Upfront Spring 2016

spring 2016

LEADING TO A HEALTHIER FUTURE 3 Also: Innovative Educators 12 Pursuing a PhD 15 Partnering to Meet Patients’ Needs 18

S AV E T H E DAT E Claire M. Fagin 14th Distinguished Researcher Award Janet A. Deatrick, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Nursing Tuesday, October 25, 2016 3:00 – 5:00 PM Ann L. Roy Auditorium Claire M. Fagin Hall – School of Nursing Reception immediately following Carol Elizabeth Ware Lobby We will also be celebrating an important milestone in the life of Dr. Claire Fagin.

Information: Janet Tomcavage 215.746.8812 tomcavag@nursing.upenn.edu

Board of Overseers Dean C. Kehler, W’79, PAR’13, Chair Rosemarie Morrissey Greco, Immediate Past Chair Carolyn E. Bennett, Nu’91 Carol Lefkowitz Boas, Nu’77, PAR’09 Cornelius C. Bond, Jr., PAR’79 (emeritus) Gilbert F. Casellas, Esquire, L’77, PAR’08 Eleanor L. Davis, Nu’82 Kim R. Dickstein, Esquire, W’87, PAR’17 William R. Floyd, Jr., C’67, WG’69 Seth Ginns, C’00 Stephen J. Heyman, W’59, PAR’90 Gail Kass Wendy Hurst Levine, MD, PAR’11, PAR’12, PAR’16 Patricia Martín, MD, M’85 Barbara L. Nichols, DHL, RN, FAAN

Melanie Franco Nussdorf, Esquire, CW’71, PAR’02, PAR’04 Vivian W. Piasecki (chair emerita) Krista M. Pinola, Nu’86 The Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell, CW’69, PAR’05 Jean Renfield-Miller, PAR’15 Ralph F. Reynolds, W’84, PAR’17 Ashley Z. Ritter, Nu’07, GNu’10 (ex-officio) Randi Roy Sandra Beeber Samberg, Nu’94, GNu’95 Marie A. Savard, MD, HUP’70, Nu’72, M’76 Ambassador Martin J. Silverstein, ret., GL’08, PAR’09, PAR’12, PAR’13, PAR’15, PAR’19 Patricia B. Silverstein, C’81 Susan Drossman Sokoloff, MD, C’84, PAR’17, PAR’18

University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Dean Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN Editor Cathy Greenland Assistant Editor Monica Salvia Contributors Pier Lopez, William Parker, Katie Siegmann Photography Michael Ahearn, I. George Bilyk, Will Mendez Illustration Jon Krause Content Development and Creation The LightStream Group Design Dale Parenti Design Printing CRW Graphics Advisory Board J. Margo Brooks Carthon, Christina Costanzo Clark, Patricia D’Antonio, Edward Federico, Terri Cox Glassen, Barbara Riegel www.nursing.upenn.edu Institutional Advancement 215.898.4841 | nursalum@pobox.upenn.edu UPfront is a biannual publication of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. The magazine chronicles the research and leadership of Penn Nursing faculty, students and alumni.

table

of

contents

2

Dean’s Message: A Vision and a Plan

f e at u re s 3

Leading to a Healthier Future Penn Nursing has set a vision to ensure that the School continues to advance science, transform policy and practice, develop experts and leaders and engage diverse communities that lead to a healthier future.

11

12 Innovative Educators Traditional education practices are being revised in all fields, including nursing. Classroom learning at the School of Nursing is undergoing creative change resulting in more engaged learners and improved patient care.

15 Pursuing a PhD Penn Nursing’s PhD program prepares nurse researchers for successful careers. Each PhD candidate’s path is unique. Through their research, they all answer critical questions that hold the potential to improve health and healthcare.

18

12

Partnering to Meet Patients’ Needs The School of Nursing is partnering with the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) to form an academic-practice partnership to meet the needs of the underserved in Philadelphia.

20 Protecting Women and Promoting Human Rights Dr. Denis Mukwege, gynecological surgeon, strives to protect women and promote human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). For his efforts, Dr. Mukwege received the second biennial Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health.

22 A Champion for Those Often Overlooked Dr. Bradway, winner of the 2016 Norma M. Lang Distinguished Award for Scholarly Practice and Policy, has dedicated her career to advancing nursing science related to caring for cognitively impaired elders.

d e pa rt m e n t s 24 Penn Nursing News 26

Alumni Connections

29

Alumni Notes

34

In Memoriam

20

37 Calendar 37

Alumni Awards

Official portrait of Dr. Denis Mukwege, by Torleif Svensson

www.nursing.upenn.edu

1

DEAN’S MESSAGE:

A Vision and a Plan When I arrived at the leading School of Nursing in the country in 2014, I knew I was following in the footsteps of some remarkable leaders. One of my top priorities was to ensure that the School’s long legacy of leadership, innovation and impact would be sustained for many years to come. With that in mind, we embarked on a process to set a vision and develop a strategic plan for the next five years.

We have just completed that process and I am reminded of a quote from Florence Nightingale: “Let whoever is in charge keep this simple question in her head (not, how can I always do this right thing myself, but) how can I provide for this right thing to be always done?” The right thing for our School of Nursing has always been to advance science, transform policy and practice, develop experts and leaders and engage diverse communities to promote health. Our strategic planning process helps us prioritize opportunities to achieve these goals. From the planning process comes a map that helps guide all of us as we work toward the common objective of remaining a national and international force for improving health and healthcare through nursing science, education and practice.

Crafting a strategic plan that encompasses a bold vision is not possible in a vacuum. For five months, faculty and staff united in creative, thoughtful and ambitious discussion that allowed us to put our School’s aspirations and goals into the context of the evolving world of health and healthcare as well as the emerging role of the nurse and nursing. The result is a vision to ensure that Penn Nursing is leading to a healthier future. You can read more about that vision and how we will achieve it, in this issue.

Inspiring Stories When you read this issue of UPfront, I hope you feel a deep sense of pride in belonging to a community of inspiring, action-oriented faculty, students and alumni. Discover how our faculty are engaging students in new and innovative ways to keep pace with dynamic practice. Take time to learn how the School of Nursing’s new partnership with the University of Pennsylvania Health System in an academic-practice model will narrow health disparities and meet the needs of the underserved in Philadelphia. And, if you have ever been curious about the experiences of School of Nursing PhD

students, read Pursuing a PhD. You’ll meet two scholars who thrived under the guidance of dedicated faculty advisors as they strive to make research-based impact on patient care.

If you are like me, you enjoy hearing about colleagues who do the extraordinary just because it is in their nature to serve. In this issue, we honor two such professionals. Learn about Dr. Denis Mukwege, our 2016 Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award winner, who wages a daily war to protect women and promote human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo. And read about Christine Bradway, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, our 2015 winner of the Norma M. Lang Distinguished Award for Scholarly Practice and Policy, who has spent her career advancing nursing science and improving care for the elderly and the morbidly obese. I have no doubt both of these stories will be professionally and personally inspiring.

The Future of LIFE For the past 18 years, Penn Nursing’s LIFE program has provided quality care for frail elderly residents of West Philadelphia and beyond. LIFE has been an extraordinarily meaningful part of our history and an integral part of our practice, education and research missions. It has been a very successful way for us to demonstrate that nurse-driven models of care produce safe, quality and cost-effective health outcomes. Now a partnership with Trinity Health PACE, which has assumed the operational and financial responsibility for the program, will ensure the long-term sustainability and continued success of LIFE’s delivery of quality care to elders and their families in the West Philadelphia community. Penn Nursing will remain academically affiliated with LIFE, continuing to utilize it as a practice, teaching and research site. We remain committed to advancing science and developing leaders to allow older adults to live independently, cope with illness and achieve optimal health-related quality of life.

To all our friends, alumni and readers, I know you join Penn Nursing in its vision of Leading to a Healthier Future. Together we will continue our long tradition of leading and improving health and healthcare.

ANTONIA M. VILLARRUEL, PhD, RN, FAAN The Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing

2

UPfront | Spring 2016

Leading to a Healthier Future

When Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing, first arrived on Penn’s campus a year and half ago, she knew she would be leading the top school of nursing in the country, a school that had been a leader in education, research and practice for decades. At the same time, a change in leadership offered an important opportunity to look out over the landscape of health, healthcare and nursing and to set a vision for remaining a top school in the field.

More importantly, there was the opportunity to set a vision to ensure that Penn Nursing continues to advance science, transform policy and practice, develop experts and leaders and engage diverse communities that lead to a healthier future.

“As a team of faculty, we strategically and thoughtfully reviewed the landscape around us,” says Dean Villarruel. “More people than ever have access to health insurance, but we don’t currently have enough providers to meet this demand.

Increasingly, care is being delivered in the home and in the community, and not in a hospital setting, and we must prepare providers to practice in those settings. A wealth of clinical data has been captured, but awaits creative applications that amalgamate that data and allow researchers and practitioners to effectively use it. We know that both ZIP code and genetic code impact health. What we also know is that nurses and nursing offer an incredible resource to address many of these challenges and gaps.”

At more than 3 million members strong, nurses are the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, and the ones who spend the most time with individuals and their families. Nurses have always

played a key role in empowering patients and families to become more engaged in care, and designing healthcare systems changes to achieve high levels of quality and safety and caring for patients and families in the context of their lives.

“The role of the nurse has been evolving and, with direction of the IOM report and the leadership of organizations like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, nurses and nursing will play an even more vital role in the near future.” says Dean Villarruel. “Nurses are leading interprofessional teams to redesign healthcare and advance health, taking an active role in making health a shared value, creating healthier, more equitable communities, and leading discoveries and implementing innovations in practice and policy.”

“Penn Nursing has always led the field in nursing innovation and promises to continue to be a leader in those future efforts. Penn Nursing faculty make a lasting difference by advancing science to deliver solutions to pressing health issues. Those evidencebased solutions must be the foundation for transforming policy and practice for widespread impact. At the same time, we are constantly adapting to prepare the next generation of health leaders and experts by pursuing new educational offerings and improving our technology to meet the demands of today’s care. We remain committed across all of our work to engaging communities both locally and globally to better prepare our students for the health and healthcare challenges they will confront and to engage with communities to lead to a healthier future for all.”

www.nursing.upenn.edu

3

Advancing Science and Delivering Solutions Penn Nursing has long referred to its knowledge development as “Science in Action” and emphasized the need to develop knowledge that focuses on finding solutions to pressing issues of health and healthcare, particularly those that affect the most vulnerable populations.

Bridgette M. Brawner, PhD, APRN, Assistant Professor of Nursing, uses a health equity lens to investigate and promote sexual health in disenfranchised populations – and strives to create solutions that understand the context in which they live.

“As a community-engaged researcher, I strongly believe that we need to understand the road that people travel – their day-to-day lived experience – in order to be most effective in helping them improve and/or maintain their health,” she explains. Dr. Brawner uses a social-determinants-of-health framework in her study designed to help Black youth with mental illnesses decrease their risk for HIV/sexually transmitted infections (STIs). She ties in the lived experiences of the youths in her study, such as their desires for financial independence and ways to safely navigate community violence, with finer points including the relationship between the psychopathology of mental illness and sexual decision-making (i.e., the way feeling sad or impulsive can lead to unsafe sexual decisions).

“The result is a precise, psycho-educational skills-building program that meets the unique needs of this population,” she explains.

Dr. Brawner is an interventionist – which means she uses her research to inform the actions she takes and recommends other healthcare professionals take to impact health. For Dr. Brawner, the interventions must be focused on the unique needs, challenges and motivations of a population.

“When we treat our young people like the valued members of society that they are – instead of always focusing on the troubling narrative that is often associated with this demographic – we learn how savvy they are, how much wisdom they actually have and the great things they can accomplish. Several people did that for me, and now I am fortunate to have the opportunity to pay it forward for others.”

Dr. Brawner’s “Project GOLD: We are Kings and Queens” program provides HIV/STI prevention and safe sex training to black youth seeking outpatient mental health treatment.

4

UPfront | Spring 2016

you?” and “How much food do you think you could eat right now?”

Tanja Kral, PhD, Associate Professor of Nutritional

Sciences, studies environmental and familial factors underlying individual differences in human ingestive behavior to identify evidence-based strategies for the prevention and treatment of obesity. She is particularly interested in studying the interplay between cognitive, sensory and nutritional controls of appetite and eating in children and adults and their relevance to obesity.

In a recent study published in Eating Behaviors, Dr. Kral and her team of researchers looked specifically at the impact of consuming different types of breakfast among 8- to 10-year old children.

Their study concluded that a breakfast high in protein, like eggs, keeps children fuller longer than cereal or oatmeal, causing them to eat fewer calories at lunch, but they also found that the effects of a protein-rich meal don’t last throughout the day.

Forty children were recruited to consume one of three, 350-calorie breakfasts (eggs, oatmeal or cereal), then played games with research staff and ate lunch. On each occasion, each participant had to eat their entire breakfast, but could eat as much or as little lunch as desired. Throughout the morning, they answered questions like, “How hungry are

“What surprised me was that children did not rate their perceived hunger, fullness or how much they thought they could eat at lunch differently across the three breakfast conditions,” Kral says. “We would have predicted that children felt fuller after consuming the high-protein breakfast, but this was not the case. This is also an important finding in that it shows that how we perceive our own hunger and fullness levels does not always translate into actual eating behavior and food intake.”

After consuming the egg breakfast, children reduced their energy intake at lunch by 70 calories.

Moderately active children in the same age range as the focus of the study generally need between 1,600 and 1,800 calories daily. The 70-calorie drop at one meal equals about four percent of a child’s daily caloric needs. Eating beyond the caloric threshold, even by a little, can cause excess weight gain and obesity in children, if sustained.

