YEAR IN REVIEW 2019–20
“The thing about being a nurse –that really defines us– is our ability to treat the whole patient.” loic assobmo, m.s. ’17 senior level primary care nurse practitioner trinity health of new england
YEAR IN REVIEW 2019–20
Dear friend, Eagerly anticipated, the Connell School’s 2020 Year of the Nurse turned out to be less the celebration we had hoped for, and more an affirmation of our abilities and strengths. This year, in honor of the Year of the Nurse, we created a monthly video series of students, alumni, and faculty recalling the first time they felt they had truly become a nurse. In the most recent video, Loic Assobmo, M.S. ’17, said, “The thing about being a nurse—that really defines us—is our ability to treat the whole patient.” That statement resonates more strongly today than ever. Boston College nurses accomplished a great deal in 2020. This edition of the Year in Review details the outstanding work of our faculty, alumni, and students. But most importantly, it underscores the fact that, at the Connell School, we want our students to flourish as whole people. And we’re thrilled that they take that lesson to heart and pass it along to their patients, colleagues, and community members. Wishing you good health and safety,
Susan Gennaro Dean bc.edu/cson2019-20
Cover: Regan Marooney ’18
CSON RESPONDS TO COVID-19
on campus At Boston College in March, CSON’s faculty and administration moved to virtual classrooms and meeting places. They worked to locate clinical sites for undergraduate and graduate students who were required to work direct patient hours (aspects of health care conducted face-to-face) during spring semester.
The Connell School immediately donated personal protective equipment from the Simulation and Brown Family Clinical Learning Laboratories to local health care centers. We held town halls to keep students apprised of changes in our teaching and learning methods during the spring semester, and we offered them a place to ask questions directly of CSON leadership and to voice
alumni leadership Adelene Egan ’18, an ER nurse at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Hospital, captured caregiving during the pandemic by photographing her colleagues. Her series, Faces of the Frontlines, was featured by NBC News 4 New York and Spectrum News NY 1. Stacy Hutton Johnson, Ph.D. ’15, was chief nurse at Boston Hope, a 1,000-bed medical center constructed inside the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center for post-acute COVID-19 patients and homeless patients with COVID-19. Julia Klein ’18 and fellow night-shift nurses at NYU Langone in Manhattan transformed their medicine/oncology unit into an acute COVID+ center. Eileen Searle ’06, Ph.D. ’20, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, obtained a one-day license to marry two co-workers in MGH’s Ether Dome—after which they went back to COVID-19 testing. The wedding received coverage in the Boston Globe.
their own opinions and concerns. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing determined that “simulation could be used as a substitute for traditional clinical experience,” which allowed the majority of students to return home when the University shut down most of its campus in March, while some students remained at BC to complete their clinicals.
John Welch, M.S. ’12, a senior nurse anesthetist at Boston Children’s Hospital, oversees the public health workers in the Massachusetts Community Tracing Collaborative. The program focuses on reaching out to the contacts of confirmed positive COVID-19 patients to identify and help those who may have been exposed to the virus.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2019–20
translating a pandemic
Assistant Professor Nadia Abuelezam, an infectious disease epidemiologist, quickly became a vital resource for the public and the media seeking information about COVID. She and other Boston College experts in biology, medicine, political science, and public health gathered in a series of COVIDrelated virtual panel discussions. Abuelezam was also interviewed about the pandemic: • on CNN International, CNN.com, and NBC News
• in a discussion on CommonHealth and Radio Boston, both on WBUR
• on All In with Chris Hayes, Morning Joe, and AM Joy, all on MSNBC
• and on WGBH Morning Edition and WBZ NightSide with Dan Rea.
• in the Washington Post and the New York Times • in the Associated Press and the Boston Globe • on Bloomberg Business Radio and Bloomberg Baystate Business News
Abuelezam co-authored a piece on what it means to “distance” ourselves from one another and from disease in Elemental, a new Medium publication for science-backed health and wellness coverage.
faculty on the front lines In addition to teaching and research, CSON faculty are also involved in clinical practice. Associate Professor Jane Ashley, Clinical Instructor
Dorean Behney Hurley, and Clinical Instructor and CSON Assistant Department Chair Jacqueline Sly shared their experiences as nurses during COVID-19.
CSON RESPONDS TO COVID-19
affecting policy
faculty expertise
Professor Dorothy Jones is working with a team at Massachusetts General Hospital on a variety of measures, including evaluating the impact of the current crisis on the nursing workforce and its many roles.
Clinical Assistant Professor Donna Cullinan runs a clinic at Fuller Village in Milton where she cared for patients with chronic or urgent conditions who were unable to be seen in an office setting because of the pandemic. Population Health student Kathryn Ferguson ’20 worked alongside Cullinan.
