FACULTY

Dynamic leaders in health care, education, and research

College Welcomes New Professors

The URI College of Nursing has welcomed three new professors over the past year. Learn a bit about the college’s newest educators:

Professor Melissa Sutherland

Education: Ph.D., University of Virginia, Charlottesville; M.S., Binghamton University, Binghamton, N.Y., with a focus on community health education and nurse practitioner; B.S. in nursing, Binghamton University; B.S. in Rural Sociology, Cornell University Recent experience: Director, Kresge Center for Nursing Research, Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences; professor, Binghamton University, Decker School of Nursing; associate professor, Boston College, Connell School of Nursing; lecturer, University of Virginia School of Nursing. Research focus: Sutherland’s work has been funded by private foundations and by the National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Her research focuses on interpersonal violence and recovery. Her current AHRQ R01 project examines female college students’ experiences with intimate partner violence and sexual violence and factors associated with violence screening in college health centers.

Teaching focus: Dr. Sutherland is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and has taught community and public health at the undergraduate and graduate level. Among other courses at URI, Sutherland plans to teach a class in growth and development over the lifespan to undergraduate students. The course focuses on health promotion and disease prevention from newborns to older adults.

Assistant Professor Thaís São-João

Education: Ph.D., Nursing, University of Campinas; Post-Doc, Health Sciences, University of Campinas; M.S.N., University of Campinas (Brazil); B.S.N., Nursing, University of Campinas. Recent experience: Assistant Professor, University of Campinas; Professor, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas. Research focus: São-João focuses on health-related behavior change, especially risk factors for diseases including diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. In Brazil, she received grants from the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development and from the São Paulo Research Foundation as a tenured professor. São-João is experienced in studies aimed at designing, implementing and assessing nurse-driven interventions, as well as randomized, controlled intervention studies in clinical settings. She has expertise in research design and methods and in cultural adaptation and validation studies, with a focus on people with such noncommunicable diseases as cardiovascular conditions, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. Teaching focus: Dr. São-João’s area of focus is on the fundamentals of medical/ surgical nursing.

Clinical Assistant Professor Kate Healy

Education: D.N.P. Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions; M.S.N., University of Pennsylvania; B.S.N., University of Pennsylvania.

Recent experience:

Associate Director of Nursing, Associate Professor, Norwich University, Northfield, Vt.; registered nurse, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (Lebanon, N.H.), Gifford Medical Center (Randolph, Vt.), VA Medical Center (White River Junction, Vt.); Nurse Practitioner, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, N.Y.). Teaching focus: “My teaching focus and where I hope to develop my scholarship is in active learning in the classroom, lab/simulation, and clinical settings. I strive to make classroom content relevant to nursing practice to help make concepts more tangible for students. My goal is to help students develop their abilities to apply the nursing process to practice.”

Big Ideas. Bold Plans.

Transformative Faculty Leadership

Investing in transformative faculty leadership attracts prestigious and influential professors who are thought leaders, encouraging them to innovate and share their knowledge and represent the College of Nursing abroad. The Janet Schade ’70 bequest to support URI nursing education enhances recruitment of the best and brightest Ph.D. students who will become the nursing educators of tomorrow.

Nursing Professor Wins AANP State Award for Excellence

Former URI College of Nursing Professor Mary Lavin was the Rhode Island winner of the 2022 State Award for Excellence from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

“An NP faculty member for more than 30 years, and active member of the NP Alliance, she is a superior mentor and educator of NP students and graduates, with a strong focus on improving the health of communities,” the AANP award reads.

Lavin is a long-standing board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner with expertise in primary care. She has worked in multiple primary care settings throughout her career and has been a practice affiliate member of Newport Hospital. A member of the American Nurses Association, the Nurse Practitioner Association of Rhode Island, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing, Lavin retired from teaching at URI in May.

Faculty in the News

Professor Selected as NIH Research Institute Scholar

Assistant Professor Karen Jennings Mathis has been selected as an NIH 2022 Health Disparities Research Institute Scholar. The institute provides a broad overview of the leading issues in minority health and health disparities research, enhancing the ability of scholars to secure research grants. An advanced practice registered nurse in the specialty of family psychiatric-mental health nursing, Jennings Mathis’ research focuses on the prevalence and presentation of eating disorders within Black populations and how to integrate cultural factors to enhance evidence-based assessments and interventions.