“The findings from this study can have important implications for children who are at risk for developing overweight and obesity. They can help parents and caregivers but also school food authorities design breakfasts that are nutritious but also help to moderate energy intake in at-risk children,” she adds.

Looking Ahead to 2020: With science as its cornerstone, Penn Nursing has a long history of enhancing health and improving outcomes, with a priority on populations at greatest need. Looking ahead to 2020, Terry Richmond, PhD, FAAN, CRNP, Andrea B. Laporte Endowed Professor of Nursing; Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, sees incredible opportunity for the School to expand upon its research strengths by committing to emerging areas of research.

One particular area where Penn Nursing must continue to expand upon its strength is precision science. “Precision science takes the focus that one-size-does-not-fit-all in healthcare. We must take into account the particular variables of genetics, culture, lifestyle and environment in terms of maximizing health,” says Dr. Richmond.

The other emerging area is data science as the amount of individual and population health data becomes increasingly available.

Penn Nursing can play a leadership role in determining how this data can be harnessed to improve health outcomes.

To read more examples of how Penn Nursing is advancing science and delivering solution, see “Penn Nursing News” on page 24.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

5

Transforming Policy and Practice Evidence-based solutions – like those generated at Penn Nursing – can and should be the foundation for healthcare practice and health policy. Our scholars continue to develop solutions that move practice and policy forward and improve outcomes for patients and their families.

Mary D. Naylor, PhD, FAAN, RN, Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology and Director of the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health, is the architect of the Transitional Care Model (TCM), which assigns an advanced practice nurse to support older adult patients with multiple conditions through critical transitions, such as hospital-to-home. For 15 years, due to Dr. Naylor’s relentless efforts, this care model has been integrated into practice and has improved the quality of care, decreased unnecessary hospitalizations and reduced healthcare costs for vulnerable community-based elders. Yet despite evidence proving the TCM’s effectiveness, health systems, payers and purchasers have been slow to adapt it in all patient populations. “We need to create tools that enable a wider swath of decision makers and leaders to understand how to use TCM to positively impact their specific patient populations,” explains Dr. Naylor.

6

UPfront | Spring 2016

To accomplish that, Dr. Naylor is collaborating with the Stevens Institute of Technology on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project to leverage policy simulation technology to accelerate decisions to use the TCM. “The simulators will allow a health system leader or policy maker to input information about their specific patient population and then receive an evidence-based, visualized model of how TCM could impact their patients,” she says.

The simulation model project strategically aligns a diverse range of decision makers to gather insight that will inform the design and pilot testing of the simulation models. “In this way, we will be able to develop a model that anticipates and aligns with emerging healthcare delivery and payment models, and which is customizable to local contextual factors.

I believe that this tool will not only help speed national adoption of the TCM, but can be used to forward other evidence-based innovations as well.”

Research done by Mary Ersek, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Palliative Care, is being translated to help another very vulnerable population who are also facing a transition – this time a life transition.

She works with the Veteran’s Administration (VA) to leverage its culture of performance improvement to make a difference to veterans through enhanced end-of-life care.

“The VA is the nation’s largest integrated health system, and end-of-life care is a huge undertaking,” says Dr. Ersek, who is also the Director of the Veterans Health Administration PROMISE (Performance Reporting and Outcomes Measurement to Improve the Standard of care at End-of-life) Center. The Center is an integral part of the VA’s hospice and palliative care program.

The problems the VA has had with providing healthcare for veterans are well documented. But end-of-life care for veterans is particularly complex. World War II veterans and Korea War veterans are in their 80s and 90s, and Vietnam veterans are in their 70s. Many times, as veterans approach end of life, old traumas resurface, which can compound other health issues.

“To have high-quality end-of-life care in every VA facility, we must identify variations in the standard of care. We can do that through rigorous science,” she says.

Dr. Ersek led a massive review of VA patient medical records and bereaved family surveys to compile a wealth of national data now used to identify processes of care that contribute to improved outcomes for veterans near the end of life. “We apply sophisticated analysis to these data and make that information available to enhance our overall culture of care at the VA, and inform better end-of-life care in all settings.”

Her evidence-based research has helped improve care at VA institutions across the country. “I’m proud that the research I am part of can help make life as good as it can be for those who have served our country and are now at the end of their lives.”

Looking Ahead to 2020: For Penn Nursing faculty and research teams, science starts with the development of new knowledge and innovations to address health and healthcare issues. But that science continues with the translation of those innovations into practice and policy locally, nationally and globally. Partnering to improve health and healthcare has been a hallmark of Penn Nursing ever evident in the School’s Clinical Educator faculty who maintain active clinical practices with partners like CHOP, UPHS, the VA and other healthcare providers

and who bridge the academic and clinical worlds. Expanding that type of direct partnership to community-based organizations is a key goal for our practice mission as service delivery continues to move into community-based settings. On the policy front, faculty like Matt McHugh, PhD, JD, FAAN, The Rosemarie Greco Term Endowed Associate Professor in Advocacy, see vast opportunities for the knowledge generated at Penn Nursing to be used to influence health policy and advance the profession of nursing.

“The cornerstone of Penn Nursing is science, science that is focused on improving healthcare and health outcomes for individuals, families and communities. That knowledge must be effectively translated and communicated to frame health policy.”

To read more about how Penn Nursing is partnering to improve practice, see “Partnering to Meet Patient Needs” on page 18 and “A Champion for Those Often Overlooked” on page 22.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

7

Developing Experts and Leaders The foundation for changing how health is defined and how care is delivered begins with education. While a proven leader in the preparation of practitioners and leaders, Penn Nursing continues to strive, innovate and invent to educate our students for the future.

Melanie Mariano, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania

School of Nursing, is one of three Penn students who have been awarded a President’s Engagement Prize this year. Each prize recipient will receive as much as $100,000 for project implementation expenses and $50,000 for living expenses. The Prizes, first awarded last year, are competitively awarded annually to Penn seniors to design and undertake local, national or global engagement projects during the first year after they graduate. The President’s Engagement Prizes are intended to strengthen Penn’s commitment under the Penn Compact 2020 to impactful local, national and global student engagement.

Mariano’s project is called “Living HEALthy: Health Expansion Across Libraries.”

She will partner with the Free Library of Philadelphia to assist library patrons in obtaining health information, medical counseling and preventive health services.

Her project will employ a “one-stop-shopping” approach that will actively disseminate health information, provide care and allocate resources in an efficient way. Mariano will pioneer an inter-professional healthcare model with social workers, nurses and librarians. She is being mentored by Monica Harmon, MSN, MPH, BSN, Senior Lecturer at Penn Nursing.

Penn Nursing students often do not wait until after graduation to begin to lead.

Leah Quinn, (Nu’16) is a peer educator with the Penn Anti-Violence Educators (PAVE)

student group. She facilitates workshops and presentations to educate other students in order to end sexual and relationship violence on campus.

“Our goal is to teach students how to intervene when they see a threat of violence or sexual assault, as well as what to do if a friend confides that they have been sexually assaulted,” she explains. Assault, violence and aggression on college campuses, particularly against women, is a serious and wide-spread problem. “We connect to groups of students across campus to also help them realize how their seemingly insignificant behaviors are actually harmful and can contribute to the problem.”

Quinn believes the skills she has learned in the nursing program have helped her successfully start and guide conversations with other students in order to modify behavior. “As a nursing student, I learned early on that it is important to meet people where they are, be active in listening and help people come to their own realizations.

That’s why working with PAVE seems intuitive to me. It’s also why you see so many other nursing students involved in PAVE and other organizations on campus. Nursing and leadership go together.”

8

UPfront | Spring 2016

Looking Ahead to 2020: In 2016, Penn Nursing was accredited to offer its first Doctorate of Nursing practice (in Nurse Anesthesia) and announced a new major in Nutrition that will be offered in partnership with Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences. These new programs reflect Penn Nursing’s long tradition of commitment to developing leaders. When asked how Penn Nursing’s educational curriculum will be different in 2020, Julie Sochalski, PhD, FAAN, RN, Associate Professor of Nursing and Interim Associate Dean for Academic Programs displays a passion for preparing our students to become leaders and

experts. “As a School, we lead in science and we must better prepare our students for research.” She explains that research is not something you just do but rather a state of mind, a commitment to curiosity.

Dr. Sochalski also believes we must shift our focus to prepare our students to deliver community-based care and to provide continuity of care for patients to reflect the ongoing shift in care delivery in the U.S. and around the world. She shares a well-known sports quote by legendary ice hockey player, Wayne Gretsky, for an analogy. Gretsky explained that what made him so

successful was the ability to “skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” For Dr. Sochalski, Penn Nursing is advancing the science to change how practice is delivered so we must prepare our students for that practice and to then continue to lead the practice forward.

To read more about how Penn Nursing is developing experts and leaders, see “Innovative Educators” on page 12 and “Pursuing a PhD” on page 15.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

9

Engaging Diverse Communities…

As nurses are relied upon to extend the reach of primary care practices, our capabilities as advocates to end disparities come to the forefront. We are expert in delivering quality care and improving health no matter the person’s gender, ethnicity, geographic location or socioeconomic status. That capacity is especially valued as our population continues to diversify and a focus is applied to giving all people the opportunity to attain the highest level of health.

Caring for diverse communities has long been a focus of Wendy Grube, PhD, CRNP, Assistant Practice Professor who has worked to advance the preparation of practitioners in India and, for more than seven years, has managed the West Virginia Service Learning project at the School. Through the West Virginia Service Learning project, she leads groups of graduate students from the Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner and Midwifery programs to provide free breast and cervical cancer screening for uninsured women in rural Appalachia.

“This is a population vulnerable to poor health outcomes due to poverty and rurality. Our program gives women in this community power to identify their own healthcare needs, and be active partners in creating sustainable healthcare education and delivery programs with us,” explains Dr. Grube.

Over the years, Dr. Grube’s program has provided reproductive cancer screening to hundreds of rarely- or never-screened women in the region. West Virginia continues to have the highest death rate from cervical cancer (a preventable disease) in the nation, mostly attributed to lack of screening. “Engagement in screening is a complex issue for women, and our project brings high-quality, compassionate and expert women’s health practice to this rural region where most providers are general practitioners,” she adds.

Students who participate in the program learn how nurses cultivate relationships with communities, identify inequities in care and create transformative strategies for change. “We focus on culturally appropriate care, and remain anchored in community direction and feedback to guide the project,” Dr. Grube says.

10

UPfront | Spring 2016

Penn Nursing students get ready to board the bus to bring care to women in rural West Virginia.

and Promoting Health Nurses are among the most trusted professionals in the country. They are often relied upon to help people understand complex but important information, such as how the health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) works. Gaining health insurance is especially important for Latinos, who have the highest uninsured rates of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. But the healthcare marketplace has proven to be a complex issue for many elderly, Spanish-speaking people.

Adriana Perez, PhD, ANP-BC, FAAN, Assistant Professor of Nursing, is undertaking research on a national scope to promote health and wellness among multicultural communities. She focuses on 10 states with the largest Latino population and rates of uninsured, using the ACA as a platform. Her work is helping Latinos improve their health insurance literacy, better navigate the healthcare system and increase healthy lifestyles across generations.

“In this way, we are building community support to help connect families to healthcare services and equip them with education that helps them navigate our healthcare system,” says Dr. Perez. She is now working on the next phase of research, conducting focus groups to evaluate the experiences of newly insured families during their first one or two years of having health insurance coverage.

“This work provides a clear example of the leadership role that nurses have in promoting the health and wellness of our nation, particularly among families that need the most education and support, during this historic era of healthcare reform,” she adds. “We are helping people understand how their healthcare coverage works so that they are able to make informed decisions for themselves and their families.”

Dr. Perez engages with multicultural communities to promote healthy lifestyles and improve health insurance literacy.

“The key to achieving this goal is nursing leadership,” she explains. “I am working with members of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) in 15 chapters who have attended a train-the-trainer workshop that prepares them to lead this initiative locally.”

In addition to teaching bilingual nurses about the fundamentals of the ACA, the training also provides an opportunity for diverse nurses to enhance their teaching, communication and leadership skills as they work to strengthen and grow community partnerships and resources that are culturally relevant for Latino health promotion. In the first year of the program, 100 Latino nurses and nursing students completed training and educated more than 6,000 multicultural individuals and families.

Looking Ahead to 2020: Ensuring diversity across nursing science, education and practice benefits us all.

Penn Nursing is working to engage with communities in West Philadelphia and around the world to advance science that will increase health equity and to build an inclusive climate where diversity of ideas and experience thrives. Looking ahead to 2020, Lisa Lewis, Assistant Dean for Diversity and

Inclusivity, sees the importance of understanding how factors and contexts – where we work, live, learn, play and pray – impact health. With that in mind, there is a critical need for our students to be even more integrated within the community through clinical experiences and partnerships. “More and more, care is being delivered in the community and not the hospital,” said Lewis.

“It’s vital for our students to have more opportunities to engage with diverse communities so they can learn various perspectives and be prepared to help eliminate health disparities. Without the input of these unique perspectives, we can’t help lead the changes to practice and policy needed to deliver quality care and improve health no matter the individual.”

www.nursing.upenn.edu

11

Innovative Educators Traditional education practices are being revised in all aspects of schooling, from K-12 through higher education. Nursing education is no different. Classroom learning at the School of Nursing is undergoing creative change. The result is a more engaged group of learners who can find, evaluate, analyze and apply information to ensure a higher level of patient care.

