this time as a platoon commander at the Canadian Forces Officer Candidate School in Chilliwack, BC and following that was posted to 2 Field Ambulance in Petawawa as Second-in-Command of the Medical Company. In 1991, Colonel Stevens was deployed to the Persian Gulf with the Advance Surgical Team of 1 Canadian Field Hospital for which she was awarded the Gulf and Kuwait Medal with Bar.

In 1994, then Captain Stevens transferred back to the Reserve Force (Primary Reserve) where she was the training officer and then deputy commanding officer of 11 (Victoria) Field Ambulance. Concurrently she served four years of full-time Reserve service first as a Military Career Counsellor and then Detachment Commander of Canadian Forces Recruiting Detachment Victoria. In May 2000, she was invited to join the Reserve Working Group of the Health Services Renewal Project (Rx 2000) as the Reserve Recruiting and Training Officer. During her tenure she led the centralization and quality improvement of all Health Service Reserve occupation training at the Canadian Forces Health Services Training Centre. She also aligned Health Services Reserve occupation training to mirror the Regular Force standards. A key development that drew on all her prior experiences was her development of a new  Basic Officer Training course for Regular and Reserve Force Health Services candidates.  The course reduced the total number of calendar days required for training by implementing an online training component while ensuring the training standards were equivalent to the Regular Force Basic Officer Course.  She was the Course Director for the first three serials. The course was emulated by the Chaplain Branch when they adapted it for Basic Chaplain Officer Training.

In 2006, newly promoted Lieutenant-Colonel Stevens took command of the Health Services Reserve Primary Reserve List, a nation-wide dispersed unit of medical, nursing, and allied health specialists who trained to augment Health Services domestic and deployed operations. In 2008, she was promoted Colonel and appointed Director Health Services Reserve and Reserve Advisor to the Director General Health Services. During this time she continued to increase the effectiveness of the HS Reserves and also developed numerous US military partnerships which enhanced both interoperability as well as deployability of CAF health care personnel.  In late 2016 she was appointed as a Special Projects Officer with the Chief of Military Personnel on the JOURNEY Task Force, working to revitalize personnel support, a position she held until her retirement in 2018. 

A particular highlight of her career was being selected as the Joint Task Force Nijmegen Contingent Commander in 2015 & 2016.  She led the CAF Contingent of over 200 members throughout the annual International Four Days Marches in Nijmegen in the Netherlands, marching 40 km a day for four days as part of the CAF commemoration of the Canadian soldiers who liberated the Netherlands from Nazi occupation during the Second World War. Colonel Stevens was the first, and to date (2026) only Nursing Officer appointed to command the CAF Joint Task Force Nijmegen Contingent.

Colonel Stevens exemplary career was recognized with her appointment as an Officer of The Order of Military Merit in 2012. She was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal the same year. An avid runner Colonel Stevens has run in 400 marathons/ultra marathons over the years. She completed a Nursing Diploma from Victoria General Hospital in 1983 and is a graduate of the Joint Reserve Command and Staff Course.

Colonel Stevens is an innovator whose leadership and dedicated Service helped transform the Health Services Reserve. As a senior officer she was an inspiration to nursing officers and other health care occupations who aspired to both clinical excellence and command.