NURSING Magazine 2023, Vol. 2

2023 | VOLUME 2

NURSING UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER SCHOOL OF NURSING

BRIGHT minds.

Bold SOLUTIONS. A SNAPSHOT OF NURSING SCIENCE.

NURSING 2023 | VOLUME 2

UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER SCHOOL OF NURSING

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NEWS + EVENTS 4

UR Nursing and SEWNY reimagine horizons with first simulation summit

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UR Nursing receives AACN Innovations in Professional Nursing Education award

8-9 Beyond biometrics: The impact of UR Medicine Employee Wellness 11 UR Nursing welcomes new nurses into the profession

HONORS + AWARDS 15-16 Faculty honored as fellows of American Academy of Nursing, Society for Adolescent Health & Medicine

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17 U R Nursing celebrates faculty, staff, and student award winners

COVER STORY + FEATURES 20 Through nursing, Thaw Htoo aims to help Rochester refugees

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24 Cover Story: A snapshot of UR Nursing research

22 Sue Groth reflects on work to advance women’s health ALUMNI 31 Boundless festivities at Meliora Weekend

NURSING MAGAZINE

32 UR Nursing grads tackle mental health challenges head-on

Editor

Alumni & Advancement Relations

Art Director & Design

Andrea J. Allen Senior Director of Advancement & Alumni Relations

34 Class Notes 36 In Memoriam

credits

Nora Williamson Director of Strategic Communications, School of Nursing Christine Kennedy

Feature Photography Gianluca D’Elia John Schlia Jeff Witherow Matt Wittmeyer

Contributors

Sam Coniglio Gianluca D’Elia Robin Flanagan Nora Williamson

URMC Communications B. Chip Partner Assistant Vice President of Communications, URMC

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Melissa L. Head ’99W (MS) Executive Director for Advancement

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NURSING Magazine is published twice a year for alumni, students, and friends of the University of Rochester School of Nursing. It is published by the University of Rochester Medical Center Departments of Communications, Alumni Relations, and Advancement. ...........................................................................

On the Cover…

UR Nursing researchers advance nursing science to address health disparities in Rochester, NY and around the world. Pictured: Meredith Kells, Chen Zhang, Caitlin Dreisbach, Dillon Dzikowicz, and Lauren Ghazal.

Photo by Matt Wittmeyer

Write to Us

We welcome your letters and feedback concerning stories in the magazine or issues related to the University of Rochester School of Nursing. Send your comments to: Editor, NURSING Magazine 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box SON Rochester, NY 14642

Email: SON-Communications@urmc.rochester.edu www.son.rochester.edu facebook.com/UofRSchoolofNursing twitter.com/UofRSON instagram.com/urnursing urson.us/LinkedInURSON

A Message

from the Dean DEAR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS, Warm greetings from the University of Rochester School of Nursing!

I hope this message finds you in good spirits and rejuvenated after a peaceful and relaxing winter holiday. As I reflect on the past six months, I would like to express my gratitude for the passion and hard work shown across the School of Nursing community.

Among our recent milestones, I am thrilled to announce our 10-year CCNE accreditation for our bachelor’s, master’s, DNP, and advanced certificate nursing programs, paving the way for us to continue to provide top-notch nursing education.

The UR Nursing Scholars program has made a remarkable start, welcoming nearly 80 scholars to date into our accelerated nursing programs, tuition-free. This initiative fortifies our educational mission and highlights the strengths of an integrated academic medical system with the shared goal of improving patient care. Additionally, for the seventh consecutive year, we’ve been honored by Insight into Diversity magazine for our efforts in nurturing diversity, equity, and inclusion across all our missions.

I’m also proud to report that our research mission is thriving. As part of a R1 top-tier research university, we’ve focused our energies on pioneering discoveries and innovative solutions to the persistent health care challenges we face today. This commitment has propelled us into the top third of U.S. nursing schools receiving NIH research funding, with more than $6 million secured last fiscal year for projects spanning cardiovascular care, sexual health and HIV, cancer, aging, and family health (parent-child and adolescent). In this edition of NURSING Magazine, we detail these discoveries and their implications for improved care.

Lisa Kitko, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN

Dean, School of Nursing Vice President, University of Rochester Medical Center Professor of Nursing

As we look ahead, we are determined to support a diverse pipeline of research faculty to enrich and advance nursing science at the School of Nursing. In addition to welcoming three new research faculty this past fall, we are actively recruiting for an endowed chair in oncology nursing, in partnership with the Wilmot Cancer Institute. Here, they will find incredible opportunities to improve care for our communities and work across disciplines and professions to bring those discoveries to practice.

Together, we dream big and push the boundaries of nursing, confident in the University of Rochester School of Nursing as the ideal environment to realize these ambitious goals.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT AND BELIEF IN OUR MISSION.

UR NURSING Job Opportunities

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Reimagining Horizons: SEWNY, UR Nursing Showcase the Future of Simulation Education In a series of stations inside the University of Rochester School of Nursing skills lab, a group of visitors were dabbing on red and purple makeup to simulate scars and bruises. In the opposite corner of the room, simulation technician William Secules was surrounded by plastic cups and Karo syrup, teaching another group a recipe for fake mucus and saliva.

This was one of the many interactive breakout activities at the Simulation Educators of Western New York’s (SEWNY) annual Simulation Summit, which was hosted at Helen Wood Hall for the first time. Set in the School of Nursing’s state-of-the-art expansion, the day-long conference provided hands-on experiences to educators from all over New York.

More than 100 health care simulation professionals gathered at the School of Nursing on Sept. 18 for a day of breakout sessions, posters on the latest research in simulation education, and nationally recognized keynote speakers.