Since she began teaching at Penn Nursing, as a clinical instructor for the Nursing Care of the Childbearing Family course, Jamille Nagtalon-Ramos, MSN, CRNP, WHNP-BC, IBCLC, Associate Director of the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Program, has implemented some form of collaborative learning – and has seen its benefits. Nagtalon-Ramos and other Penn Nursing educators understand that in order for students to be fully engaged in learning, they must be active participants.

“I do not think the sage should always be the one on stage,” she explains. “My students have so much to offer. I have expertise when it comes to the content, but I am also aware that what we teach is not static.

Content is changing; new guidelines are being published; new science is being discovered; and research is driving the creation of new knowledge.”

In order to more effectively teach in this dynamic field, Nagtalon-Ramos has implemented several instructional strategies to encourage her students to participate and address various styles of learning.

Recognizing her students’ fondness for social media, Nagtalon-Ramos posts a weekly extra credit question on Twitter for her Fetal Evaluation course. Through Poll Everywhere, a classroom response application, she creates in-class polls to which students can respond anonymously, encouraging shy students to participate. She assigns video projects that inspire student creativity in promoting a professional practice. And, she employs the Socratic seminar method, in which students facilitate a discussion aimed at shared understanding rather than trying to prove a particular argument.

“Every year, we have a lively discussion on ultrasound topics we all encounter in practice,” says Nagtalon-Ramos. “For the last few years, I’ve been using the Socratic seminar method to engage students, as it allows them to hear every side.”

This spring, she is working with the Office of Technology and Information Services to trial Yellowdig, a tool that allows students and instructors to share articles, websites and videos that relate to course content.

“Research supports the use of different teaching methods to address multiple intelligences in the classroom,” says Nagtalon-Ramos. “Having taught for the past 10 years, I can gauge if certain groups of students would benefit from more visual learning, small group discussions and other instructional strategies.”

Challenging Existing Paradigms Salimah H. Meghani, PhD, MBE, RN, FAAN, Associate

Professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences is another creative educator. She teaches two core courses in Penn Nursing’ Palliative Care minor and a Quantitative Research Methods course for doctoral students. Her pedagogical innovations focus on teaching students how to think about, challenge and reimagine existing paradigms as well as equipping them with ‘tools’ to adapt to a quickly changing field and world.

“Most of the current teaching paradigms are prescriptive, getting us to ‘what is’ rather than ‘what can be,’” she explains. “We also know – at least in the field of palliative care – that some of the current clinical paradigms are grossly inadequate.”

Dr. Meghani’s classrooms mix traditional learning with small group activities. Students analyze detailed clinical case studies as well as relevant media coverage. They engage in debates, games and videos and participate in interactive discussions, which sometimes feature guest panels. Dr. Meghani also incorporates poems, stories and classic novels – like “Tuesdays with Morrie” – to sensitize students to aspects of palliative care.

In her classroom, Jamille Nagtalon-Ramos employs the Socratic seminar method to facilitate discussion and shared understanding.

12

UPfront | Spring 2016

Creating a Small Class Environment Creatively connecting with a small group of students is one thing, but how can an instructor leverage pedagogical innovations to more effectively reach students in large lecture classes?

Ross S. Johnson, PhD, MPH, uses a web-based

application, Top Hat, to create a small class environment in a large lecture hall.

Dr. Salimah Meghani encourages students to think about “what can be” in terms of how to deliver care.

“We spend most of our time discussing issues, critiquing and building perspectives,” says Dr. Meghani. “I teach students with the premise that I am teaching an army of change agents. We are dealing with very bright students who have brilliant ideas for reshaping what is wrong with the current healthcare delivery systems and clinical models. I approach teaching as co-creating knowledge.” For instance, Dr. Meghani’s last reflection assignment asks students how, in a utopian world where they can call all the shots, they would redesign the palliative care delivery system.

Since her subject deals with the human condition, Dr. Meghani’s goal is not for her students to master certain material, but instead to understand issues and current models of care delivery from patient, clinician, system and policy perspectives.

“Most current pedagogical approaches socialize students to believe that anything that is published, especially published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, ought to be accepted as valid and good, precluding critical thinking,” says Dr. Meghani. “For my doctoral methodology class, I accumulated a number of methodologically flawed publications from very high-impact journals. Once students learn the relevant concept, they apply their knowledge by critiquing these publications – helping them develop a sense of scholarly confidence.”

“Recent changes in the undergraduate nursing major require freshmen to take both Cell Biology and Microbiology as back-to-back, seven-week courses in the fall semester,” says Dr. Johnson, a Penn Nursing assistant practice professor. “Both courses have enrollments ranging between 95 and 105 students. Top Hat allows students to use their laptops, tablets or smartphones to answer questions presented during the lecture. By receiving this immediate feedback, I can tell if my students are making knowledge connections with the concepts.”

Dr. Johnson says this model is important for nursing freshmen, as it allows their voices to be heard in a large auditorium. Though the structure of his classroom appears traditional, by using Top Hat and other strategies, he invites students to engage, participate and consider how subject matter affects their lives and the lives of others.

“I employ a teaching approach that systematically introduces foundational concepts that build on one another to inform more complex areas,” he explains.

“I weave the relationships and connections of topics with those previously addressed to demonstrate how each key concept is essential for the next concept. There is an exchange of concepts and questions, and it can get loud sometimes and even funny, but it is very exciting because learning is taking place.”

He recently received a School of Nursing Innovative Technologies and Teaching Award grant to align Top Hat with Canvas online evaluation tools. Canvas is a course management system that enables instructors to connect with students in a user-friendly online environment.

This alignment will provide valuable insight and information about students’ knowledge acquisition and retention in the areas of cell biology and microbiology.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

13

Dr. Ross Johnson employs technology in large classes to engage all students and give them a voice.

“I believe the active processes of teaching nursing students cell biology and microbiology must be woven together to provide big picture linkages to human health,” explains Dr. Johnson. “My responsibility is to translate these concepts in a manner that is both digestible and constructive.”

To that end, he also seeks to instill knowledge in his students through hands-on illustrations of concepts in the simulation lab. Recently, after teaching students about the effects of an infection at the cellular level, he brought them to the sim lab so they could see how these effects actually appear in a patient. The impact on students was significant.

“I really enjoyed the sim lab,” says Kayla Penniman, one of Dr. Johnson’s microbiology students. “It is one thing to learn about the things we will do as nurses, and it’s another to get to really see what we

14

UPfront | Spring 2016

will be doing as nurses. During this lab about preventing the spread of infection within hospitals, a nurse brought protective clothing and masks with her to show us how, as nurses, we would prepare to care for a patient with an infectious illness.”

“Dr. Johnson’s use of technology and our time in the sim lab helped me learn the material more completely,” adds Ashley Bannerman-Martin. “I like to participate in class because I feel like it helps the information stick more. Through Dr. Johnson’s questions at various times during lecture, I was able to stay on track. The sim lab was also beneficial because, as an aspiring nurse, I know one of my greatest fears is not being able to apply what I’ve learned to the treatment of an actual patient.

The sim lab boosted my confidence because it takes classroom concepts and applies them to a clinical scenario.”

Pursuing a PhD Penn Nursing’s PhD program prepares nurse researchers for successful careers including leadership and research positions in academia, government, health systems and industry. Through their research, they all answer critical questions that drive innovation in nursing practice. But each PhD candidate’s path is unique.

In Pursuit of Innovative Interventions As a teenager in Staten Island, Justine Sefcik learned that a local high school was offering a licensed practical nursing (LPN) program students could pursue during their junior and senior years.

Interested, she applied and was accepted. After graduation, she passed state boards and became a practicing LPN. While working part-time in a nursing home, Sefcik started college at the State University of New York (SUNY) College at Oneonta, pursing a bachelor’s degree in art.

“Initially, I did not think I was going to stay in nursing even though I enjoyed working with older adults,” she explains. “When I completed my bachelor’s program, I planned to move back to New York City. But, I was offered a promotion to education coordinator for my facility, provided I continued school and became a registered nurse (RN). I enrolled in the associate’s program in nursing at SUNY Delhi and then an accelerated bachelor’s/ master’s program in nursing administration at SUNY Institute of Technology.”

During her master’s degree studies, a mentor recommended Sefcik pursue a doctoral degree to expand her long-term career options.

“I found that Penn Nursing had the greatest reputation for gerontological nursing research and that many well-known faculty members specializing in gerontological research at other universities had obtained their PhDs here,” she says.

“At Penn Nursing, I have had several opportunities to work with strong interdisciplinary teams and have developed skills in study design and execution, data collection and analysis, and manuscript and grant writing.”

Through her collaborations with faculty at the School, Sefcik conducts valuable research focused on providing effective care and maintaining quality of life for older adults.

“My dissertation focuses on nursing home residents with moderate to severe dementia and persistent vocalizations, otherwise known as disruptive or problematic vocalizations,” she explains.

During Sefcik’s time practicing in the nursing home, she found persistent vocalizations to be among the most challenging behavioral symptoms of dementia, particularly if someone was yelling or crying for long periods of time, unable to be calmed by staff interventions.

“At that time, I had been promoted to assistant director of nursing while maintaining my title and duties as education coordinator. After about three years, I began to think about my next step. I was deeply invested in the facility where I’d worked for 13 years, but I was starting to feel I could make a bigger impact on improving care for older adults if I continued my education. I knew that training to be a researcher would allow me to work on larger projects that would impact nursing home care nationally and possibly even internationally,” says Sefcik.

At that point, Sefcik’s brother was in his second year of the MBA program at the Wharton School. He spoke highly of the University of Pennsylvania, and so she began investigating Penn’s School of Nursing.

Penn Nursing’s access to interdisciplinary partnerships has allowed Justine Sefcik to expand the scope and impact of her work while advancing her research skills.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

15

Such vocalizations are often disruptive to staff, other residents, visitors and even the residents themselves.

Pharmacological interventions often produce negative side effects and have limited efficacy.

“I still continue to see patients one day a week,” he says. “It is important that I stay close to clinical practice, as I think many research questions are driven by this.”

“I hope to help identify non-pharmacological interventions effective in minimizing this behavioral symptom of dementia,” Sefcik says.

As a nurse practitioner at a federally qualified health center in Delaware, Sowicz and his colleagues are committed to providing quality care to individuals, families and communities that have traditionally had less access to healthcare. His transition from working in acute care settings to the community primary care setting was enlightening.

Sefcik says her Penn Nursing mentors – Pamela Cacchione, PhD, CRNP, BC, FAAN, Ralston House Endowed Term Chair in Gerontological Nursing and Associate Professor of Geropsychiatric Nursing and Mary Ersek, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor of Palliative Care – provide critical mentorship. This support has allowed her to acquire external funding from both the John A. Hartford Foundation and the NIH/NINR for her dissertation.

Sefcik’s study involves collecting participants’ heart rate, respiration and body acceleration data with the use of a special belt from the lab of Joseph R. Libonati, PhD, FAHA, Associate Professor of Nursing and Director of the Laboratory of Innovative and Translational Nursing Research.

“This data will help me better understand what is happening physiologically to older adults prior to, during and after an episode of vocalizations,” she explains. “My dissertation is the first known study to look at this physiological data, and what we learn will help guide future studies and interventions.”

On a Quest to Humanize Healthcare Timothy Sowicz isn’t sure what exactly led him to the nursing profession, but that’s the track the Philadelphia native chose to pursue as an undergraduate student at Bloomsburg University.

For his master’s studies, he chose Penn Nursing for its reputation and convenience.

“At the time, I was working at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and I needed to work full-time and take classes on a part-time basis,” says Sowicz. “When I started in 2007, I had been a staff nurse for six years and was looking for an opportunity to expand my clinical skills in an advanced practice role. The family nurse practitioner program was ideal.

It allowed me to continue to interact with patients and their families.”

Sowicz had always planned to pursue a PhD. After working for two years as a nurse practitioner, he felt compelled to find answers to important clinical questions.

16

UPfront | Spring 2016

“Penn Nursing prepared me, exceptionally, to manage acute and chronic medical concerns and conditions. But I quickly realized that patients’ social needs often required prioritization,” he explains. “At times it takes some creativity to provide care to people who have limited financial and social support.

I feel privileged when I can help people feel better, connect them to community resources or just be there to listen to them.”

Sowicz is grateful to many of the faculty at Penn Nursing who have served as insightful advisors and as steadfast mentors, not only for his research, but also for his future career plans.

“I think students’ relationships with the faculty here are vital to their success in the PhD program,” says Sowicz. “I have always felt more like a colleague than an underling.”

Sowicz developed an interest in sexual health because it’s a subject of great importance to his patients.

“They may have uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension, but the minute they are concerned about something that may impact their sexual lives, they are very interested in having it evaluated,” he says.

His research interest in biomedical interventions, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infection, stems from a broader interest in how healthcare providers talk to patients about aspects of sexuality and how they use that information to help patients prevent unwanted outcomes.

“This was my broad research question for my dissertation research,” Sowicz explains. “I spent several months observing medical visits between patients and providers in a federally qualified health center to learn more about the contextual factors that contribute to, or hinder, discussions about aspects of sexuality. I found that the providers never broached this, which did not surprise me. But many

For Timothy Sowicz, mentorship by Penn Nursing faculty has played a critical role in impacting his research and future career plans.

of these patients are homeless or housing-insecure and have opioid dependence, so they may have increased risk of experiencing unwanted sexual health outcomes.”

“Ultimately, I hope my work will lend support for the concept of patient-centered care; not just theoretically, but in actual practice,” he explains.

“Providers sometimes have an idea of what they want to accomplish with a patient during a 15-minute visit, and often this isn’t congruent with what the patient needs or wants. I also hope that my work informs providers’ understanding of the need to help co-create a patient-provider interaction that is truly non-judgmental; a space where patients feel safe and encouraged to ask for what they want and need.”

