Research Centers - University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

The Importance of Our Research Centers
Many faculty and students come to Penn Nursing to study in our prestigious research
centers, which they describe as “hubs of energy” and “areas of intellectual
excitement.” Why are the nursing research centers so critical to the mission of the School
and why do they attract the most stellar students and faculty to Penn? This issue of UPfront
demonstrates how the School’s six established centers shape our response to the healthcare
and nursing issues confronting us, both nationally and globally.
Each center has gone through a detailed process of establishing a need for the
specific area of research in the School, solicited participation from a substantial number
of both senior and junior faculty members, and successfully obtained sufficient external
funding to support their activities. Then, centers must mentor junior faculty in significant
ways and engage students. As an example, each year our centers award approximately
$150,000 in pilot research funding to junior faculty and post-doctoral fellows, enabling junior
investigators and post-doctoral fellows to launch independent lines of research.
Each center is built upon a foundation of research, mentorship, and education to
address major areas of research emphasis in nursing. For example, the Biobehavioral
Research Center, established in 2005, is aligned with a research priority set by the National
Institute for Nursing Research (NINR), which describes the integration of biobehavioral
research in its five-year plan. The NINR also recognizes that nursing research can make a
substantial contribution to the discovery of knowledge to improve the care and quality of
life of our elders. Our Centers for Gerontologic Nursing Science and Transitions and Health
are both poised to contribute significantly to the development of new knowledge and to the
creation of leaders. The Center for Health Disparities Research is also closely aligned with
research initiatives that are needed to improve both the access to care and outcomes by
vulnerable populations. Two centers, the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of
Nursing and the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) conduct research
initiatives cutting across many areas of potential funding priorities. Through the lens of time,
scholars in the History Center examine issues that can clarify today’s problems and help to
derive successful solutions. CHOPR researchers examine how nursing staffing patterns affect
morbidity and mortality in cross-cutting areas including safety of patients and workers, care
of patients with AIDS, and treatment of psychiatric patients, to name just a few.
Nursing research priorities change and the health needs of populations change;
however, with the breadth of talent at Penn, we anticipate our center structure will be able
to adapt to new priorities. The entire nursing community benefits from the stellar research
conducted here, which is why we call ourselves Penn Nursing Science.
“Why are the nursing research
centers so critical to the mission of
the School and why do they attract
the most stellar students and
faculty to Penn?”
LINDA A. McCAULEY, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAAOHN, the Nightingale Professor of Nursing
and Associate Dean for Nursing Research
4 | care to change the world