The conference came at a significant time for simulation in New York. Over the summer, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation that permits nursing students to complete up to one third of their clinical training through simulation experiences in an effort to strengthen the nursing workforce. For UR Nursing students, simulation’s role in their education will continue to expand, helping them sharpen their confidence, comfort, and clinical judgment before they enter a patient’s room for the first time.

“We have had students consistently say to us that having an opportunity to practice the skills that they are learning about in lectures and having that chance to work with a manikin, or to work with a standardized patient, really helps them feel more comfortable, safe, and prepared to take care of an actual patient,” Buholtz said.

For members of the School’s simulation team, serving as the host institution was also a sign of how far UR Nursing’s programming has come.

“Sixteen years ago, we had one mannequin and did one simulation. Now we are currently doing 43 simulations for our undergraduate program, and it’s growing every semester,” said Kimberly L. Buholtz, EdD, MS, RN, assistant director of simulation and a 2007 graduate of the accelerated bachelor’s program.

Dee Dee Rutigliano leads an IV bag cap station as part of an interactive breakout session.

Summit participants from the University of Rochester Medical Center enjoy a breakout session in the skills lab.

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Participants view a virtual patient monitor on an iPad during Jennifer Zugnoni’s breakout presentation on the use of technology in skills sessions.

Simulation Director Erin Baylor, presents about OSCEs (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) in an experiential learning room.

Several School of Nursing alumni, faculty, and staff members led presentations at the Summit, including:

Erin Baylor, DNP, RN, PNP-BC, ONP: Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) for Competency Assessments

Timothy Nervina, DNP, RN, FNP-C: Implementation of Virtual Reality in Nursing Education: Lessons Learned

Will Secules: (Sim)ple Moulage Techniques to Enhance Simulation

Jennifer Truax, MS, RNC-OB, C-EFM: Can You Escape? The Use of an Escape Room as Active Learning for Nursing Students

Jennifer Zugnoni, MS, RN, CPN, CNEcl: Using Technology to Increase Fidelity During Skills Sessions

William Secules and John McIntyre demonstrate techniques for creating moulage, or mock injuries, with participants at the 2023 Simulation Summit.

Jinjiao Wang, PhD, RN, spoke to Time about a recent study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society which found that antipsychotics are potentially overprescribed for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Stephen T. Romas, ’20N, RN, CCRN, was one of 21 male nurses to speak with Becker’s Hospital Review about ways to recruit more men into the profession.

Romas is an ICU nurse at Strong Memorial Hospital who is currently pursuing his master’s to become an adult-gerontology nurse practitioner.

Tara Serwetnyk, EdD, RN, NPD-BC, and Kaitlyn Burke, MS, RN, CCRN, CNE-cl, spoke with Healthcare Innovation about their pilot of Wolters Kluwer Health’s vrClinicals for Nursing, a virtual reality learning program that prepares nursing students for real-life challenges.

Dean Lisa Kitko, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, and Jillian Kelly, a current accelerated student, spoke with BestColleges about the new UR Nursing Scholars Program, and its role in addressing the national nursing shortage and removing barriers to a nursing education.

Vendors and sponsors at the Simulation Summit offered hands-on activities, including virtual reality scenarios.

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UR NURSING Recognized by AACN

as Leader in Educational Innovation The University of Rochester School of Nursing was named a recipient of the American Associate of Colleges of Nursing’s (AACN) 2023 Innovations in Professional Nursing Education award. The award was presented during AACN’s Academic Nurse Leadership conference in October to recognize pioneering initiatives launched by AACN member institutions.

“I am proud that our work to transform nursing education has been recognized by the AACN,” said Dean Lisa Kitko, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN. “Our competency-based, collaborative approach allows us to successfully prepare future nurses to deliver exceptional patient care safely and skillfully. Health care has become increasingly complex, and preparing nurses with strong clinical judgement is foundational to the success of new graduates and to the health system.”

The University of Rochester School of Nursing received the award in the academic health center category. As one of only a small number of schools fully integrated with an

From left: Lisa Brophy, Tara Serwetnyk, Lydia Rotondo, and Dean Lisa Kitko accept the AACN Innovations in Professional Nursing Education Award.

academic health center, it partners closely with the University of Rochester Medical Center across patient care delivery, education, and research.

“Even before the COVID-19 pandemic it was evident that nursing academia was overdue for a transformation,” said Lydia Rotondo, DNP, RN, CNS, FNAP, associate dean for education and student affairs, in a recent case study on how the school leverages technology in the classroom.

“Clearly, sage-on-the-stage, auditorium-style faculty lectures were no longer enough. By implementing technology, we can provide real-life clinical scenarios in the classroom and better prepare practice-ready nurses as knowledge workers in the digital age.”

Renu Singh Retires from Associate Dean Role Renu Singh, MS, senior associate dean of finance and operations, retired from her role in December after more than 20 years of leadership at the School of Nursing. She will remain at the School as chief executive officer of the UR Medicine Employee Wellness Program.

and continues to show significant reductions in health risk and improvement in outcomes.

As an associate dean, Singh bolstered the school’s financial health and success, oversaw its central administrative teams, and served as a senior advisor to three nursing deans. In 2018, she was named a ‘Woman of Excellence’ by the Rochester Business Journal for her career accomplishments, community involvement, leadership, and commitment to mentoring.

“Throughout her time at the school, Renu’s visionary leadership has been the bedrock of the school’s success,” said Dean Lisa Kitko, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN. “Her commitment to offering evidence-based wellness programs has transformed the lives of countless individuals and enhanced the well-being of our community.”

“I look forward to spending more time with my family and loved ones, and I can do that confidently because the school is in great hands and has a bright future ahead,” Singh said.

John Eaves, MBA, UR Nursing’s chief financial officer, will serve as interim associate dean for operations and finance.