Sowicz recently successfully defended his dissertation and accepted a post-doctoral position at VA Pittsburgh’s Interdisciplinary Program for Addiction Education and Research (VIPER). This role will allow Sowicz to build on his dissertation research and positioin him to teach in a research-intensive academic environment.

As they strive toward their dream careers as academic researchers, both Sowicz and Sefcik are grateful for the support and opportunities they’ve received along their scientific journeys at Penn Nursing and are excited about the potential impacts of their research on the patients they seek to serve.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

17

Partnering to Meet Patients’ Needs Even though Philadelphia has a high concentration of hospitals and medical specialists, many residents lack a primary care provider, according to a recent study by Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. In some low-income areas of Philadelphia, there are up to 3,000 adults for every primary-care provider. That means residents can wait months for an appointment.

“These are complex, vulnerable underserved populations, particularly in the adult gerontology segment,” says Barbara Ann Todd, DNP, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, Director, CMS Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, who recently received a three-year, $1.9 million award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration to help remedy the problem.

The award allows the School of Nursing to partner with the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) to form an academic-practice partnership model to meet the needs of the underserved in Philadelphia.

“The School of Nursing and UPHS have a longstanding relationship which includes a large number of Penn alumni who work at UPHS and also serve as

clinical preceptors for Penn Nursing students,” says Dr. Todd. “With this enhanced partnership, UPHS and the School of Nursing are well-positioned to capitalize on their shared goals of narrowing health disparities and meeting the needs of the underserved in West Philadelphia.”

The award is part of the Advanced Education Nursing Traineeship (AENT) Program. The School of Nursing is one of only 65 U.S. schools to receive an AENT award, designed to address the shortage of primary care providers.

“This is an important award and enables the School of Nursing and UPHS to be leaders in addressing the ever-increasing challenges in primary care delivery models,” Dr. Todd adds. “Nurses, and specifically nurse practitioners, are positioned to meet these primary care needs and acquire new skills in managing diverse underserved patient populations.”

Designing Innovative Clinical Experiences Dr. Todd will work with Valerie T. Cotter, DrNP, AGPCNPBC, FAANP, Director, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program and J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, FAAN, Assistant Professor of Nursing, to enrich the relationship between the School of Nursing and UPHS, and also enhance the

From l to r: Barbara Ann Todd, DNP, ACNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN; Valerie T. Cotter, DrNP, AGPCNP-BC, FAANP; and J. Margo Brooks Carthon, PhD, RN, FAAN

18

UPfront | Spring 2016

Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program at the School of Nursing.

“I feel strongly that nurse practitioner students enrolled in the AdultGerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program should be prepared and interested in practicing primary care with the medically underserved right here in West Philadelphia,” says Dr. Cotter.

In Philadelphia, more than half the population is comprised of racial and ethnic minorities. Because sociocultural determinants of health and health disparities significantly affect this population, health practitioners who work effectively with a diverse patient community are key to improving health.

“My goal for my involvement with this grant will be to enlighten and sensitize students to be comfortable practicing with all minority, racial and ethnic groups,” says Dr. Cotter.

To accomplish that, plans are under development for curriculum enhancements, including a new interactive project in the simulation lab designed to help students learn to care for medically complex patients with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

“We want to train our students so they are prepared to offer primary care services across socioeconomic backgrounds and in many different settings,” explains Dr. Cotter.

Nurse practitioner students will also work with experienced preceptors at the Edward S. Cooper Internal Medicine Practice on Market Street and at Mercy LIFE – West Philadelphia on Chestnut Street.

Both locations offer comprehensive primary care for ambulatory adults with multiple comorbidities. The PACE/LIFE program provides primary care to nursing home eligible-patients who live at home with support from their family.

“Our nurse practitioner students will be involved in care delivery for these patients, many of whom have complex medical problems with significant disabilities and are frail, vulnerable and elderly,” says Dr. Cotter. “They will also be involved with delivering primary care to patients at local nursing homes and hospice programs.”

Increasing Diversity Among Preceptors and Students Another aspect of the project is recruiting underrepresented minorities into the AdultGerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Program. The purpose is to address the provider shortage in this area, and to ensure there are more advanced practice nurses that reflect the changing demographic profile of the United States.

“Efforts to diversify nursing must continue throughout graduate and professional programs so that diversity is seen at the bedside and in advanced practice settings,” says Brooks-Carthon. “Studies suggest that patients and families respond positively when cared for by clinicians who reflect their background linguistically and culturally. Important outcomes, including satisfaction and utilization of services, all increase when care is concordant.”

The project will also implement novel approaches to recruit preceptors from diverse backgrounds who will serve as clinical mentors.

The project will increase the UPHS primary care nurse practitioner workforce to better serve UPHS’ diverse patient population. It should also yield a successful and sustainable academic-practice partnership model that can be replicated at other locations to grow the nation’s capacity to meet the needs of underserved communities.

“We are in start-up phase now and will be phasing in different parts of the project over the next three years,” says Dr. Todd. “It’s an exciting opportunity, with the goal to support the needs of diverse patient populations.”

www.nursing.upenn.edu

19

2016 Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award Winner

Protecting Women and Promoting Human Rights In one of the most unsettled areas of the globe, one man has tirelessly treated tens of thousands of women and risked his life in a campaign to end the use of mass rape as a weapon of war. Dr. Denis Mukwege, gynecological surgeon, wages a war of his own to protect women and promote human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the nation named in 2014 by the U.N. as the worst place to be a woman.

“Women give life and care for our children. Women are central to the health, peace and security of our families, communities, countries and the whole world. Throughout my career I have witnessed the power of women. But women of the Congo and around the world face sexual violence on a daily basis. We must fight this and stop it. I am glad to be in this fight with you,” says Dr. Mukwege, who was at the School of Nursing this spring to accept the second biennial Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health.

“The Renfield Award supports leaders, advocates and activists who work to address pressing challenges facing women and women’s health around the world today,” explains Antonia Villarruel, PhD, FAAN, Dean, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

“This award effectively helps us to raise awareness of global women’s health and support those, like Dr. Mukwege, who work tirelessly to address significant unmet needs.”

“Dr. Mukwege personifies the qualities of compassion and courage, and the virtue of a life dedicated to the physical and emotional restoration of badly wounded people,” says Joseph Renfield, board member of the Beatrice Renfield Foundation. “We are honored by his acceptance of the Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award.”

Sharing a Deep Moral Purpose While Dr. Mukwege was visiting the Penn campus this spring, he met with a wide range of student groups, all eager to hear from a man who has the courage of his convictions to enact social change. He explained how he founded the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, DRC. There, he and his staff have performed reconstructive gynecological surgery on more than 40,000 females injured as a consequence of war, including those subjected to rape.

“I was struck by how humbly Dr. Mukwege talked about his efforts to change the culture in the DRC,” says Nicole Nugent, GNu’17, who met him during a student luncheon at the Penn Women’s Center. “We know that to change issues that have as great an impact on society as those in the DRC, one must work one-to-one with people. Dr. Mukwege showed that he was eager to meet with students, build relationships and share common experiences.”

Vishnu Rachakonda, ENG’18, a member of the campus group, Men Against Rape and Sexual Assault, also met Dr. Mukwege. “This was one of the most powerful speaking events I have attended,” he says. And while Dr. Mukwege spoke in French, which was translated by an interpreter, the revelatory message broke through linguistic barriers.

“I came away from that meeting with a deeper sense of understanding of how moral purpose has to guide our personal, political and professional actions, just as it does for Dr. Mukwege,” says Rachakonda. “I am currently writing a paper which will articulate how the use of rape as a weapon of war can be more effectively prosecuted by the international community.

I hope to share my policy recommendations with Dr. Mukwege and hear his thoughts.”

Before Dr. Mukwege arrived on campus, Penn Nursing hosted several viewings of a documentary“The Man Who Mends Women: The Wrath of Hippocrates” to help students, faculty and other audiences understand the violence in the DRC and Dr. Mukwege’s remarkable impact. In bringing his message to campus, Dr. Mukwege also explained how he became convicted of being an active humanitarian early in his career as a surgeon. He shared how he came to understand how he could leverage his medical talent, research ability and problem-solving acumen to not just influence society, but to mend it.

After receiving the 2016 Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health, Dr. Denis Mukwege and his wife visit one of Penn’s iconic statues.

20

UPfront | Spring 2016

A Tireless Humanitarian Along with the hospital, Dr. Mukwege has also established a nurses’ training program, the Institute de Techniques Medicales de Panzi, to provide education and clinical training to about 50 nurses each year, so that the standard of clinical care can be maintained.

Dr. Mukwege also founded the Panzi Foundation, a sister organization to Panzi Hospital, in 2008. The foundation improves access to quality maternal and reproductive care, promotes women’s rights and gender equality, prevents violence against women and children and provides rehabilitative care including job skills training and math and literacy classes. He also co-founded the International Center for Advanced Research and Training in Bukavu, the mission of which focuses on infrastructure support to retain the best and the brightest of Congolese scholars.

What keeps him in the fight? “When I see all that the women of my country have done to gain the few rights they have, I want to fight harder to give them the tools

they need to enjoy all the rights they deserve,” he says.

“But we are not there yet. There is a big gap and we must fill that gap with moral actions to assure women’s rights are respected.”

Dr. Mukwege’s humanitarian actions make him no stranger to the limelight. He has been nominated twice for a Nobel Peace Prize, was recently named by Fortune magazine as one of the World’s greatest leaders and was one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People for 2016. Yet he claims any fame that comes from his renown solely as an opportunity to educate the world about how violence against women in Congo and elsewhere devastates culture, economy and prosperity.

“Justice cannot happen until women are medically and psychologically sound and empowered by the education and legal systems,” he says. “I must rest in the belief that good will conquer evil. I have hope that Congo will overcome these problems, and know in my heart we will do so on the strength of our women.”

About the Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health The Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health was established in 2012 by the Beatrice Renfield Foundation. This award and prize of $100,000 is presented biennially to a leader, or leaders, in the field of global women’s

health. The goals of the award include raising awareness of global women’s health issues, supporting multi-disciplinary approaches to addressing global women’s health issues and rewarding innovative strategies designed to deal with pressing issues for women.

The Beatrice Renfield Foundation is led by Jean Renfield-Miller, PAR’15. The Foundation is named after Jean’s sister, who devoted years of service and resources as an advocate for the nursing profession.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

21

A Champion for Those Often Overlooked Christine Bradway grew up surrounded by “extremely vibrant” older relatives who inspired her dedication to the senior population throughout her nursing career. Two of these beloved figures – her grandfather and uncle – developed Alzheimer’s disease. As she witnessed their struggles, her passion to improve care for cognitively impaired elders – and patients with complex care needs – blossomed.

As a young Girl Scout, Christine Bradway, PhD, CRNP, FAAN,

volunteered at a local hospital – running errands, helping with transport and offering back and foot rubs to often-distressed patients.

“I loved interacting with the patients,” she says. “At 15, I got a job as a nurse’s aide in a local nursing home, and that’s where I originally intended to stay.”

This year, Dr. Bradway was presented the Norma M. Lang Distinguished Award for Scholarly Practice and Policy.

As Dr. Bradway accepted her award – which recognizes her career-long contributions to advancing nursing science related to continence care, long-term care of people with morbid obesity, and nursing interventions for cognitively impaired, hospitalized elders – it was quite clear she didn’t settle for a quiet life as a nurse’s aide in her hometown.

“My high school math teacher said, ‘You have to go to college.’” says Dr. Bradway. “So I did.”

Accepted as a last-minute applicant, she began her college career at Clarion University. She soon transferred to Wilkes University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing. During her last semester of clinical rotations, she worked at the National Institutes of Health Research Center on treatment trials for children with seizures and patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Vernice Ferguson, an internationally recognized leader dedicated to fostering excellence in nursing care, was chief nurse at that time and instilled in Dr. Bradway the innumerable benefits and opportunities of the profession, particularly with regard to nursing scholarship.

From the home front, Dr. Bradway also had the full support of her family and three very special nurse mentors who attended her church.

“My family experience shaped who I became as a nurse, and these three women supported me every step of the way – always telling me what a great choice I had made,” she says.

22

UPfront | Spring 2016

She was also deeply inspired by her first two clinical practice experiences – as a nurse in the medical intensive care unit at Lankenau Medical Center and then in the surgical ICU at Einstein Medical Center.

In these roles, she learned, from experienced colleagues, the importance of collaborative practice and meticulous nursing care in serving the most medically fragile patients.

Offering Care Navigation for Older Patients in Need Dr. Bradway joined the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) in 1986. Her first published study explored the disconnect between geriatric psychiatrists, nurses and physicians when it came to defining patient delirium and taking appropriate actions in their care. With her fellow researchers, she explored the effectiveness of nursing interventions that give patients a sense of control: providing a supportive environment (including darkness for sleep); avoiding the use of restraints; communicating effectively and using cognitive enhancements (like bedside calendars, clocks and family photos).

“Through these interventions, we were able to help these patients – who were so vulnerable when they came in – leave the hospital more functional,” says Dr. Bradway.

In a later study of transitional care for cognitively impaired, hospitalized older adults, she collaborated with Dr. Mary Naylor and her team to analyze documentation from advanced practice nurses who went above and beyond coordinating post-discharge care and implementing the Transitional Care Model for their patients – and the positive outcomes that resulted.

Promoting Personal Consideration in Continence Care In the late 1980s, while she was working as a nurse practitioner and teaching family practice medical residents about geriatrics, Dr. Bradway was approached by Mathy Mezey, EdD, RN, FAAN, former professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (and professor emerita, New York University College of Nursing), about starting a nurse-managed program.