Assistant Professor Monica O’ReillyJacob and her research colleagues are fast-tracking a new nurse practitioner (NP) policy project that looks at NP contributions during crises and how full-practice authority changes NP practice.
Clinical Assistant Professor Julie Dunne volunteered at the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) Center for Mindfulness and Compassion, providing guided meditation sessions for nurses and other frontline health care providers. She also worked in
As chair-elect of the American Public Health Association Nursing Section, Associate Professor Joyce Edmonds provided state affiliates with information about federal funding allocated to local public health authorities. She emphasized that it be used to hire public health nurses at the front lines of case identification, contact investigation, and support for families in quarantine. She also co-authored the article “A Call to Action for Public Health Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in the journal Public Health Nursing.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2019–20
the CHA department of outpatient psychiatry, both in telehealth and person-to-person. Dunne also recorded breathing meditations for BC students, faculty, and staff to practice. Dean Susan Gennaro discussed issues related to the pandemic, including those facing the school and the nursing profession, in a Zoom-based COVID-19 fireside chat. Part-time Adult Health faculty member Mary Kelley, an RN at Brigham and Women’s, was interviewed on Boston’s Channel 7 News about a patient whose family was able to “visit” safely despite the current no-visitor policy. CSON research scholar Cherlie MagnyNormilus was interviewed on a Haitibased radio station about the importance of social distancing, cultural health beliefs, signs and symptoms, rapid COVID-19 testing sites, and information for family caregivers. Clinical Instructor Alison Marshall worked on the Influenza-like Illness floor at South Boston Community Health Center. A lab team led by Clinical Instructor Christine Repsha, who directs CSON’s Clinical Learning and Simulation Centers, identified options for virtual simulation and remote clinical learning to ensure that Connell students met the requirements to graduate and sit for the NCLEX on time. Clinical Assistant Professor Sherri St. Pierre volunteered at Mutual Aid Worcester, providing referrals and resources for social services including MassHealth, access to food pantries, and mental health counseling.
Nurse Anesthesia Clinical Instructor Allan Thomas has been caring for patients in need of anesthesia at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge. Judith Vessey, CSON’s Lelia Holden Carroll Endowed Professor in Nursing, co-authored the editorial “Everything Old Is New Again: COVID-19 and Public Health” in the April issue of the Journal of Pediatric Nursing.
students at work Clinical Assistant Professor Donna Cullinan arranged for 20 undergraduates to partner with families from Boston College’s Campus School to provide respite care, which allowed them to complete the required Population Health and Synthesis hours. Ph.D. student Amy Delaney helped put Department of Public Health plans in place at Franciscan Children’s, a pediatric post-acute health provider in Boston. She also cared for patients at Roslindale Pediatric Associates. Ph.D. candidate Jane Hopkins Walsh, a pediatric nurse practitioner at Boston Children’s Hospital, worked with patients with complex needs who could not be triaged remotely. As a Spanish-speaking provider, she works with populations who have high COVID+ rates, helping children and adolescents understand their own health and the risks facing the adults in their communities during the pandemic.
CSON THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
research highlights Ph.D. student Melissa Capotosto, M.S. ’12, and Associate Professor Corrine Jurgens were awarded third place in the early Ph.D. poster category at the 2020 Eastern Nursing Research Society student poster awards for their project “Fertile Ground: Exploring Fertility Awareness Practices Among Women Seeking Pregnancy.” Doctoral candidate Amy Delaney was awarded a Clinical Research Grant from the Alpha Chi chapter of Sigma Theta Tau for her research “Parents’ Perspectives on the Care for Their Children with Congenital Heart Disease Across the Lifespan.” Assistant Professor Andrew Dwyer was awarded a Boston College Research Expense Grant for his project “Elucidating Patient Decision-making for Testing of Common and Rare Genetic Conditions.”
The Hillman Innovations in Care Program is supporting “Optimizing Nursing Practice to Improve Childbirth Outcomes: An Audit and Feedback Intervention,” a study by CSON Associate Professor Joyce Edmonds and Neel Shah, director of Ariadne Labs’ Delivery Decisions Initiative, to help increase nurses’ understanding of the effects of different practices on childbirth outcomes. The American Cancer Society awarded a fouryear Research Scholar Grant to Associate Professor Karen Lyons and her team at Oregon State University, who are studying dyadic intervention for young couples with cancer to find ways to reduce distress about reproduction and improve health and quality of life.
Ariana Chao ’10, M.S. ’11, received the 2020 Eastern Nursing Research Society Rising Star Research Award, which recognizes a junior investigator who has shown promise in establishing a program of health and/or nursing research. Chao is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2019–20
Associate Professor Ellen Mahoney studies family caregiving within the emerging and increasingly significant participantdirected alternative health care delivery and reimbursement system.
cson community
Doctoral candidate Kate McNair was awarded a Clinical Research Grant from the Alpha Chi chapter of Sigma Theta Tau for her research “The Influence of #MeToo on Sexual Assault Survivors’ Decision Making and Health Behaviors: A Qualitative Study.”