More than 10 years ago, Singh led the development of the School’s UR Medicine Employee Wellness program to provide wellness services to University of Rochester employees. Since then, the nurse-led program has achieved the highest engagement rates for program participation in university history. Today, the program serves more than 70 organizations in the region 6 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

Most recently, Singh drove efforts to launch the UR Nursing Scholars program — a first-of-its-kind program which offers 100 percent tuition coverage for students in the Accelerated Bachelor’s in Nursing program with guaranteed employment at select UR Medicine hospitals.

“I am proud to have had a hand in developing new talent and bringing younger people up,” Singh said. “Being a leader is not just about creating businesses and running companies, it is about recognizing and growing talent in others. The leaders I have admired the most have been those who value people and bring the best out in others.”

UR Nursing Receives Seventh Consecutive

Excellence in Diversity Award For the seventh year in a row, the University of Rochester School of Nursing has received the Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.

“We are proud to have been recognized by INSIGHT for a seventh consecutive year,” said Dean Lisa Kitko, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN. “However, we are not standing still. Through our continued collaboration and commitment, we will strive to create a culture of belonging in the years to come, and find new, innovative ways to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

The School of Nursing was one of 15 nursing schools across the U.S. and 63 institutions overall to earn the Health Professions HEED Award this year.

“The Health Professions HEED Award process consists of a comprehensive and rigorous application that includes questions relating to the recruitment and retention of students and employees — and best practices for both — continued leadership support for diversity, and other aspects of campus diversity and inclusion,” said Lenore Pearlstein, publisher of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.

“We take a detailed approach to reviewing each application in deciding who will be named a Health Professions HEED Award recipient. Our standards are high, and we look for schools where diversity and inclusion are woven into the work being done every day across their campus.”

underrepresented groups in nursing.

The HEED Award also recognizes the School’s community engagement, including two early-exposure programs with the Rochester City School District: a 10-week Nursing Pathways course for students at East High School, and the annual “See What You Can Bee Day,” which introduces sixth-graders from the Children’s School in Rochester to careers in health care.

The School has also continued to sponsor up to 25 bachelor’s students for annual membership in the Rochester Black Nurses Association (RBNA). Chartered here at the School of Nursing in 2018, the RBNA serves as a voice for Black nurses, supports their professional growth, and develops programs to address health disparities in the local Black community.

As part of a University-wide initiative, 14 faculty members earned a “Fostering a Culture of Belonging” micro-credential through a partnership with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) over the past year. The program equipped participants with actionable practices to ensure all students and colleagues feel seen, heard, and valued.

“We take pride in the School of Nursing’s successes as a HEED Award recipient,” said Caroline S. Nestro, PhD, MS, RN, interim director of equity & inclusion. “Not only does the HEED Award demonstrate the school’s history of leading the way in diversity, equity, and inclusion, but it also allows others who may be interested in joining our school to see that we are actively working toward excellence for the future.”

The past year marked several milestones in diversity, equity, and inclusion at the School of Nursing.

The new UR Nursing Scholars program, which welcomed its inaugural cohort this fall, was recognized as a “best practice”

by INSIGHT. In partnership with UR Medicine hospitals, the program offers a tuition-free second bachelor’s degree for college graduates in exchange for a three-year work commitment upon graduation. In its first semester, the program attracted new students from across the U.S. and New York, from ages 21 to 53. Nearly 40 percent of students in the program come from

The School of Nursing’s Council on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (CoDEI), pictured above at a Hispanic Heritage Month table event in September 2023, has guided UR Nursing’s DEI efforts, offering educational opportunities, cultural heritage celebrations, consultations for school committees, and more.

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Beyond Biometrics:

The Impact of UR Medicine Employee Wellness One nurse’s surprising discovery with UR Medicine’s unique wellness approach

Cheryl Ellenwood had always gotten good results from her biometric health screenings. So when her numbers rose to concerning levels despite what she considered to be a decent diet and exercise regimen, she turned to UR Medicine Employee Wellness.

The nurse-led program provides services to more than 63,000 employees in 83 organizations in Western New York.

“I thought I was going to get all the same information I already knew and that I’d just be told, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing — just do more of it,’” said Ellenwood, an LPN who works for the Department of Anesthesiology at Strong Memorial Hospital. “But it wasn’t like that at all.

There was so much I didn’t know.”

UR Medicine Employee Wellness’s comprehensive hightouch and high-tech coaching and engagement program has consistently proven effective since 2012 in reducing cardiovascular risk, lowering blood glucose and blood pressure, and diminishing depression symptoms.

That’s good news for both employees and employers, given that 90 percent of health care spending is attributed to the treatment of chronic conditions, and 60 percent of adults have at least one, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We put a lot of stock in interacting with our clients in meaningful ways,” says Chief Wellness Officer Lisa Norsen, PhD, RN, ACNP. “Our programs take into account not only what individuals desire, but what their cultural needs are, the resources they have at their disposal, and their motivation level. We customize their experience so they can be successful.”

That customization is done through biometric screenings and face-to-face interactions. It’s a model wholly different from the usual one-size-fits-all programs administered through digital platforms.

“Just knowing that I had someone to be accountable to helped motivate me,” said Ellenwood, who was matched with Clinical Nutritionist Catherine Pluta. “I wanted to do a good job — not only for myself but for her too.”

Ellenwood had two sessions with Pluta before having to take time off for shoulder surgery. By the time she started

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up again six weeks later, the 5-foot-3 nurse realized the break came with some weight gain.

Over the next six months, with Pluta’s guidance, Ellenwood discovered she could make a lot of changes to a diet she once thought was fairly ideal.

She swapped ketogenic meals heavy on meat and cheese for a more plant-based menu with lots of fruit and vegetables. She uses olive and avocado oils instead of grapeseed and sesame oils, and has severely cut consumption of commercial breads, cookies, cereals, and other foods with trans fats and hydrogenated oils. She limits ice cream to once every two weeks instead of indulging twice a week. And she has upped her daily water intake from 50 ounces to 85 ounces.