While she jumped at the chance, Dr. Bradway didn’t realize the program revolved around continence care – an area she never thought she’d pursue.

“Everyone has always asked, ‘What’s a nice girl like you doing in a job like this,’” she says, with a laugh.

Dr. Bradway directed, and provided advanced practice nursing care through, the Penn Nursing Continence Program for more than 10 years. During that time, she promoted non-surgical, nonpharmacologic nursing strategies to improve continence for frail older adults. She also practiced at Urology Health Specialists in Philadelphia from 1992 through 2013. Most of her patients were older women, and when she spoke to them, she realized there was a common, frustrating theme in their experiences. Healthcare providers were “normalizing” these patients’ incontinence. But for them, it wasn’t normal. It was devastating.

“It’s really important to understand and respond to each individual patient – to ask ‘How does it bother you, and what can I do to help?’” says Dr. Bradway, who has brought that philosophy to nursing colleagues across the nation through publications, practice standards, editorials and personal visits.

Highlighting the Health Needs of a Hidden Population That sensitivity to intensely personal patient needs also prompted Dr. Bradway to investigate an often-hidden, medically complex population – morbidly obese patients in nursing homes, many of whom are far from elderly.

“It began as an investigation into continence issues among obese patients,” she says. “But what I found was startling. There are 21-to-30-year-olds living in nursing homes. There are 51-to-60-year-olds in these places who weigh more than 600 pounds. And,

Dr. Chris Bradway and members of the care team at the Genesis Garden Spring Center.

there are even 80-to-90-year-olds weighing more than 450 pounds.”

What began as a continence study soon evolved into interviews with patients and the committed staff who cared for them each day. Dr. Bradway and her colleagues uncovered a critical need for more staffing, better equipment and clearer practice standards. She published her results in the study “Understanding Barriers to Transitioning Obese Patients from Hospitals to Nursing Homes.”

Along with Dr. Holly Felix, an associate professor of health policy and management at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Dr. Bradway is now committed to moving forward with initiatives for these patients and staff at the national level.

And that’s not all. Next, Dr. Bradway and her colleagues plan to focus attention on how lower urinary tract symptoms in men with Parkinson’s disease affect both patients and their spouses, yet another underserved population in need of new interventions.

It’s clear just how much this attention means to the people she’s helped when she pulls out the gifts she’s received from her patients. The most telling are hundreds of guardian angel pins, slipped into her lab coat pockets over the years, by patients who consider her just that.

The Norma M. Lang Distinguished Award for Scholarly Practice and Policy This award honors the distinguished practice and policy work achieved by Norma M. Lang, PhD, RN, FAAN, FRCN, the School of Nursing’s fourth dean, throughout her exemplary career. She is internationally recognized for her advocacy of the role of nursing in health policy and practice. Her

seminal model for nursing quality assurance bears her name and serves as the basis of nursing policy throughout the world.

The award is given annually to a Penn Nursing faculty member or a graduate from the School’s doctoral program who has made a distinguished contribution to nursing through scholarly practice.

Dr. Bradway is the fourth recipient of the Lang Award. Previous recipients include Terri H. Lipman, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, Diane L. Spatz, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN and Rosemary Polomano, PhD, RN, FAAN.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

23

PENN NURSING NEWS Penn Nursing faculty and students are advancing science, delivering solutions and transforming policy and practice. You can learn more about their impact on health and healthcare at www.nursing.upenn.edu.

Penn Nursing Takes Pledge on Opioid Education As part of academic nursing’s ongoing efforts to combat prescription drug and opioid abuse across the United States, Penn Nursing is proud to announce that it has committed to educating its advanced practice registered nursing (APRN) students on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain. Penn Nursing recognizes that opioid abuse is a pressing public health crisis, and it is critical that APRN students receive education on current standards.

“The abuse of opioids is a serious and growing problem across the United States and throughout the world, affecting not only individuals, but also families and communities,” said Dean Antonia Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN. “As nursing educators, we are committed to preparing our graduates to provide effective symptom management, to recognize the signs of addiction, and to consider the factors and determinants related to opioid abuse. Penn Nursing is proud to support and make a commitment to the CDC’s efforts to combat this growing problem.”

Is There a Digital Hood?

A study led by Robin Stevens, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor and Director of the Health Equity & Media Lab, shows that there is an alarming connection between the negative social interactions disadvantaged youth experience in both the neighborhoods they live in and on social media. The team conducted interviews with 30 females and 30 males, ranging in age from 18-24 years old, about their social worlds and neighborhoods, both online and offline.

The study took place in predominately African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods. The participants told interviewers of the drama that takes place on social media, which is a byproduct of living in a disadvantaged neighborhood. The study found that social media can make tensions between people even worse, or at least seem even worse. To reduce their exposure to some of these negative experiences, a number of the participants elected to limit their social media activity. But by cutting oneself off of social media completely, it negates any of the potential positive opportunities social media may allow for.

Penn Nursing Study Shows High Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency in Many Children with Type 1 Diabetes During the past two decades, vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) status has emerged as a predictor of key clinical outcomes including bone health, glucose metabolism, cardiovascular health, immune health and survival. Now, a Penn Nursing team, including senior author Terri Lipman, PhD, CRNP, FAAN, the Miriam Stirl Endowed Term Professor of Nutrition, Professor of Nursing of Children and Assistant Dean for Community Engagement, has examined the association between vtamin D and diabetes control in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. The results demonstrate the high prevalence of patients with low levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, specifically in healthy weight and Caucasian children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes – patients previously considered at no or low risk of having low levels of vitamin D. These data underscore the importance of vitamin D screening in all children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Penn Nursing faculty members, Charlene Compher and Alex Hanlon, were co-authors on this paper.

24

UPfront | Spring 2016

Retirements Penn Nursing thanks the following faculty members for their dedication to our School community as they retire, effective June 20, 2016.

Janet A. Deatrick, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Shearer Endowed Term Chair in Healthy Community

Practices, Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Center for Health Equity Research. Her research focuses on parents as caregivers for children with chronic conditions and cancer by envisioning their strengths and by seeing parents as partners in care. Dr. Deatrick develops theories, research designs and methods to closely examine those common aspects of family management, across health conditions, across multiple stakeholders and across the continuum of care.

Kathy McCauley, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAHA, the Class of 1965 25th Reunion Term Professor of

Cardiovascular Nursing and former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. As part of a research team focused on transitional care, Dr. McCauley brought her background in the care of patients with heart disease plus her knowledge of hospital systems to their work examining the needs of elders with heart failure and other illnesses in the transition from hospital to home. She also oversaw the quality care processes for the Cardiopulmonary Arrest system at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to enable clinicians to resuscitate patients most effectively and to monitor the care patients receive to improve outcomes.

Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS(hon), FAAN, Professor of Nursing and Sociology, former Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing (2002- 2014) and former Director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership at Penn Nursing. Her scholarship focuses on global health, immigrant and international health, women’s health and on the theoretical development of the nursing discipline. As the School’s fifth Dean, she shared her vision for pushing the boundaries of nursing science, cultivating the next generation of healthcare leaders, and improving women’s health. She launched multidisciplinary and global partnerships; expanded research in critical areas and established centers for transitional care and for global women’s health; cultivated a culture of innovation; and strengthened the School’s commitment to serving and supporting the local community.

Lynn Sommers, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Lillian S. Brunner Professor of Medical Surgical Nursing, founding Director of the Center for Global Women’s Health and the Principal Investigator and Director of a T32 on vulnerable women, children and families. Her research explores injury related to sexual assault and risk-taking behaviors in vulnerable populations at risk for health disparities. Dr. Sommers investigated patterns of physical injury from sexual assault and discovered that female victims of sexual assault with dark skin are less likely than females with light skin to have their injuries identified, documented and treated, leaving them disadvantaged in both the healthcare and criminal justice system.

Judy Verger PhD, CRNP, CCRN, Director of the Pediatric Acute Care Nursing Practitioner, the

Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Program and Neonatal and Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist Programs. Dr. Verger joined the faculty in 1986 as a lecturer, served as the project manager for a study of feeding behavior and energy balance in infants with congestive heart failure, and earned her PhD in 2006. Dr. Verger then moved into leadership positions within the Pediatric Acute Care Nursing Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist Programs. Dr. Verger maintained a clinical practice at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

25

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS From the Penn Nursing Alumni Board President

Dear Penn Nursing Alumni, I hope everyone in the Penn Nursing community is well on their way to achieving great things in 2016, professionally and personally.

We are entering a season of celebrations at Penn Nursing. We join our HUP Alumni in celebrating 130 years of nursing education at Penn, a tremendous milestone in our pursuit of excellence in nursing. The first dean of our school, Theresa Lynch, would be celebrating her 120th birthday this year. We reflect on the roots of Penn Nursing and the legacy of Dean Lynch as we commemorate the 55th anniversary of the first master’s program and the 35th reunion of the first class of midwifery graduates (watch your email for a Midwifery program reunion taking place on October 28, 2016!).

We have much to celebrate and I enjoyed seeing so many of you at Alumni Weekend in May where we honored our past, present and future.

Amidst the celebrations of our rich history during Alumni Weekend was an incredible opportunity to engage with Dean Antonia Villarruel, faculty and students regarding our new strategic plan for the limitless future of Penn Nursing. In addition to the presentation at Alumni Weekend, Dean Villarruel traveled to California and New York earlier in the spring to share this program and meet many of Penn’s alumni and friends. She will be going to more cities this fall, including Boston, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., parts of Florida and more. Watch your email and be sure your address on record is up to date in order to receive your e-invitation.

Dean Villarruel’s visionary thinking and inclusivity will help continue the legacy of Penn Nursing as an eminent leader in nursing science for decades to come. This legacy is shaped on a daily basis by the diligent work of our 14,000+ alumni committed to shaping the future of healthcare. We are Penn Nursing students for a few years, but Penn Nursing Alumni for a lifetime!

The Alumni Board and I look forward to meeting you at our many alumni events planned for the coming year.

For more details, contact the Nursing Alumni office at 215.898.4841 or nursalum@pobox.upenn.edu.

All my best, Ashley Z. Ritter, Nu’07, GNu’10 President, Penn Nursing Alumni Board

26

UPfront | Spring 2016

From the HUP Nursing Alumni Association President Dear Fellow Alumni, I hope to see all of you soon at the “big event” for 2016: the 130th HUP Reunion at the Sonesta Hotel in Philadelphia on September 16-18, 2016. The HUP Alumni Board has been very involved in making this 130th reunion another success story.

First, I want to sincerely say many, many thanks to Patricia (Pat) Walters Marcozzi for being the Reunion Chairperson. Pat has taken on this responsibility numerous times over the past years.

Elizabeth (Betty) Irwin, Chair of the Archives Committee, is very close to completing the categorization of all of the HUP mega archives to be preserved for many years to come. An insurmountable job for several years, Betty has driven to Penn from Bear, Del. several times a week. Beverly Ejsing has assisted on a regular basis.

A very special thanks to them, and an acknowledgement to Susan McKelvey and Candace Stiklorius for their involvement.

As Chair of Nominations, Susan McKelvey contacts graduates to run for vacant positions on the Board.

I also invite any HUP graduate who was awarded a HUP Alumni Scholarship to assist with his/her advanced education consider getting involved in some manner with your alumni association. We always need people every year. If interested, contact me at edreisbaugh@verizon.net or edreisbaug@aol.com.

Julia (Tierney) Davis, our wonderful secretary, is always actively involved in everything. She is presently assisting Pat with the reunion plans. Julia and I volunteered to serve on the Penn Nursing Alumni Awards Committee this year, along with a number of Penn Nursing alumni. This committee truly demonstrates the collaborative, working relationship between the two alumni association. This is great!! Just this May, we celebrated two HUP alumni, Pat Marcozzi and Eleanor Crowder Bjoring, who received Penn Nursing Alumni Awards during Alumni Weekend at Penn.

As Chair of the HUP Alumni Webpage, Beverly (Bev) Barton Emonds works with Monica Salvia, Associate Director of Alumni Relations at Penn Nursing. Monica has been so wonderful to assist the HUP Alumni in any way possible. Monica, a special “Thanks” from all of us.

Deborah (Haug) Whealton resigned in December 2015 from being the Chair of Philanthropy for a number of years.

As president, I want to personally say, “thank you” to Deborah for a job well done. The HUP Alumni Association has been involved with The Philadelphia Foundation in the areas of: Nursing Scholarship, Women and Children and the Elderly Population for over 25 years. Many of the HUP Alumni members will make a donation to one of the areas in memory of, or in honor of a friend, classmate or relatives. As president of the HUP Alumni Association, I encourage you to consider making a donation to one of these three areas.

Last, I want to give a BIG thank you to Dean Antonia M. Villarruel for her ongoing support with the HUP Alumni Association. As I mentioned in my last Upfront president’s message, Penn and HUP are what I like to call under “one umbrella”. While maintaining our own identity, it has been to our mutual benefit and a joy to continue to support each other in numerous ways whenever possible. Together, we celebrate 130 years of continuous nursing education at Penn!

Warm Regards, Elaine Nuss Dreisbaugh, HUP’60 President, Alumni Association of the School of Nursing of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

www.nursing.upenn.edu

27

ALUMNI CONNECTIONS Seeking a Classmate, Mentor or Shadowing Opportunity?

QuakerNet works for you. With expanded search criteria, alumni and students can use the password protected, Penn-only site to locate a classmate, update contact information and set preferences.