Faculty Member Elected to Thoracic Society Assembly

Assistant Professor Jennifer Mammen was elected to the American Thoracic Society Assembly on Nursing Nominating Committee. The ATS is the world’s leading medical society dedicated to accelerating the advancement of global respiratory health through multidisciplinary collaboration, education, and advocacy. Nursing assembly members include scholars, clinicians, and educators within the profession of nursing who conduct research to address the needs of populations across the lifespan in clinical settings.

Professor Serves as Governor’s Health Advisor

Assistant Professor Dahianna Lopez is playing a key role in R.I. Gov. Dan McKee’s plan “to build a more resilient, prosperous, and equitable state,” serving on the governor’s advisory team tasked with creating a framework and guiding document for the state over the next decade.

Lopez serves as the representative for public health and health care and has been actively engaged in soliciting community input from multiple stakeholders across the state. She has joined other education, health, and civic leaders in implementing “a working draft for the state’s future,” which suggests broad goals for the state over the next decade and recommends short-term and long-term actions the state should take to reach those goals.

Associate Professor Appointed to Nursing Charter School Board

Clinical Associate Professor Mary Leveillee was appointed to the board of directors of the Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College Charter School. Based in Providence, the school is the first public charter high school in the country focused on the nursing profession.

Assistant Professor Appointed to Global Cancer Commission

URI nursing Assistant Professor Dr. Erica Liebermann was appointed as an advisor on the Lancet Commission on Women and Cancer. The commission comprises a multidisciplinary and diverse team from around the globe, with expertise in gender studies, human rights, law, economics, sociology, as well as cancer epidemiology, prevention, and treatment. The commission works to ensure equitable access to affordable quality cancer prevention, risk reduction, treatment, supportive, rehabilitative, and palliative care for all.

Professor Elected Vice Chair of Palliative Care Panel

Associate Professor and Weyker Chair Susan DeSanto-Madeya was elected vice chair of the American Academy of Nursing’s Expert Panel on Palliative and End of Life Care, which identifies and disseminates public policy priorities for clinical care, research, and education related to palliative and end-of-life care. Dr. DeSanto-Madeya is an expert in palliative and end-of life nursing care. She is an investigator on an NIH-funded study examining standardized patient-centered medication review in home hospice and the primary investigator on a study to align goals of care for patients living with serious illness.

Arcoleo Elected President of International Respiratory Society

Research Professor Kim Arcoleo was elected the new president of the International Society for the Advancement of Respiratory Psychophysiology, which promotes relationships between psychological and physiological aspects of respiration. Arcoleo is an expert in respiratory ailments whose research focus is on closing the health disparity gap for low-income, under served children with asthma. Arcoleo was also the recipient of the 2022 American Public Health Association Distinguished Service Award.

Professor Serves on National Health Policy Council

Professor and Routhier Chair Betty Rambur was selected to serve on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Health Policy Advisory Council “to provide contextual guidance to the association on issues that require insight from nurse faculty.” Nursing faculty members and administrators from colleges and universities across the country “guide the development of policy statements surrounding current and emerging areas in health, healthcare, and higher education.” Dr. Rambur’s term runs through 2023.

Professor Defends Dissertation, Earns Ph.D.

Clinical Assistant Professor Sandra Basley has earned her Ph.D. in nursing from URI after successful defense of her dissertation, “The experience of nurses as double duty caregivers for a family member at end-of-life; interpretive description.” Basley focuses her research on double-duty caregiving, innovative pedagogy and interdisciplinary education.

Associate Dean Serves on NIH FIRST Program

Associate Dean Kathy Hutchinson was invited to serve as a reviewer for the NIH Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation Program, a high-profile National Institutes of Health funding opportunity. The goal of the FIRST Program is to enhance inclusive excellence in the biomedical research community through the recruitment of early-career faculty and to build a culture that supports diversity and inclusive excellence. Dr. Hutchinson—whose own research focuses on sexual risk behavior and sexual violence—teaches research methods at the doctoral level, leads grant-writing and research workshops, and sponsors F31 NRSA applications for pre-doctoral students.

Calling it a Career

Congratulations to Professors Patricia Burbank (left), Mary Lavin, Mary Sullivan, and Mary Cloud, who retired in May after decades educating future nurse leaders and making groundbreaking discoveries through dynamic research projects. Dean Barbara Wolfe and the entire College of Nursing thank them for their years of exemplary service to the College and the enormous impact they have each made on health and health care for generations to come!