When buying packaged products, Ellenwood uses a simple mathematical rule she learned from Pluta. She divides carbohydrates by dietary fiber and if the number is five or lower, it gets a seal of approval.

“You’d be amazed how many ‘good for you’ products are over seven,” Ellenwood said, referring to misleading marketing labels.

Unlike typical for-profit wellness companies, notes Norsen, UR Medicine Employee Wellness sits in the School of Nursing and is part of the University of Rochester Medical Center, which makes it unique among wellness organizations. As part of the University, the program has access to resources that keep the programs and practitioners responsive, current, and innovative.

One example Norsen offers is the integration of SelfDetermination Theory into their clinical practice. Developed

by University of Rochester psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, the theory emphasizes the role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in fostering intrinsic motivation and psychological well-being.

“Use of theory is important because it gives us a foundation and assures we have a roadmap for customization moving forward,” Norsen said.

Another unique aspect of the program is that all nurses are also certified lifestyle coaches, making for a “pretty remarkable and powerful combination,” said Norsen.

For every $1 spent on UR Medicine Employee Wellness services, employers see a $6 return on investment — an overall savings of $1,224.20 per individual.

“Nothing in our industry has approached that level of ROI,” says Jason DeVoe, director of business operations for the University of Rochester School of Nursing, where the program is housed.

For groups at risk of cardiovascular disease, the ROI is even higher — with a rate of return shooting up to $36 for males and $20 for females, according to a 2022-23 analysis.

Results go beyond financial figures.

In 2019, the program conducted a five-year retrospective study to measure change in cardiovascular disease risk for over 9,000 employees who participated in the program’s services for more than one year. The findings were unparalleled in the industry and published in a peer reviewed journal that same year. Data showed that 48 percent of participants with moderate to high cardiovascular risk improved their risk level, and 33 percent improved a full risk category.

Meanwhile, the program’s Net Promoter Score — a metric measuring customer experience — is 85 for biometric screenings and 75 for its wellness portal.

“Companies brag about scores around 40 or 45, so this is something we’re really proud of,” DeVoe says. “Having an immediate coaching interaction at the time of the biometric screening with a registered nurse is unbelievably impactful.”

Ellenwood has lost 18 pounds since working with the employee wellness program and has been able to maintain her weight for several months. “I am happier, healthier, and back to a weight that much more fits my frame,” she says.

“And I found out I love falafel. Who knew? This was a really great, really enlightening experience.”

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Annual DNP Summit highlights impact of DNP-PhD collaborations

The Power Duo: DNP & PhD Nurses Shaping Health Care’s Future

At the University of Rochester’s 8th Annual DNP Summit in October, nursing leaders discussed the role of collaborative relationships between Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and PhD-educated nurses and its impact on improving health care. With more than five million registered nurses in the United States, a small fraction — under three percent — hold a doctorate in nursing. These doctorally-prepared nurses are increasingly pivotal in leadership positions across academic, clinical, and health care industry settings. The following are excerpts from this year’s DNP Summit presentations:

“We’re just getting started with understanding the impact and the power that lies within collaboration between PhD and DNP-prepared nurses.”

- Susan Weber Buchholz, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAANP, professor and associate dean for research at Michigan State University School of Nursing and president of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF)

“DNP and PhD-prepared nurses are natural allies when it comes to accelerating the pace at which new nursing interventions are translated from bench to bedside.”

- Karen Hande, PhD, DNP, APRN, CNE, ANP-BC, FAANP, ANEF, professor and chair of health promotions, populations, and health systems community at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing

“Leveraging our roles helped support the partnership, but also helped us understand the health system and the hospital needs to identify a problem that we could address.”

- Ann Leonhardt-Caprio, DNP, RN, ANP-BC, SCRN, FAHA, program coordinator of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at Strong Memorial Hospital

“We felt strongly that we each brought important skills to the table, and that when we balance them together, they were quite complimentary … If you want to change something, you need to understand the constraints from both perspectives … so that it can be done in a way that’s meaningful and sustainable.”

- Meghan L. Underhill-Blazey, PhD, APRN, AOCNS, assistant professor at the University of Rochester School of Nursing and nurse practitioner at the Wilmot Cancer Institute Hereditary Cancer Program

“We saw our partnership as kind of a dance where we listened to the same music. There are times when one partner needs to take the lead. And there are other times when another partner needs to take the lead.”

- Linda Cowan, PhD, APRN, RN, FNP-BC, CWS, director of the Patient Safety Center of Inquiry at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital and Clinic, about working with her colleague Jill Massengale, DNP, RN.

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New Beginnings UR Nursing Welcomes New Nurses into the Profession

The accelerated bachelor’s Class of August 2023 came to the University of Rochester School of Nursing during a year marked by change and transformation.

It was not only a time of personal change — many students came to nursing school as a shift from past careers in education, music, hospitality and more — but a new era for the School as well. The summer that they arrived, UR Nursing had just cut the ribbon on its vertical expansion of the Loretta C. Ford Education Wing, which serves as a home to the School’s reimagined curriculum and technological advancements.

Recent graduates Tom Ruffing ’23N and Mordechai Rosen ’23N smile to family members as they process to the front of the auditorium.

Chosen by his classmates, Cam Dove ’23N delivers the student Pinning Ceremony speech.

Andrew Barbour ’23N receives his diploma and yellow rose at the Larry and Cindy Bloch Alumni and Advancement Center on Aug. 23.

Shortly afterward, Lisa Kitko, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, arrived as the new dean. Kitko expressed a sense of connection to the cohort, at the August Pinning Ceremony as they navigated new beginnings together over the past year.

“I want to express my profound pride in having shared my inaugural year as dean with such a talented and driven group of individuals,” Kitko said to the cohort. “The lessons you have learned here — not only pertaining to patient care, but also embracing change and integrating evidence-based practices — will serve as the foundation of your continued growth.”