Or search for contacts at a hospital or organization where you’d like to work and make a connection today. See www.alumni.upenn.edu/quakernet.

Help your Red and Blue to Go Green!

More and more, we rely on email to notify alumni about events in their local area, share job opportunities and faculty news. Currently, 40 percent of you don’t have an email address in the alumni database! If we don’t have your email address, we’re missing you! Send your email address to nursalum@pobox.upenn.edu or log on to QuakerNet (see above) to update your information.

Alumni (Local and Virtual) Mentors Needed This year, Penn Nursing is launching an expanded mentoring program for local or virtual alumni connections. Alumni working in clinical roles, administration, advance practice roles and nontraditional fields like consulting, law, industry and more are needed. Wherever you live, and whatever you do, we are interested in hearing from you!

Please complete our volunteer interest form at www.nursing.upenn.edu/alumni/volunteer.

You can make a lifetime of difference in as little as 10 minutes.

Want to Know More?

Contact Penn Nursing Alumni Relations Monica Salvia, Associate Director of Alumni Relations, 215.898.9773 Email: nursalum@pobox.upenn.edu Web: www.nursing.upenn.edu/alumni

Reflections from the Alumni Office: Shadowing Ivy Fenton Kuhn, CW’73, Nu’86, GNu’06

By Associate Director for Alumni Relations, Monica Salvia “I have a bad eye,” the little girl said. “Oh?” responded Ivy, “We don’t usually call it a bad eye. You have one strong eye and one that needs a little extra help, right?”

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to shadow Ivy Fenton Kuhn, PNP-BC, CNOR, Penn Nursing alumna and a nurse practitioner in the Division of Ophthalmology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). “It’s so weird that it’s not a busy day in clinic,” Ivy told me as we walked between patient rooms. But I had plenty to experience from her easy interactions with these little patients, her confidence in responding to questions about consent, technology and anatomy, and her informal but thorough consultations with the unit’s surgeons. She was clearly respected, but approachable. Busy, but with a reputation for being available.

Prior to our walk through the clinic, Ivy gave me background, then let me listen as she returned patient calls from her office. My son rubbed his eye and I think the stent came out but we threw it away. “What did it look like? Send me a

28

UPfront | Spring 2016

picture. How is he acting?

What do you think, dad?” We moved to another state and there isn’t someone local who can perform the permanent surgery my child now needs.

“Don’t worry, I can work with scheduling to bundle your appointments so you won’t have to fly back and forth multiple times.” “I have a few questions about my baby’s upcoming surgery.”

“I’ve been transferred four times, and the parking attendant just sent me to you.” “Can you help me?” Every time: Ivy said yes.

The questions and calls kept coming. Ivy took her time with each patient, giving her cell phone number when she knew someone needed a little extra support. In between calls, she shared challenges from her personal life with me, prioritized calls, talked about the future staffing needs of the office and how she carved out her np role. She told me how she often makes calls from home when she hasn’t been able to respond during the day.

When I arrived to shadow Ivy, I expected to watch someone knowledgeable, smart, efficient and caring. And I did. What I didn’t expect was how she unknowingly challenged me to think about my own work. How the skills she demonstrated so easily, skills that nurses learn, practice and (I like to think) master because they have to, can help me see my own day-to-day work differently. Thank you, Ivy, for giving my eyes a little extra help, to see myself, my work and Penn Nurses just a little better.

A L UMNI NOT ES 1940s Edna Vansant Ellis, HUP’44, wrote from her

home in Maine that she is “still hale and hearty at 92.”

Jessie Mae Barnes Buck, HUP’48, shared that after marriage and raising children, she returned to nursing at UMass in Amherst, Mass. in the inpatient student health services.

While there, she advanced to supervisor of the unit and attended classes at the university where she graduated from the nurse practitioner program. She retired in 1988. She stays in touch with classmates, Marguerite Carver Schaefer and Ruth Bartlett Daly.

1950s Mary Coyle Veker, HUP’53, Nu’58, retired 20

years ago after a wonderful career. She wrote how HUP was a major and marvelous experience that “changed our lives.”

Pricilla Herbert Easton, HUP’54, enjoys living

at Seabrook Retirement facility with her husband. Her children and grandchildren live nearby.

Barbara Hudak Schnur, HUP’56, worked as a

head nurse at Texas Children Hospital in Houston, Texas; in the Casualty Department of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London, England; and included teaching nursing of children at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, N.Y. She is a member of the Phoenix Chapter of the Assistance League. Through this organization she has travelled the world with her husband who is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon.

She assisted in reconstructive cleft palate and lip surgeries in the Amazon in Brazil, China, Siberia and El Salvador. Barbara’s daughter is Polly Schnur Saulnier, Nu’90.

1960s Elaine Rinard MacLellan, HUP’60, lives in

Mahwah, N.J. She worked as head nurse of an OB/GYN group in Ridgewood, N.J. for 25 years before retiring in 2003. October 2015 marked her 50th wedding anniversary. She and her husband Paul enjoy travel to Europe, Canada, China as well as the U.S. They also keep active with their five grandchildren.

Bobbi Gohn Callazzo, HUP’63, chairman of

Patricia Flounders Gambino, Nu’75, GNu’79,

the HUP Alumni Membership committee, served as co-chair of the Delaware Heart Walk in 2015.

is a nurse navigator for the University of Pennsylvania.

Nona Holloway, Nu’63, GNu’68, joined the

faculty of Gwynedd Mercy University as a professor.

Linda Smith Klawiter, HUP’66, retired from full-time nursing on January 16, 2015. She continues to work per-diem at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

She provides anesthesia at the Barnes Hospital for scoliosis procedures.

Lana Chase, HUP’69, loves teaching undergraduate students as clinical associate professor at Mercer University. She teaches fundamentals and mental health nursing. Lana also works part-time as an advanced practice registered nurse at the DeKalb Crisis Center.

In May of 2016, Lana is headed to Cambodia for her second medical mission trip with Mercer on Mission. She has no plans to retire anytime soon.

1970s Martha Archetko Gaudiel, Nu’72, is a

certified registered nurse anesthetist at EmCare.

Ruth Miller Correnti, Nu’75, is a pediatric

Maureen A. Long, Nu’75, WG’80, is the executive vice president for InnovAge. Deborah Barb Tozour, HUP’75, is proud to celebrate 40 years as a nurse! She works at Bay Health in Dover, Del. as a vascular-access nurse. She has three children and six grandchildren. Deb is an avid gardener and birder.

Aileen Goldstein Staller, Nu’76, is the stroke center coordinator for Physicians Regional Healthcare Systems in Naples, Fl. She completed her DNP at University of South Florida at Tampa in August 2014, while practicing at Moffitt Cancer Center as ARNP in neuro-oncology/neurosurgery.

Rebecca Dean Wiseman, GNu’78, is chair of the UMSON Program at Shady Grove at University of Maryland.

Lillee Smith Gelinas, GNu’79, became system vice president and chief nursing officer in 2013 at Christus Health, a Catholic, not-for-profit healthcare system comprised of 30,000 employees who serve in more than 60 hospitals and long-term care facilities in seven U.S. states and six states in Mexico.

nurse at Epic Health Services.

A Gift from a “Grateful and a Loving Heart” Jean Harvey Dorr, HUP’56, honored her HUP roots with the donation of a painting to the

HUP Alumni Association symbolizing her nursing career and its roots in her education at HUP. The painting, entitled The Heart was accepted by Alumni Association President, Elaine Nuss Dreisbaugh.

The painting is described in Jean’s words: The Heart is the vital or essential part – It represents Love, Compassion, Mercy, Spirit, Courage, Gratefulness, Enthusiasm and Encouragement.

HUP was the heart of Penn for many years and I hope it will continue as it is for many more years to come.

This painting reflects my work at HUP and in my Nursing career – I have a grateful and a Loving Heart.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

29

A LUM NI NOTES

( C O N TI N U ED )

Sharon A. Keeney, GNu’79,

was recently appointed associate director, program manager of clinical program management in Oncology at Janssen R&D of Johnson & Johnson. She is responsible for planning clinical trials from early development through submission. In July, she will be at Johnson & Johnson for 10 years.

Denise Link, GNu’79, is now a professor of women’s health at Arizona State University.

Monica O. Maraska, GNu’79, was appointed

as the dean of the Division of Health and Natural Sciences at the Community College of Morristown. She is the chair of the nursing program and is a nurse and certified nurse educator and has been serving as interim dean. Prior to joining CCM, she worked at Morristown Medical Center and Home Health Corporation. She is pursuing her doctorate of nursing practice at Rutgers University and expects to complete that degree in 2016.

1980s Lynne Logatto, GNu’80, is a family nurse

Carol Kriessman, Nu’83, is a nurse at Bayada

Janet Jaffe, Nu’88, GNu’90, is the office

Home Health Care.

manager for Young Israel.

Leslie N. North, Nu’84,

Yeur-Hur Lai, GNu’88, is the dean, professor

became the vice president of Hospital Sales and Marketing for Eagle Pharmaceuticals in March 2014.

and director at National Taiwan University, School of Nursing. She is also the director of the Department of Nursing at NTU’s hospital.

Dr. Yeur-Hur Lai introduced Dr. Afaf Meleis as the keynote speaker and gave her a

Janet E. Davies, GNu’85, is the vice president

of Patient Care Services, Inspira Medical Centers Elmer and Vineland.

Deborah Ashton-Parsons, GNu’85, is a nurse practitioner at Matrix Medical Network.

Dianne Charsha, GNu’86, is a doctoral student at Drexel University.

Carol Kuplen, GNu’87, was named the president of St. Luke’s University Hospital, and, in addition, will continue as the network’s chief nursing officer, a role she has held since 2008. As president, Kuplen is responsible for the operations, fiscal performance, quality outcomes and strategic initiatives for the hospital and related sites.

practitioner at Rutgers University Health Services.

Margaret McHugh, GNu’87, is the senior

Patricia Karabin Walters, Nu’80, is a nurse

Denise McNulty, GNu’87, GNC’99, is the

practitioner at Hackensack University Medical Center.

nursing program director for the newly launched four-year program at Ave Maria University, Fla.

Kim A. Corbin, Nu’82, is a nurse at Temple

University Hospital.

Janet Loewe, GNu’82, received a College of

Nursing 125th Anniversary Legacy Award for Outstanding Career Achievement in April 2015 from the University of Cincinnati (from which she graduated in 1955) by “demonstrating leadership in education, service, and healthcare in the community.”

Joan Frizzell, Nu’83, Nu’97,

is co-authoring a pathophysiology textbook with Dr. Theresa Capriotti from Villanova University.

director of IRX Therapeutics, Inc.

Coral Andino-Natal, GNu’87, is a registered

UPfront | Spring 2016

Ellen Marie Whelan, GNu’88, GR’00, was recently named the chief population health officer for the Center of Medicaid and Chip Services.

Christian N. Burchill, GNu’89, is a nurse

researcher at Zielony Institute for Nursing Excellence.

Denise Digiovanni, Nu’89, GNu’99, is the

inpatient care manager for United Healthcare.

Amy Tashman, Nu’89, GNu’93, is a clinical

staff nurse at VA Caribbean Healthcare System.

resource coordinator at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Jo Ann M. Casey Zack, GNu’87, is the clinical services manager at Insulet Corporation.

1990s

Deborah Klemash Zbegner, GNu’87, is the

dean of the School of Nursing at Wilkes University.

Sandra Beady, Nu’88, recently joined Good

Samaritan Medical Center as a staff educator for OB/GYN. Linda McCabe Edwards, GNu’88, is a health

economics research specialist for Medicaid in New Jersey.

Nancy A. Hodgson, GNu’88, GR’99, is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.

30

congratulations certificate at the 2nd Asian Congress in Nursing Education (ACiNE) at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan in January. The ACiNE is a four-day program that provides networking opportunities for experts, professors, friends and colleagues to present and discuss the latest progress in topics surrounding nursing.

Kay Forkins Rauchfuss, GNu’90, is an administrator at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Kimberly Parsons, GNu’91, GNC’94, is a

clinical adjunct instructor at Cedar Crest College.

Carol Sudtelgte, GNu’91, is a certified

nurse-midwife at Lifecycle WomanCare in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Laurel Edinburgh, Nu’92, a nurse practitioner at Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota, was named Nurse Extraordinare in MN Business Magazine for operating at an extraordinary level in the field of nursing.

Jayne Febbraro, GNu’92, is an assistant

professor at Sentara College of Health Sciences.

Karen McEvoy-Shields, GNu’93, is a midwife

at Inspira Medical Group-Gentle Beginnings.

Andrea Gregor McGlynn, Nu’94, is the director of clinical services for Cook County Health and Hospital Systems.

Kathryn L. Burg, Nu’95, GNu’98, is a director

at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Cheryl Hinderliter-Kullman, Nu’95, is a

clinical practice nurse at Cooper University Hospital.

Rhonda K. Lanning, Nu’95, GNu’97, developed a unique

model of education and care by the UNC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

She runs the Birth Partners Volunteer Doula Program at UNC Hospitals that offers the APPLES service-learning course. This service “supports childbearing family” that brings together volunteer doulas and students for an immersive, hands-on educational experience.

Mary Varghese, Nu’95, became the executive director of Emerging Services at AthenaHealth in December 2015.

Jawanza Bundy, GNu’96, GNc’99, was

named a 2015 Jonas Scholar for her dissertation research which will explore two concepts, parental involvement and mentoring, as strategies to increase enrollment and to help diversify the nursing workforce by assisting first-generation African American students and their families during the college-going process of nursing education.