The Connell School of Nursing’s
Assistant Professor Britt Pados was awarded a Boston College Ignite grant for her pilot study “The Implementation of Standardized Assessment of Feeding in the High-Risk Neonatal Follow-Up Clinic.” The National Institute of Nursing Research awarded Assistant Professors Britt Pados (left) and Jinhee Park (right) and their team (based at the University of North Carolina) a five-year R01 Research Project Grant for their study “Symptom Trajectories in Infants and Toddlers at Risk for Chronic Feeding Problems.” David Zulewski ’22 and Colleen Simonelli, associate dean for undergraduate programs, were awarded second place in the bachelor of science poster category in the 2020 Eastern Nursing Research Society student poster awards for their project “Quantitative Research: Changes in Neurofilament Light, a Marker of Axonal Damage in Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Taxane-Based Chemotherapy.”
#27 Best Graduate Schools U.S. News & World Report 2021 Nursing Schools, Master’s Programs
graduate program rose to #27 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. The Family Nurse Practitioner program is #9 in the clinical specialty rankings. Pioneering Italian nurse leaders Gennaro Rocco and Alessandro Stievano presented the fall 2019 Pinnacle lecture about international collaboration and its effect on nursing research, practice, and education. Rocco is the steering committee director at the Scientific Research Center of Centro di Eccellenza per la Cultura e la Ricerca Infermieristica. Stievano is a research fellow in nursing at the Centre of Excellence for Nursing Scholarship OPI. Last summer, the Council on Accreditation of Nurse Anesthesia Educational Programs approved changing the Connell School’s nurse anesthesia program partner to the Associated Physicians of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Previously, Anaesthesia Associates of Massachusetts had shared authority of CSON’s program.
CSON THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
program launches Last fall, Boston College introduced an Interdisciplinary Palliative Care Certificate Program for graduate students in the schools of nursing, social work, and theology and ministry. The 12-credit program—one of the first of its kind in the US—is designed to provide nurses, social workers, and ministers with the skills and knowledge to care for patients and families living with serious illnesses. In fall 2019, Boston College initiated a new interdisciplinary minor in Global Public Health and the Common Good. The minor’s six courses are taught by faculty from the Connell School, Law School, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Social Work. Grounded in epidemiology, the program encourages students to analyze the moral, ethical, and legal foundations of public health and study the influences of social, economic, political, and environmental factors on patterns of health and disease. In September, CSON launched the Seacole Scholars Program—a living and learning community comprised of first-year female nursing students of color. The program seeks to learn if—by living, studying, and collaborating together—this intentional community will increase a sense of belonging for minority students. The program was named for Mary Jane Seacole, a 19th-century Jamaican-born nurse whose contributions to nursing were overlooked for many years due to racial prejudice.
in the community Students in Clinical Assistant Professor Donna Cullinan’s Population Health Practice in the Community course travel weekly to the Mattapan Teen Center, teaching health topics, but also mentoring and befriending the young adults.
our new faculty Last fall, the Connell School of Nursing welcomed four new faculty members: • Mei R. Fu, Barry Family/Goldman Sachs Endowed Professor in Nursing • Lisa Wood, Professor • Christine Repsha, Clinical Instructor and Director, Brown Family Clinical Learning Laboratory and CSON Simulation Centers • Kellie LaPierre, Clinical Assistant Professor
faculty and staff recognition Nursing Research Librarian Wanda Anderson received the first annual Appreciation Award from the North Atlantic Health Sciences Libraries, a regional chapter of the Medical Library Association. Connell School faculty Stacey Barone, Stewart Bond, and Julie Dunne were recently promoted to clinical professor, clinical associate professor, and clinical assistant professor, respectively.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2019–20
The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) inducted Clinical Associate Professor Susan DeSanto-Madeya, Associate Professor Holly Fontenot, and Associate Dean for Graduate Programs Susan Kelly-Weeder as fellows at AAN’s annual conference in Washington, DC. Michele Hubley, the administrative assistant in the Office for Nursing Research, was inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, the national honor society of Jesuit colleges and universities.
international experiences Nearly 50 undergraduate nursing students studied abroad in 2019–20 in Australia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
After a career of more than five decades as a fierce advocate for and leader in the profession of nursing, Professor Dorothy Jones’s greatest legacy may be her role as a champion for her colleagues and other nurse scholars. BC’s Academic Technology Advisory Board awarded an exploratory technology grant to CSON Associate Professor Corrine Jurgens and Andrew HessionKunz, a Carroll School senior lecturer, for a cross-disciplinary study of heart-rate variability. Assistant Professor Britt Pados was elected a 2020 Fellow of the American Heart Association. Pados’s research helps pediatricians, hospitals, and specialists improve the way they identify and care for infants and toddlers who struggle with feeding.