Gia Stanco ’23N hugs her pinner, Josh DeBell, after receiving her diploma and rose.

Rajpreet Kaur ’23N and Assistant Professor Jennifer Zugnoni, MS, RN, CPN, CNEcl, celebrate after the Pinning Ceremony.

The August cohort selected Cam Dove ’23N as its student speaker. A licensed real estate agent with a bachelor’s in business, Dove was inspired by friends working in health care during the COVID-19 pandemic to consider a new profession.

Dove said one of his greatest takeaways from nursing school is that no one can do it alone. He credited his peers, faculty members, and the Center for Academic and Professional Success for helping him throughout the program. In the fall, Dove started his nursing career in the pediatric emergency department at Golisano Children’s Hospital.

Zoe Wilmot ’23N celebrates her graduation with her parents, children, and husband.

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allowed me to disseminate my work in an innovative way that sets me apart.”

At URMC, Ghazal will also maintain a faculty affiliation with the Wilmot Cancer Institute’s Cancer Prevention and Control research group.

“Our generation of assistant professors is pushing boundaries in a good way, and that’s something I really value at the University of Rochester,” she added. “There are groundbreaking researchers doing great science here, in ways that haven’t been done before. I’m excited to learn from my colleagues, and to know that we have the people and infrastructure here to move AYA research forward.”

Like many UR Nursing students, alumni, and faculty who

New Voices in UR Nursing Research A few years ago, when Assistant Professor Lauren Ghazal, PhD, FNP-BC, was starting her PhD, her nursing career was on a track that made sense to her. She was utilizing her health care experience and first bachelor’s degree in economics to study global nursing workforce issues, maintaining clinical practice as a family nurse practitioner, and saying “yes” to new opportunities.

Life had other plans: a few months into her PhD program at New York University, Ghazal was diagnosed with stage-two Hodgkin lymphoma. Her personal experiences and thoughts about navigating a cancer diagnosis as a young adult soon turned into research questions, changing the focus of her PhD research, and the rest of her nursing career along with it.

Now, as one of the University of Rochester School of Nursing’s newest faculty members, Ghazal is working to expand adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer studies at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC).

Her research interests sit at the intersection of both her personal and professional experiences in cancer care, nursing, and economics. She focuses on the cancer survivorship needs of AYAs, with a focus on financial toxicity among this age group.

“Those are all perspectives that I bring to my work, and that I value and take time to listen to,” Ghazal said. “That has 12 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

Lauren Ghazal Speaks Up for Adolescent, Young Adult Cancer Survivors entered nursing as a new career and brought diverse life experiences with them, Ghazal’s path to nursing was not necessarily straightforward. As an economics major, she thought she would become a lawyer one day. A semester abroad in Greece exposed Ghazal to a different country’s health care system for the first time, and led her to consider how she could bring an economics approach to health care.

Encouragement and support from her mother, a fellow nurse, also helped guide her to this career path.

By the time her senior year of college came around, Ghazal was taking prerequisite courses so she could start an accelerated nursing degree at Regis College in Massachusetts.

Later on, after earning her PhD in nursing research at NYU, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cancer care and delivery research at the University of Michigan.

Rochester wasn’t initially on Ghazal’s radar, she said. But a conversation with Assistant Professor Meghan UnderhillBlazey, PhD, APRN, AOCNS, at one of the Oncology Nursing Society’s Capitol Hill Days helped her realize that the University had everything she was looking for.

“I wanted to be affiliated with a medical center and a cancer institute, to have a strong school of nursing that supports students from undergrad all the way to doctoral studies, and to have a focus on cancer survivorship,” Ghazal said. “That was all there at UR.”

on in-hospital cardiac arrest.

“Dr. Suba represents the next generation of researchers in ECG,” said Carey, who also leads Strong Memorial Hospital’s Clinical Nursing Research Center. “My generation spent time teaching computers how to read the waveforms on an ECG. Now, the next generation is focusing on how to extract more information from ECGs to help clinicians.”

Learning how to fully read an ECG can take several years for any clinician, especially while working in a fast-paced clinical environment. Having experts like Suba at the University helps move new discoveries to patients at a more accelerated pace.

Pursuing a master’s degree as a critical care/trauma clinical

New Voices in UR Nursing Research Since the early days of his career as an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse in Indonesia, Assistant Professor Sukardi Suba, PhD, RN, always had his sights set on pursuing nursing research.

While working at a hospital, he thought to himself that he’d study sepsis in ICU patients if he were a nursing researcher.

Then, he discovered an interest in cardiology during his graduate studies, which eventually led him to Rochester.

Now, as he makes the transition from postdoctoral research associate to full-time faculty at the University of Rochester School of Nursing, Suba is focused on taking his work to new heights. For the past two years, he worked under the mentorship of Professor of Nursing Mary Carey, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, focusing on enhancing the timeliness of coronary angiography for patients with acute coronary syndrome.

“There is a strong focus on helping faculty grow here and investing in their individual development, and that’s what I feel is really important,” Suba said. “The leadership’s commitment to helping us succeed stood out to me during my postdoc.”

His research also explores the clinical significance of arrhythmia alarms generated from continuous ECG monitoring in adult ICU patients and their impact on nurses’ alarm fatigue. Additionally, Suba investigates the predictive utility of continuous ECG data

Sukardi Suba Looks to Data Science to Advance Cardiac Care Delivery nurse specialist brought Suba to the U.S. in 2014. He had initially expected to return home afterward, until a research assistantship focused on electrocardiograms (ECG) opened up shortly before Suba was about to graduate from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He stayed at UCSF and worked alongside Michele Pelter, PhD, RN, FAHA, director of the School of Nursing’s ECG Monitoring Research Lab, and completed his PhD in Nursing Science there.