John A. McCauley, GR’96, who works for

Merck & Co. in Princeton, N.J., received the Gordon E. Moore Medal from the American section of the Society of Chemical Industry earlier this year for his work on protease inhibitors for the treatment of hepatitis C.

Julie Blumenfeld, GNu’97, joined the staff of

Erin Veenker, Nu’03, GNu’07, is a nurse

Capital Health as a nurse midwife.

practitioner at Albany Medical Center.

Mary K. Cox, Nu’97, is now a staff nurse at

Michael P. Weissman, Nu’03, is a nurse manager for Tisch 10 Day Surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Dependable Nurse.

2000s Sheldon Fields, GR’00, is the dean and

professor at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, Ca. Karen Lenar Winn, Nu’00

and Gilbert Winn, C’00, welcomed Essa Alice Winn to their family on Aug 21. “Big Brother Rand is thrilled to have a 24/7 partner in crime.” Karen has recently completed her master’s and doctorate in nursing practice and is currently working as a nurse practitioner for Life Line Community Healthcare and authored a publication in the journal Patient Education and Counseling: “Measuring patient-centered care: An updated systematic review of how studies define and report concordance between patients’ preferences and medical treatments.”

Abby Kra Friedman, Nu’01, has joined the

faculty of the women’s health department at the Hebrew University Henrietta Szold School of Nursing at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalm, Israel. Abby first was introduced to the nursing school during her semester abroad in spring ‘00 when she did her obstetrics and pediatrics clinicals at Hadassah as a third year Penn Nursing student. It was the amazing experience as a nursing student that pushed Abby to study midwifery and eventually move to Israel in 2005. Since then, Abby has had the privilege of teaching several groups of Penn Nursing students who have come to Hadassah to study. Now, as a faculty member, she hopes to meet and teach the Penn students coming to Israel this fall. Abby loves hearing from her old Penn friends! Please be in touch if you are traveling in Israel abbykrafriedman@gmail.com.

Kerry A. Zabriskie, Nu’02, joined the staff at

Children’s Hospital Colorado as a pediatric nurse practitioner.

Angela F. Amar, GR’04,

associate professor and assistant dean for BSN Education at Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University, recently published A Practical Guide to Forensic Nursing: Incorporating Forensic Principles into Nursing Practice.

Mee-Young Lee, GNu’04, GNu’06, is a clinical nurse practitioner at Monter Cancer Center.

Catherine B. Wall, GNu’04, GNu’06, is a pediatric oncology nurse practitioner at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Kara L. Gasiorowski, Nu’05, GNu’11, is a staff nurse at Rothman Orthopaedic Specialty Hospital.

Rebecca R. Safley, C’05, Nu’07, GNu’10, is a

certified nurse-midwife at Johns Hopkins University.

Ronna E. Zaremski, GNu’05, is a nursing

consultant at Zoll Medical Corporation.

Melicia Escobar, GNu’06, is the Clinical Faculty Director, instructor and clinical faculty advisor for the NM/WHNP Programs at Georgetown University.

Marcia Gardner, GR’06, associate dean of

programs and assessment at the College of Nursing at Seton Hall College, was named Nurse Academic Educator of the Year by the March of Dimes New Jersey Chapter. A national organization dedicated to promoting healthy pregnancies, preventing birth defects, and helping families.

Thecly Scott, GNu’06, is now director for surgical services at the Naval Hospital Bremerton, Wash., where she leads a team of 167 physicians and other medical personnel.

Recently, she received the Kitsap Health Care Heroes-Military Medical Personnel Excellence Award, for her contributions to health and wellness in the local community.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

31

A LUM NI NOTES

( C O N TI N U ED )

Stephanie Rose Carrington, Nu’07, GNu’09,

Jennifer Marie Hughes, GNu’09, GNu’13, is

joined the staff of MCIC Vermont as a case reviewer.

a women’s healthcare nurse practitioner and nurse supervisor at The Door’s Adolescent Health Center.

Erika Jane Dick, GNu’07, is a nurse anesthetist and student clinical coordinator at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Sunne Frankel, Nu’07, GNu’14, is a nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Peter Jeong, GNu’09, recently joined the staff at Cleveland Clinic as a nurse practitioner.

Donald L. Payette Nu’09, GNu’11, is a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth.

Sarah Jane Guida, Nu’07, GNu’12, is a business administration manager at New York – Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital.

Ashley Rowley O’Connor, Nu’09, GNu’12, is a pediatric nurse practitioner at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Crystal Kim, Nu’07, is a psychiatric nurse

Stephanie M. Routson, Nu’09, GNu’13, is a

practitioner at Columbia University Medical Center.

nurse at Planned Parenthood.

Stephanie Lynn Kozlowski, GNu’07, is a

nurse practitioner at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Randy S. Tang, Nu’07, W’07, is a

dermatologist at Visage Dermatology, Fla. Bianca Gonzalez, Nu’08, joined the staff of

Stanford Hospital as a nurse practitioner.

Caitlin Hildebrand Nu’08, GNu’11, is the

director of patient care at American Care Quest.

Erica T. Johnson, Nu’08, is a contracting

nurse at Little Rock Air Force Base.

Sarah J. Ogilvie, Nu’08, is a registered nurse

with the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital.

Lauren Solomon, GNu’08, works as a

cardiology nurse practitioner at Temple Health.

Nora E. Swinburne, Nu’08, GNu’11, is a

women’s health nurse practitioner at Legacy Health.

Joy S. Yoder, Nu’08, GNu’10, is a certified

nurse-midwife at WellSpan OB/GYN-Ephrata.

32

UPfront | Spring 2016

Amanda Webb Bevilacqua, Nu’11, GNu’14, joined the

staff of Essex County OB/GYN Associates as a midwife and nurse.

Meredith Bress, Nu’11, married Brian Wing, W’11, on March 28. They “relocated to New York, where Meredith attends Columbia’s nurse-anesthesia program and Brian continues his career at Deloitte Consulting LLP.” Amelia Marie Cataldo, Nu’11, GNu’15, is a pediatric

intensive care unit nurse practitioner for the Children’s Medical Center of Dallas.

Melissa C. Samler, Nu’09, GNu’13, joined the staff of Boston Medical Center as a nurse practitioner.

Courtney Horn, Nu’11, GNu’15, is a nurse

2010s

Marin Jacobwitz, Nu’11, GNu’14, is a pediatric neuro critical care nurse practitioner at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Audrey Cantor, Nu’10, GNu’16, recently

joined the staff of University of Pennsylvania as a nurse practitioner.

Demere Kasper Hess, Nu’10, GNu’16, joined

the staff of Bayada Home Health Care as a clinical manager.

Natasha E. Leary, Nu’10, GNu’12, is a nurse practitioner at Albert Einstein Medical Center.

Joanna Marie Marroquin, GNu’10, is a nurse practitioner and pediatric urology manager at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Amy K. Matta, Nu’10, GNu’15, is a nurse practitioner at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

practitioner in the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Mariam D. Poorvu, Nu’11, GR’12, is a nurse practitioner at East Boston Neighborhood Health Center.

Kristen Rudick, GNu’11, is a nurse practitioner at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Amy Witkoski-Stimpfel, GR’11, conducted a study at NYUCN and Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research.

Published in Health Services Research the study showed that Magnet hospitals that are nationally accredited for excellence in nursing have higher patient ratings of care than hospitals that are not Magnet rated.

Elizabeth A. Milburn, Nu’10, GNu’12, joined the staff of Penndel Health Center as a nurse practitioner.

Ryo Sueda, Nu’11, GNu’16, joined the staff of

Suzanne Deu Murphy, GNu’10, is a certified nurse midwife at With Women Wellness.

Sarah Elizabeth Chipps-Walter, GNu’11, is a nurse practitioner at Tallahassee Primary Care Associates.

David Shih, Nu’10, W’10, is the national manager of Strategy & Operations, Hospital Services at DaVita Healthcare Partners.

Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center as a registered nurse.

Emily Boland, Nu’12, was named Georgetown

University Hospital’s 2015 Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Nurse of the Year and Jamie

Massarelli, Nu’10, GNu’13, was named the 2015 Miller Pediatric Hematology Oncology Nurse of the Year. Our thanks to Ryan Keating, Nu’14, who also works as a registered nurse at Georgetown University Hospital, and shared this news with the alumni office.

Michelle Y. Lu, Nu’12, W’12, GNu’17, is a

Maxwell H. Hess, Nu’14, joined the staff of Penn Medicine as a registered nurse.

Amanda G. Jackson, Nu’14, GNu’18, joined

Kathleen L. Rogers, Nu’15, joined the staff of

University of Virginia Medical Center as a registered nurse.

the staff of Inova Health Systems as a registered nurse.

Christine M. Rohaly, Nu’15, is a registered

Madelyn L. Keyser, Nu’14, is a nurse at the Children’s Hospital of Colorado.

Molly A. Schwalje, Nu’15, GNu’15, is a registered nurse at Children’s National Medical Center.

nurse at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital.

consultant at PwC.

Hunter McCorkel, Nu’14, GNu’17, is a nurse

Tali Barone Luongo, Nu’12, joined the staff

practitioner case manager at Main Line Homecare and Hospice.

Taryn A. Seifert, Nu’15, is a clinical nurse at

Elizabeth Eunjin Park, Nu’14, is a nurse at

Selena Sudol, Nu’15, GNu’18, is a registered nurse at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

of Wolfson Children’s Hospital as a nurse.

Casey McGrath, Nu’12, joined the staff of

Memorial Sloan Kettering as a nurse.

Crystal C. Ma, Nu’13, GNu’16, joined the staff

at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital as a nurse.

Caroline Rose Prebul, Nu’13, GNu’16, is a

registered nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Raisa G. Rojas, Nu’13, GNu’15, is a nurse at

the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Divya R. Samuel, Nu’13, GNu’16, is a nurse at

the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Joilahna Z. Reynolds, Nu’14, is an office

manager at Pritzker Group.

Margaret Lynn Salzbrenner, GNu’14, is a nurse practitioner at A.I. du Pont Hospital for Children.

joined the staff of the University of New Mexico Children’s Hospital as a registered nurse.

Samantha J. Thomas, Nu’14, is a registered

nurse at Northside Hospital.

practitioner at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Maxim Topaz, GR’14, is a research fellow in

practitioner at Princeton Community Hospital.

Julia Elizabeth Tracey, GNu’13, is a pediatric

nurse practitioner at the University of Maryland.

Kasey E. Benchimol, Nu’14, GNu’17, is a

nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Jelena C. Bubanj, Nu’14, GNu’18, is a clinical

nurse at Medstar Washington Hospital Center.

Alexandra R. Webb, Nu’15, GNu’18, is a nurse at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Brian Kenneth Strause, Nu’14, GNu’17,

Kerri Lynne Sendek, GNu’13, is now a nurse

Aisha Stevenson Reikow, GNu’13, is a nurse

Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

Julia E. Boulton, Nu’15, is a registered nurse

at Medstar Washington Hospital Center.

Ariya L. Kraik, Nu’15, W’15, is a clinical nurse

at Penn Medicine.

Jill Lantzy, Nu’15, is a nurse practitioner at

UT Southwestern.

Jennifer Ngo, Nu’15, is a

nurse at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Yilun Chen, Nu’14, W’15, is a consultant at

PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Leah M. Geoghegan, Nu’14, GNu’18, is a senior staff nurse at NYU Langone Medical Center.

If you are a HUP Nursing or Penn Nursing graduate, we want to hear about your life!

Send us a personal or professional update at nursalum@pobox.upenn.edu or call us at 215.746.8812.

Photos are encouraged!

www.nursing.upenn.edu

33

IN ME MORIAM Mary Jane Evans Siekert, HUP’49, passed

1940s Margaret Horton Knoecklein, HUP’41,

passed away on March 16, 2015.

Alice Travis, HUP’46, passed

away on October 15, 2015. Alice was married for 36 years to her husband, Reese R. Travis, and had two children. Alice was employed by Ashland State General Hospital for 25 years. She was a lifelong, avid reader and very involved in her church. She attended HUP School of Nursing reunions whenever she could and enjoyed staying connected to her classmates.

She recently lived in Longwood, Fla. in an independent living community where she was very active with the residents’ council.

Nell Gardner, HUP’47, passed

away on July 22, 2015. She served as a flight nurse in the U.S. Air Force, a nurse at hospitals in Philadelphia, New York, and Oklahoma, a loving wife married for over 60 years, a devoted Catholic, and a wonderful mother. Her son John Gardner writes that she was proud of her time at Penn.

Wilma B. Gillespie, ED’49, passed away on

August 20, 2015. A lifelong educator and national speaker, she was an instructor of nursing schools in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, professor of nursing at Brevard Community College in Cocoa, Fla., an Educational Consultant for Departments of Education in W.V. and Fla., Director of the Wood County School of Practical Nursing in Parkersburg, W.V., and associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Louisville, Ky. Wilma was president of the Health Occupations Education Division coordinating council in Florida, the author of several books, and a member of the Veto Presbyterian Church. She is survived by her three sons, William T. Gillespie, Jr. (DDS) and his wife, Ellen; Carter E. Gillespie (DDS) and his wife, Jane; and John N. Gillespie, II (MD) and his wife, Sandra; along with 14 grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

34

UPfront | Spring 2016

away on February 23, 2013.

1950s Marie Makowski Maguire, HUP’50, passed

away on April 12, 2013.

Nancy E. Blake, HUP’51, Nu’62, passed away

on May 19, 2012.

Margaret Rosenberger Hawksworth, HUP’52,

passed away on September 24, 2013.