Petrana Sommerville ’20 with patient in Jamaica
In January, Clinical Assistant Professor Donna Cullinan, Clinical Instructor Maureen Connolly, and Clinical Assistant Professor Kellie LaPierre traveled to Jamaica with 12 undergraduates and five
Clinical Associate Professor Patricia Reid Ponte was named to the Beth Israel Lahey Health System Board of Trustees for a three-year term.
nurse practitioner students. The group treated more than 750 patients in mobile clinics and home visits and signed up more than 300 residents for free health insurance.
CSON THROUGHOUT THE YEAR
CSON developed a multifaceted partnership with Chile’s Pontifical Catholic University over the past seven years to build the first-ever nurse practitioner master’s program in Chile and educate Boston College nursing students about Chile’s health care system. Eight seniors conducted their Population Health clinicals in the Dominican Republic in January, along with two graduate students, Ph.D. candidate Jane HopkinsWalsh and Clinical Instructor Rosemary Byrne. They did home visits, well-baby checks, and chronic medical condition follow-up, and gave presentations to two communities on nutrition and diabetes, infectious diseases, and adolescent pregnancy. In February and March, seven senior nursing students, three nurse practitioner students, and three faculty members traveled to Guatemala. There, guided by the director of health care promoters, they set up pop-up clinics to provide health care to nearly 150 patients in several communities and provided 15 elders and families, who could not attend the clinics, with home visits. The students also provided health education—in Spanish—on diabetes, nutrition, diarrhea prevention, and reproductive health.
alumni Kimberly Arouth ’84 was named chief executive officer of Visiting Nurse & Community Care, Inc., a leading nonprofit home care agency in eastern Massachusetts.
philanthropy Mei R. Fu, whose research is focused on cancer-related symptoms and management of chronic illnesses, is the inaugural recipient of the Connell School’s Barry Family/Goldman Sachs Endowed Chair in Nursing. A gift from Boston College Trustee Steven M. Barry ’85 and Tammy J. Barry ’85, M.Ed. ’87, P’14, ’17, established the position. Fu received the 2020 Connie Henke Yarbro Excellence in Cancer Nursing Mentorship Award from the Oncology Nursing Foundation in April. CSON received a generous donation from MedStar Health in honor of Maureen P. McCausland ’72, M.S. ’77. The gift recognizes McCausland’s leadership at MedStar, the largest health care provider in Maryland and Washington, DC, where she served as senior vice president and chief nursing officer. The Pinnacle lectures’ keynote speaker is now named the Dr. Maureen P. McCausland Pinnacle Keynote Speaker.
IN MEMORY Molly Ryan, M.S. ’19, died at home on July 30, 2019. Donations in Molly’s memory can be made to Hope Floats at hopefloatswellness.org.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2019–20
Dean Susan Gennaro presented Deborah Washington, M.S. ’93, Ph.D. ’12, with the 2019 Dean Rita P. Kelleher Award. Washington, director of diversity for Nursing and Patient Care Services at Massachusetts General Hospital, discussed leadership in health care through the lens of diversity and inclusion with Joy Moore ’81, Hon. ’10, who is Boston College’s vice president for student affairs.
about the connell school
b.s.
Advanced practice nursing specialties
m.s. Three routes of entry to master’s degree programs in ad-
• Adult-gerontology primary care
vanced practice nursing: traditional, direct entry, RN to M.S.
• Family health
Degrees, programs, and certificates
m.s./m.a. in Pastoral Ministry (joint degree program with the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry)
• Nurse anesthesia
m.s./m.b.a. (joint degree program with BC's Carroll School
• Pediatric primary care
of Management)
• Psychiatric/mental health
m.s./ph.d. d.n.p. Four routes of entry to the Doctor of Nursing Practice program in advanced practice nursing: direct entry, post-bachelor’s, post-master’s, RN to D.N.P.
ph.d.
• Women’s health
by the numbers
undergraduates
Students
437
female students
incoming first-year students
ahana* students
94%
108
41%
total number of students
747
master’s students
250
doctoral students and candidates
* Individuals of African, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American descent
60
u.s. states and territories
countries
36
Faculty
5
Alumni total number of alumni
full time
54
part time
85
10,320
u.s. states and territories
53
countries
18
“Working as a nurse during this time has made me prouder than ever to be part of the nursing profession.� adelene egan ’18 emergency department nurse new york-presbyterian/weill cornell medical center founder, #facesofthefrontlines
dean susan gennaro 617-552-1710 susan.gennaro@bc.edu maloney hall 140 commonwealth avenue chestnut hill, ma 02467