During his doctoral studies at the UCSF, he earned the Distinguished Dissertation Award in Nursing and a spot on the School of Nursing’s 40 Under 40 list. While he was a postdoctoral associate, Suba was recognized by the Rochester Academy of Medicine with its 2022 Distinguished Service in Early Career Award. Suba is also a recent recipient of the URMC Clinical & Translational Science Institute’s Faculty Pilot Award for the study “Significance of symptom onset-to-angiography time in non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.”

As a new tenure-track assistant professor, Suba looks forward to collaborating with fellow junior faculty members at the School of Nursing, and with colleagues at the Goergen Institute for Data Science, the Medical Center, and other parts of the University.

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NEWS & EVENTS

“The ECG is a ubiquitous tool, from emergency departments to primary care offices, yet we take it for granted and don’t always utilize all of the information embedded in its signal,” Dzikowicz said. “That’s where my work has been focused.

I envision myself in a collaborative role where I help other researchers interpret data.”

And with the addition of new junior nursing faculty members over the past couple of years, whose interests range from pediatric and young adult oncology to maternal health and more, there are boundless possibilities for collaborative studies, he said. Dzikowicz’s arrival as an assistant professor also marks the expansion of the School of Nursing’s cardiovascular research team.

“No matter what discipline you work in as a nurse, every patient has a heart,” said Mary Carey, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, professor

New Voices in UR Nursing Research Shortly after earning his PhD in Nursing & Health Science at the University of Rochester in Spring 2023, Dillon Dzikowicz, PhD, RN, PCCN, joined the School of Nursing’s faculty as an assistant professor. Dzikowicz also holds a second appointment at the Clinical Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), and maintains practice as a cardiac nurse.

“Being part of the URMC community grants a lot of advantages,” Dzikowicz said. “I am fortunate to have a broad base of connections as I transition to a faculty role.”

As a nurse scientist, Dzikowicz aims to advance cardiovascular care through his research interests in cardiovascular disease, clinical informatics, and machine learning. He primarily focuses on phenotyping physiological signals — such as electrocardiography (ECG), vectorcardiography, and photoplethysmography — among patients with acute coronary syndromes and heart failure, as well as with elevated risk for sudden cardiac death.

Dzikowicz’s interest in all things cardiovascular is rooted in personal experience. A childhood memory of his grandfather undergoing an open-heart surgery stuck with him. Standing by his family throughout the surgery and recovery was also Dzikowicz’s first introduction to cardiology, and he was instantly fascinated.

Years later, as he pursued his bachelor’s in nursing at the University of Rochester in 2017, his interests in cardiovascular care and research — and more specifically, in electrocardiography — grew even stronger.

14 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

Dillon Dzikowicz Advances ECG Research, Education of nursing, emphasizing the importance of expanding URMC’s team of cardiovascular nurse scientists. “It’s very important for all nurses to have a high level of competence in cardiac care.”

“There are only a few ECG Laboratories in the country, and few of them are led by nurses,” added Carey, who leads Strong Memorial Hospital’s Clinical Nursing Research Center. “Together, we can accelerate our productivity.”

Having taught the School of Nursing’s ECG interpretation course for bachelor’s students twice, Dzikowicz looks forward to helping nursing students better understand this important tool, and on a broader scale, shaping the way the course is taught in the future. A three-time alumnus who earned a master’s in nursing education in 2021, he is enthusiastic about incorporating his expertise into undergraduate curricula and introducing more students to career paths in nursing research and informatics. “It’s important to foster all aspects of nursing,” Dzikowicz said. “There’s a great opportunity to get nursing students involved in research, even undergraduates, to help broaden career choices and avenues.”

Dzikowicz looks forward to continuing his work at URMC and pushing new discoveries to patients. He is especially grateful for the mentors he has worked with, including Carey; Professors of Medicine Wojciech Zareba, MD, PhD, and Jean-Phillippe Couderc, PhD, MBA; and Linwei Wang, PhD, professor of computing and information sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

AWA R D S & H O N O R S

MITCHELL WHARTON Inducted as Fellow of American Academy of Nursing

Mitchell Wharton, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, CNS, ACRN, AAHIVE, an accomplished educator, researcher, and clinician, was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing’s 2023 class of fellows at the academy’s annual Health Policy Conference in October.

An associate professor of clinical nursing at the University of Rochester School of Nursing, Wharton currently serves as president of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (ANAC) and as an elected member on the AACN DEI Leadership Network Steering Committee.

“Dr. Wharton’s work empowers underrepresented racial/ethnic, sexual and gender diverse people through effective mentorship, leadership development, and community-engaged research,” said Orlando Harris, ’14 (PhD), RN, ’10 (FNP), MPH, FAAN, an associate professor of community health systems at University of California, San Francisco, who supported Wharton on their nomination and induction into the AAN. “I am proud of Dr. Wharton and excited that the Academy’s nomination panel has recognized their significant contribution to the nursing profession.”

The American Academy of Nursing (AAN) comprises nearly 3,000 nursing leaders who are experts in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia who champion health and wellness, locally and globally. The academy’s fellow selection committee reviews hundreds of applications each year and selects applicants based on their contributions to advance the public’s health.

increasing PrEP uptake for HIV prevention among Black cisgender women.

“Dr. Wharton’s significant contributions and leadership to support and mentor gender diverse and gay people of color align well with the Academy’s 2023-2024 policy priorities to achieve health equity,” said J. Craig Phillips, LLM, PhD, RN, ACRN, FAAN, FCAN, a professor at the University of Ottawa School of Nursing.

“Their expertise can amplify efforts of the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing as our profession reflects on our truths and moves forward in our ‘Journey of Racial Reconciliation’ in partnership with the American Nurses Association. From my perspective, as a White, cisgender, gay, male nurse, this work is essential for nursing in the United States to thrive in the future.”

