Innovations: Nursing Science, Education, Practice - University of ...

Penn Nursing Notes
Nurse Scholars
Join Fa c u lt y
In the last academic year, six nursing
scholars joined the School’s standing
faculty. Their appointments complement
the strength of the School’s
p rograms and extend the range of our
initiatives in re s e a rch, education, and
practice.
Joan E. Burritt, DNSc, RN,
(GNu’80, PhD’88) is chief nursing
officer and associate hospital administrator
at the Hospital of the
University of Pennsylvania. She came
to Penn from Yale New Haven
Hospital, where she was director of
medical nursing and interim dire c t o r
of ambulatory nursing.
Nancy C. Tkacs, PhD, RN,
(GNu’77) an assistant pro f e s s o r,
belongs to a small cadre of nurse
physiologists engaged in basic science
re s e a rch. She specializes in discovering
how the brain integrates responses to
illness; she is now focusing on hypoglycemia
unawareness in diabetic
p a t i e n t s .
Ann E. Rogers, PhD, RN, an associate
professor of nursing, is a leader
in the field of sleep re s e a rch, part i c u-
larly narc o l e p s y. With a $1.4 million
grant from the National Institutes of
Health, she is re s e a rching ways to
counter excessive daytime sleepiness
in narcolepsy patients. Rogers has
p reviously taught at the University of
Michigan.
Deborah B. McGuire, PhD, FA A N ,
RN, (Nu’74) an associate pro f e s s o r, is
u
recognized as one of the nation’s leading
oncology nurse re s e a rchers and
e x p e rts in pain management. She will
d i rect the School’s oncology nursing
graduate program. McGuire has
taught at the Johns Hopkins School of
Nursing and at Emory University.
Barbara S. Levine, PhD, RN, an
assistant pro f e s s o r, serves as dire c t o r
of gerontologic nursing practice in the
University of Pennsylvania Health
System. As a re s e a rcher and clinician,
Levine has examined questions re l a t e d
to the quality of family care - g i v i n g
and the problems of elderly patients
with cardiac disease.
K a ren L. Schumacher, PhD, RN,
assistant professor of community
health nursing, has conducted landmark
re s e a rch on family-based care to
people receiving chemotherapy for
c a n c e r. ■
Penn Nursing’s
SNAP Re c e i v e s
Chapter of
E xcellence Aw a r d
The Student Nurses Association of
Pennsylvania awarded Penn’s
chapter its first Chapter of Excellence
Aw a rd, saying the organization exemplifies
student leadership at the state
and national levels.
As part of its mission, Student
Nurses at Penn helps student nurses
develop pro f e s s i o n a l l y, explores professional
issues, and supports pro f e s-
sional and legislative issues related to
nursing and health care. SNAP also
s e rves as an undergraduate advisory
b o a rd and addresses concerns of
nursing students.
SNAP organizes activities such as
student-faculty dinners and community
service projects and serves as a
liaison among students, faculty, and
the School and University administrations.
■
New Chairs
Reward Expert i s e
Endowed chairs allow Penn
Nursing to recognize and support
the work of the finest re s e a rchers and
scholars in their fields. In the past two
years, the School has filled three new
chairs. Mary Naylor, PhD, RN,
FAAN, (GNu’73, PhD’82) form e r
associate dean, became the first to hold
the Ralston House Endowed Te rm
Chair in Gerontologic Nursing. The
appointment recognizes Naylor’s
g ro u n d - b reaking work with the elderl
y. Linda Aiken, PhD, FAAN, FRCN,
RN, began her appointment to the
C l a i re M. Fagin Leadership Chair in
Nursing. As a leading national and
Left: Mary Naylor,
bottom left: Linda
Aiken, and bottom
right: Ellen Fung
i n t e rnational re s e a rcher and consultant,
Aiken serves as director of Penn
N u r s i n g ’s Center for Health
Outcomes and Policy Research. Her
c u rrent re s e a rch focuses on health-care
re f o rm throughout the world.
Teaching and re s e a rch in childre n ’s
nutrition earned Ellen Fung, PhD,
RD, the Helen M. Shearer Endowed
Te rm Chair in Nutrition. Fung focuses
on the nutritional needs of childre n
with chronic diseases, part i c u l a r l y
c e rebral palsy, sickle cell disease, and
cystic fibrosis. ■
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