FACULTY & STAFF NEWS
CON WELCOMES NEW ENDOWED CHAIR Last November, Kathleen O. Lindell, Ph.D., R.N., ATSF, FAAN, joined the College of Nursing as the Mary Swain Endowed Chair in Palliative Care. Lindell began her 30-year nursing career as a pulmonary clinical nurse specialist at the University of Pennsylvania Lung Center, where she participated in developing evidence-based programs to advance the health of patients with lung disease. Most recently, she was an associate professor of medicine and nursing at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. During this time, Lindell directed patient support and education at the Dorothy P. & Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, becoming
the first nurse on the faculty at the Pitt School of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, & Critical Care Medicine with a joint appointment in the School of Nursing. Her research funding focuses on palliative care knowledge and preparedness in patients with advanced lung disease and their family caregivers. Lindell's work has been published in 37 peer-reviewed publications. She is actively involved in the American Thoracic Society and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF) and served on the Board of Directors of both organizations. Presently, she is a member of the PFF Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee. Lindell graduated from the St. Francis General Hospital Professional School of Nursing with an associate degree. She continued her studies at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, where she earned her BSN, MSN, and Ph.D. degrees.
KOZACHIK NAMED ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR ACADEMICS In April 2021, Dean Linda S. Weglicki named Sharon Kozachik, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, associate dean for academics and associate professor for the College of Nursing after Gigi Smith, Ph.D., R.N., was selected to serve as associate provost for Education Innovation and Student Life for MUSC. Kozachik teaches in the doctoral programs and is dedicated to educating the next generation of care providers to ethically address the complex challenges of pain in the context of the opioid crisis. Prior to joining the college, Kozachik held the position of provost fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and received excellence in teaching awards from the Maryland Nurses Association and the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association.
Her research interests include the bi-directional relationship between sleep perturbations and pain and the role of hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis stress responsivity and proinflammatory cytokines in precipitating and perpetuating pain and sleep disturbance co-occurrence. Her research was funded by the American Nurses Foundation, the Oncology Nursing Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. Kozachik co-chairs the Palliative and End-of-Life Expert Panel for the American Academy of Nursing and also served the academy as a site evaluator for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and through her work supporting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Kozachik earned her Ph.D. in nursing from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, her MSN from Michigan State University College of Nursing and her BSN from the University of Michigan-Flint School of Nursing.
NEW FACULTY AND STAFF Mary Evelyn Armstrong, MA, CRA, PMP, assistant dean for finance and administration John Bian, Ph.D., associate professor, statistician Simone Chinnis, DNP, MBA, APRN, FNP-C, instructor Alexis Cunliffe, M.Ed., student recruiter Kristin Laudenslager, education technology specialist Alexis Nagel, grant writer
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LIFELINES
2021
Marcelaine Reneau, Ph.D., APRN, instructor Leigh Ridings, Ph.D., assistant professor Precious Simmons, Ph.D., R.N., instructor Elizabeth Snyder, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, instructor Kimrey Stump, Student Services program coordinator Christina Beall-Sullivan, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, instructor