As UR Nursing’s former associate dean for equity and inclusion, Wharton Kamila Barnes, ‘13N (DNP), FNP-C, led diversity, equity, and inclusion assistant professor at Long Island University and alumna of the efforts within the school and the University of Rochester School of University of Rochester Medical Nursing, with Mitchell Wharton, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, CNS, ACRN, AAHIVE, Center (URMC), which included leading at the American Academy of Nursing the school’s Council for Diversity, induction ceremony.

Equity, and Inclusion, co-facilitating the school’s Racial Equity Series and participating in the URMC’s Executive Committee for Diversity and Inclusion.

Wharton’s research focuses on identifying asset-based modalities of HIV prevention and health maintenance Their efforts helped raise awareness around inequities in in marginalized populations. Their work examines the the classroom, clinical setting, and greater community and intersectionalities of age, race, sexual identity and behaviors, were recently recognized by INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, and human rights. Most recently, Wharton and colleague resulting in the school receiving its seventh prestigious Chen Zhang, PhD, MPH, received a grant from the Hillman HEED Award in 2023.

Emergent Innovation program to support a project on NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 15

AWA R D S & H O N O R S

Meredith Kells Honored as Fellow of Society for Adolescent Health & Medicine

Assistant Professor Meredith Kells, PhD, RN, CPNP, has been named a fellow of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM).

Kells, a pediatric nurse practitioner and researcher whose work centers on the care of adolescents and young adults with eating disorders, has been an active member of SAHM for about a decade in both New York and the New England region. She credits SAHM and many of its current fellows for guiding her toward a career path in research.

“Going to the Society as a nurse practitioner and throughout my doctoral studies taught me an immense amount about adolescent health, introduced me to countless brilliant and supportive colleagues, and was part of the reason I wanted to pursue doctoral studies and research,” Kells said.

“Each year that I leave the SAHM’s annual meeting, I am full of awe for the meaningful work that is done to improve the health of young people, and inspired to do my part,” she added.

Before moving to Rochester, she served as a board member at large for the New England chapter. As a current member of the New York chapter, she has served on the Annual Meeting Planning Committee’s networking and career development subcommittee for the past three years.

As a new fellow, Kells joins University of Rochester Medical Center colleague Richard Kreipe, MD, FAAP, FSAHM, FAED, professor emeritus in the departments of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, who also served as one of her recommenders.

Kells considers it especially meaningful to be one of only a few nurses designated as a fellow of the SAHM. The fellowship also reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the adolescent health and medicine specialty. Among the 16 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

individuals who have earned the fellowship designation are nurses, physicians, psychologists, social workers, nutritionists, dieticians, and more.

“The absolute best part of adolescent health is the fact that we work with so many disciplines,” Kells said.

“Teamwork is an important part of adolescent health, and nurses play a vital role in that team. Nurses have a unique vision of health that is able to synthesize all of the information and bring the team together. The nursing lens is absolutely necessary in clinical care, policy work, education, and research in adolescent health.”

Nurses practice in many domains across adolescent health, including school-based health and community agencies, which means they have a uniquely broad reach into adolescents’ lives. Nurses’ work to provide guidance and support to adolescents in their own health goals can have a ripple effect across their lifespan, Kells said.

A member of the University of Rochester School of Nursing faculty since 2022, Kells brings more than a decade of experience caring for individuals with eating disorders in both ambulatory and tertiary care settings at Boston Children’s Hospital. She completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in eating disorders research at the University of Chicago as part of the NIMH-funded Midwest Regional Training Program in Eating Disorders Research. The newest SAHM fellows will be recognized during the organization’s Annual Meeting in San Diego next spring.

AWA R D S & H O N O R S

Zhang Named Top Researcher

by Association of Nurses in AIDS Care Assistant Professor Chen Zhang, PhD, MPH, is the 2023 recipient of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care’s (ANAC) top research award.

the role of structural racism in those issues, and often-overlooked intricacies and gaps in understanding.

She accepted the organization’s annual Researcher/Impact Award at the 36th Annual ANAC Conference in New Orleans on Oct. 26.

Zhang also earned a University Research Award in support of her work to develop an evidence-based guide for capturing and evaluating structural racism against Black and African American populations affected by HIV in the U.S.

“When I reflect upon the gravity of this award, I’m reminded of the collective purpose that binds us: the unwavering dedication to enhancing the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS,” Zhang said. “This recognition is not just an individual achievement, but a testament to our team and community’s collaborative spirit. It underscores the importance of our combined efforts in research and of course, our compassionate care.”

As part of the award, Zhang delivered a presentation at the conference, titled “Understand Structural Racism Against HIV-Affected Black/African Americans.” The presentation highlighted her latest work, which focuses on pressing issues of the HIV epidemic that affect the Black community,

Zhang has been involved with the ANAC since 2017. She is currently serving as a member of ANAC’s diversity, equity, and inclusion committee. In this role, she helps organize activities to improve health equity and reduce health disparities.

Earlier this year, Zhang and two other members of the committee led the launch of an online panel discussion series on sex positivity to promote sexual wellness communication in health care settings. With more than 150 participants in attendance at their first event, the team was asked to continue the series and speak on more sex positivity-related topics in the near future.

CONVOCATION CELEBRATES Student Award Winners The School of Nursing marked the first day of the new academic year at its Fall 2023 Convocation Ceremony on Sept.

5. University leaders welcomed nearly 200 new students to the School — including one of its largest and most academically accomplished accelerated bachelor’s cohorts in program history — and celebrated this year’s student award winners.

Nasim Hanif Hurd, MS, RN, received the Katharine Donohue Scholarly Practitioner Award, which is presented to a doctoral student prepared as a nurse practitioner who has undertaken research focused on improving the well-being of the population they serve. Hurd is a combined MS-PhD student pursuing the Family Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner specialty.