Clare C. Brodegard, Nu’53, passed away on September 12, 2015. Clare received a bachelor’s degree in Public Health from Penn and, after further education, became one of the first nurse practitioners in Ohio. She practiced in Monroe and Belmont counties of Ohio, where she filled an urgent need for women’s healthcare. She was a proud New Yorker, despite moving to Woodsfield, Ohio to raise six children with her husband, Chuck.

Clare loved adventure, dancing and her dogs.

Edna George, HUP’53, passed away on

May 14, 2015, in Harrisburg, Pa. She was a retired school nurse.

Donna Healey, HUP’ 54 passed away on February 19, 2016. Born in York, Pa., Donna graduated from York High School in 1951. She entered the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing that year, graduating in 1954 as a registered nurse. She worked at the university hospital for two years before returning to York in 1956. Donna worked as a school nurse for the York City School System for 34 years. She

is survived by her husband Roger Healy; a special cousin, Patti Larsen Conway of Des Moines, Iowa; and her wonder dog, Einstein.

Miriam K. Comley, HUP’55, passed away on August 19, 2015. Miriam was an active member of the First Congregational Church, where she served as the superintendent of Sunday school for seven years. Miriam is survived by her husband Ron; children, Stephen, Jeffret, Elizabeth, and Kristen; and eight grandchildren.

Dorothy (“Dot”) Sally Burtson, HUP’56, passed away on

August 10, 2015. Dot was the first in her family to attend college. At HUP, she established life-long bonds among her nursing class and met her husband Bill at that time while he was attending Drexel University. The role of caregiver, both personally and professionally, truly defined her life. Dot established a reputation as an excellent nurse among her peers. She was a faithful daughter to her mother Lottie after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She was a rock for her five children (Linda, Bill, Eric, Caroline, & Lottie), always willing to help them in a time of need throughout her life. Four words that sum Dorothy’s life are loving, generous, crafty and beautiful.

Patricia van Amerigen Kind, PAR’81, PAR’00, passed away on January 15, 2016. She attended Monmouth Memorial Hospital School of Nursing and became an RN. She moved to Philadelphia for her first nursing job, where she met Philip Kind, the love of her life. They were married in 1951. Pat enjoyed sports, she was a phenomenal tennis player and loved golf. Pat was known for being deeply involved in the community. She served on the board of the Montgomery County Visiting Nurse Association and founded both the Hedwig House and Circle Lodge in Norristown. Pat became involved with Penn Nursing in 1981 when her daughter, Laura Kind McKenna, was a MSN student. Since then, Pat continued to be deeply invested and dedicated to Penn Nursing, while developing long-lasting relationships with all of the School of Nursing deans. She supported the school both through personal gifts and grants from the Patricia Kind Family Foundation and the Van Ameringen Foundation that funded a broad range of programs at the school. She served as president for the Van Ameringen Foundation for many years, including when the foundation endowed a chair at the school in 1981. Pat is survived by her five children: Ken Kind (Sharon) of Huntingdon Valley; Laura Kind McKenna (Marc) of Wyndmoor; Christina Kind of Glenside; Valerie Kind-Rubin (Andrew) of Doylestown; and Andy Kindfuller (Kenwyn) of Potomac, Md.; as well as 19 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother Henry van Ameringen of NYC.

Ellen Fuller passed away on November 16, 2015. She was an educator and

Beverly Specht Gammage, HUP'56, passed away on

November 8, 2015. She is survived by her daughters Kelly and Cindy and son Rick and their families. Bev was a loyal military wife to her U.S. Air Force husband Stuart.

Beverly treasured her HUP education and felt it was those years that helped her efforts at the University of Maryland as well as the Maryland State Health Dept. Beverly's life was focused on faith, family, and friends.

Sara Dunlap, Nu’59, passed away on

February 11, 2015.

1960s Lois Hertz Adler, HUP’60, passed away on

January 26, 2015. She is survived by her daughter Elizabeth and son Dave, four grandchildren and her brother Bob Hertz.

Gail Patricia Irvine, HUP’60, passed away on July 14, 2015. She was an RN in New York City and in Philadelphia, later becoming a medical audit analyst for 20 years.

Janet Mowers Dragnett, Nu’61, passed away

on September 19, 2014. She was a retired school nurse.

Mary E. Holden, Nu’61, passed away on

January 22, 2015. She graduated Reading Hospital School of Nursing in 1940 and received her BSN at the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. She worked at John Hopkins Hospital, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, and the Pottstown Hospital. Mary also worked for the State Department of Health and the Pottstown School District.

Lois Casho Shultz, Nu’61, passed away on September 10, 2015. Lois worked as a nurse, nursing instructor and nursing supervisor. She helped write Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law, helped found Reading is Fundamental in Berks County. Lois was the past president of the Staff Physicians’ Wives Auxiliary of the Reading Hospital and Medical Center and served on the Berks County Board of Assistance for 30 years. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Reading, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Emma L. Byron, GNu’62, passed away on

October 8, 2015. Emma taught Nursing at USC LA County Medical Center and at Bluefield State College School of Nursing. A member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, she loved good desserts, spending time with family and friends, and traveling

research physiologist whose career spanned more than a half-century.

While raising her two boys and two girls in Atlanta, Dr. Fuller returned to school in 1960. After receiving a BSN from the medical college of Georgia, she continued her education at Emory University, where she earned an MSc and then her PhD in physiology in 1968. Her teaching career in Atlanta included appointments as an associate professor in applied health sciences at Georgia State University, assistant professor of physiology at Emory University, visiting fellow at Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania, and associate professor in physiology at Emory. Ellen joined Penn in 1980 as an associate professor of nursing and became the first director of the Center for Nursing Research at Penn’s School of Nursing. She was also an associate professor of physiology, a joint appointment in Penn’s School of Nursing and Perelman School of Medicine, in 1985, she was promoted to professor of physiology. Ellen was an active member of Penn’s community, she served on Penn’s Faculty Senate, first as secretary and then as an at-large member and on the University Council. She was also editor of the School of Nursing’s Nursing Research Newsletter before retiring in 1988. Penn Nursing faculty remembered Dr. Fuller as a woman who was both fun and feisty. She expected nothing but the best and was able to impart wisdom to everyone she met. She is survived by daughter Cynthia Fuller and husband Bill Cotterell of Tallahassee, Fla.; son Mark D. Fuller of Florence, S.C.; daughter Marion Fuller Aller and husband Charles Aller of Crawfordville, Fla.; son Andrew Y. Fuller of Smyrna, Ga.; and daughter-in-law Mary L. Fuller of Florence, S.C. In honor of Ellen’s contributions to Penn Nursing, the School’s Research Committee announces the Ellen Fuller Student Research Pilot Award, to be awarded beginning in fall 2016 to the top scoring student pilot proposal in each cycle.

Elizabeth S. Harding, GNu’63, passed away

Patricia C. Bonan, Nu’72, GNu’79, passed

on January 7, 2015. She was a retired director of nursing at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

away on September 4, 2015. Patricia worked as a psychiatric nurse specialist at Jefferson Hospital and other area facilities.

Jane Klineburger Wentzinger, HUP’64, passed

away on November 15, 2015. Her classmate, Jackie Haney Kahn, related that, a resident in a nursing home for several years, Jane used her nursing skills to help other residents in identifying and solving problems related to long-term care and helped make improvements in the facility. The Jane K. Wentzinger Scholarship at CCIS, Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. has been established in her name.

Elizabeth Koliopulos Quinlan, GNu’65,

passed away on August 1, 2015.

Mary M. Maloney, GNu’65, passed away on

December 27, 2014.

Aaron Joel Poller, C’69, GNu’91, passed away on July 28, 2015. A retired psychiatric nurse, he taught at Surry County Community College and Winston Salem State University.

Patricia A. Rizzo, Nu’69, passed away on

March 8, 2015.

1970s Martha M. Lamberton, GNu’70, passed away

on July 29, 2015.

Andrea L. Mengel, GNu’74, GR’87, died February 2, 2016.

Andrea strongly believed in the power of education and wanted to ensure that opportunities were available for first-generation college students. She worked as a nursing professor at Community College of Philadelphia for 40 years, where she received the Lindback Award for Excellence in Teaching. She was also the director of the college’s nursing department for 15 years. Dr. Mengel was dedicated to creating new ways to educate nursing students, developing programs to attract minorities for advanced degrees and improve nursing care for seniors. She wrote and published various articles and books on nursing and education, served for 18 years as a board member of the Independence Foundation, a philanthropic organization that invests in healthcare and human services in the Philadelphia area.

Dr. Mengel is survived by her daughter Ann Ritter, two granddaughters, mother and husband of 44 years, George Ritter.

Debra Schwartz, HUP’77, passed away on

May 25, 2015.

www.nursing.upenn.edu

35

Lillian Sholtis Brunner, HUP’40, ED’45, HON’85, died on

March 23, 2016. She graduated from the School of Nursing at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1940, the School of Education (Nursing major) at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945, and Case Western Reserve University in 1947. Prior to becoming internationally known as the co-author of two major nursing classics: Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing and the Lippincott Manual of Nursing Practice, Lillian worked as an operating room supervisor at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and taught nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr Hospital and Yale University. Lillian was deeply involved at Penn, serving on the Penn Nursing Board of Overseers for 28 years, as a member of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women and as the first Chair of the Advisory Board of the Center for the Study of the History of Nursing (now known as the Barbara Bates Center) for 10 years. She was also a member of the Board of Trustees of Presbyterian Medical Center, and served as their first Vice Chairman for Education and Research, and chair of the Advisory Nursing Committee and History/Archives Committee. Lillian’s additional leadership positions included serving as past president of the Pennsylvania League for Nursing, past national secretary of the National League of American Pen Women, and a board member on the New Ralston House in West Philadelphia. Along with Dr. Theresa I. Lynch, Lillian co-founded the History of Nursing Project, which became the Nursing Museum at Pennsylvania Hospital. Lillian was bestowed an honorary doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 and she was named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing in 2002. Lillian’s legacy at the School of Nursing includes the Mathias J. Brunner Instructional Center, which she established in honor of her late husband, as well as the Lillian Sholtis Brunner Chair in Medical-Surgical Nursing, which she established to support Penn Nursing faculty. She is survived by her two daughters, her son and her granddaughter.

1980s Grace E. Perry, GNu’80, passed away on

February 28, 2015.

1990s Sophia A. Tillman-Ortiz, GNu’97, passed away June 22, 2015. “Sophie” received a BSN, MSN as an adult and geriatric nurse practitioner, and MSN as a family nurse practitioner from the University of Pennsylvania. For 28 years, she served as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, deployed to Nicaragua, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Iraq, and the Republic of Korea. Her husband, Colonel Orlando Ortiz, with the Ortiz and Tillman families, partnered with the Friends of Penn Nursing to honor Sophie by creating a scholarship endowment in her name.

You can influence the future…

Penn Nursing prepares students by providing excellent resources and experiences: a state-of-the-art simulation center featuring high-fidelity mannequins, student research opportunities across all levels of scholarship, classrooms with the latest hospital-based electronic medical records (EMR) technology and rigorous clinical experiences. Your support of the Penn Nursing Annual Fund is critical to ensuring students have those resources to learn to be tomorrow’s healthcare leaders and practitioners.

Your gift today allows us to focus on the future – our students.

36

Make a gift to the Penn Nursing Annual Fund with the enclosed envelope or at www.nursing.upenn.edu/giving.

UPfront | Spring 2016

For more information on how you can support students, contact Leah Kelsen at 215-573-8975 or lkelsen@nursing.upenn.edu.

M A R K YO U R C A LEN DARS

Please join us for these upcoming events:

Fall 2016 September 16-18

October 22

130th HUP School of Nursing Reunion The Sonesta Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa

Graduate Open House

September 23

PhD Open House

Claire M. Fagin Distinguished Researcher Award Presentation.

Philadelphia, Pa

September 23-25

October 28-29

Penn Spectrum Conference, a celebration of diversity for Penn Alumni.

Philadelphia, Pa

Homecoming Weekend Featuring Nurse Networking and a Women’s Health and Midwifery Reunion on Friday, October 28, 6-8pm.

October 25

For more information, visit the Events and Programs tab at www.nursing.upenn.edu/alumni

Celebrating Excellence On Friday, May 13, Penn Nursing honored student, alumni and faculty award winners at the annual Celebrating Excellence ceremony, the kick-off to Alumni Weekend.

Congratulations to our 2016 alumni award winners: Mary Beth Happ, GR’98 The Outstanding Alumni Award Frances Dunn Butterfoss, Nu’72, GED’75 The Lillian Sholtis Brunner Award for Innovation Elizabeth Schierholz, GNu’06 The Alumni Award for Clinical Excellence Eleanor Crowder Bjoring, HUP’50 The Legacy Award Patricia Walter Marcozzi, HUP’61 The Alumni Spirit Award Dean Kehler, W’79 The Honorary Alumni Award Also join us in celebrating the 2016 Dean’s Medal for Distinguished Service honorees: Anthony J. Buividas, WG’79 Bill Floyd, C’67, WG’69

Dean Villarruel is Coming to a City Near You! (But you’ll only get an invitation if we have your email address and mailing address.)

To reserve your invitation, send your name, graduation year, current city/home town and email address to nursalum@pobox.upenn.edu.

37

Claire M. Fagin Hall 418 Curie Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19104-4217 www.nursing.upenn.edu

CELEBRATE IN 2016

130

130 years of continuous nursing education at Penn

55

55 years of Graduate Nursing education

120

Theresa Lynch’s 120th birthday

35

35th anniversary of the Midwifery program

What are you celebrating in 2016? Send your awards, wedding pictures, birth or adoption announcements, and everyday news to nursalum@pobox.upenn.edu.

L ET’S # CELEBRATE TOGETHER!

th