The Clare Dennison Prize, which recognizes outstanding proficiency in general nursing care, was awarded to bachelor’s student Ward Kukol, who returned to school after earning his first bachelor’s degree in biology and working as a patient care technician.

Sandy (Zhihong) Zhang, MS, RN, received the Jill Thayer Award, which is presented to a doctoral student whose research demonstrates a commitment to personalizing or enhancing health care encounters and access to health care. Zhang is a doctoral student who is interested in examining resilience in symptom trajectory in older adults with advanced cancer.

Master’s of Nursing Education student Erin Sabo, RN, BSN, CCRN, received the Eleanor Hall Award/Class of 1965, In Honor of Elsje Planje Higgins which recognizes an outstanding master’s student. Sabo has been a cardiac ICU nurse at Golisano Children’s Hospital for eight years.

Stacey Esposito, RN, BSN, nurse manager for vascular quality assurance at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), received the Michele Unger Memorial Award. The award recognizes a Leadership In Health Care Systems master’s student who exemplifies the life character of Michele Unger, the former director of the program and a beloved nurse leader at Strong Memorial Hospital.

Alexis Munding, NP, received the George Spencer Terry Jr. B’49 Endowed Fund in Nursing Award. This award is given to a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student who is developing innovative solutions to challenges in health care. Munding earned her master’s at the School of Nursing in 2017 and works as an adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner at URMC. Incoming PhD student Jodi Lea Brown, RN, MSN, was awarded the Loretta C. Ford Fellowship in Nursing. Named after the School’s founding dean, the Ford Fellowship recognizes a new PhD student demonstrating high potential for academic and professional success. Brown relocated to Rochester from Oklahoma to pursue her PhD this year.

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AWA R D S & H O N O R S

OTHER

Professor Margaret-Ann Carno

to Lead American Thoracic Society’s Nursing Assembly Professor of Clinical Nursing MargaretAnn Carno, PhD, MBA, MJ, CPNPAC/PC, CNE, FAAN, ATSF, has been elected as Chair of the Nursing Assembly for the American Thoracic Society (ATS), the world’s leading medical society dedicated to advancing respiratory health.

Carno first became involved in ATS while she was a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh, and has remained active in the organization for more than 20 years in various roles.

She currently serves on its ethics and conflict of interest committee.

As assembly chair, she will oversee all of the Nursing Assembly’s activities, including programming, planning, and its working and interest groups. She will also have the opportunity to serve on the ATS board of directors and leadership committee.

“It’s an honor and a privilege that also comes with great responsibility,” Carno said. “It’s important to make sure the nursing perspective is heard. The leadership is extremely supportive of the nursing assembly, and wants to listen to our voices.”

Carno is a pediatric nurse practitioner for Pediatric Sleep Medicine Services at Golisano Children’s Hospital, and one of only a few PhD-prepared nurses to be board-certified by the American Board of Sleep Medicine.

ATS comprises more than 16,000 physicians, research scientists, nurses

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and other health care professionals from around the world. Carno said she looks forward to representing nurses and the unique, holistic, and interprofessional approach they bring to pulmonology, critical care, and sleep medicine.

“I’m looking forward to engaging nurses more, looking at new opportunities for collaboration with other assemblies, supporting ideas the members wish to bring forward, and of course, helping ensure a voice and presence for nurses,” she said.

Carno will also be able to collaborate with another University of Rochester Medical Center colleague in ATS’ new cohort of leaders: M. Patricia Rivera, MD, division chief of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, was named the new president of ATS. Rivera is the first Latina woman and first UR faculty member to lead the organization.

Carno expressed gratitude for the opportunities ATS has created for her to hone new skills, grow as a leader, and make an impact on other nurses.

Among her goals as chair-elect is to serve as a mentor to junior members of the assembly looking to further their academic careers.

“When you start getting involved in a professional organization, you’re giving back to your profession and helping to bring those that are behind you along,” she said. “I have done a lot of work to reach the rank of full professor. Now, I have time to promote those who are coming after me.”

Honors & Awards Assist. Prof Recognized by American Heart Association Ann Leonhardt-Caprio, DNP, RN, ANP-BC, FAHA, was honored by the American Heart Association for her work on both the local and national levels.

The assistant professor and UR Nursing alumna received the Leadership Legacy Award.

The award recognizes LeonhardtCaprio’s exceptional service to the Eastern States Region of the American Heart Association as a longtime volunteer. She was one of only 11 volunteers to receive this award across the entire 13-state footprint of the Eastern States region.

Leonhardt-Caprio, who earned her master’s in 2006 and Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2020, has served in several local leadership roles for the American Heart Association, including as the advisory board president, 2022 Go Red for Women interim chairperson, and a member of the 2021 Rochester Heart Walk & Run executive leadership team and the Rochester Circle of Red. Instructor Earns Presentation Award at DEI Symposium Lavern Sleugh-Sharpe, MS, RN, received the Best Project in Climate and Culture award for her presentation, “The Value of Mentor Training in Preparation of Black Nurses as Healthcare Leaders,” at the UR Medicine Research in DEI and Healthcare Equity Symposium. Hosted by the Department of Medicine, the event welcomed more than 150 health professionals across a variety of roles.

AWA R D S & H O N O R S

UR Nursing Celebrates

Faculty, Staff at 2023 Award Ceremony Outstanding Staff Colleague Award — Susan Jones, administrative assistant to the accelerated bachelor’s program, in recognition of making a positive impact on co-workers and improving the School’s processes, workflows, work environment, and communication.

Outstanding Staff Member of the Year Award — Karen Kirkey, BA, AAS, clinical site and preceptor administrator, in recognition of consistent teamwork, excellence, and positivity.

Most Promising New Investigator of the Year —Caitlin Dreisbach, PhD, RN, assistant professor. Last summer, Dreisbach, earned support from the National Institute of Nursing Research for a study aiming to develop a novel approach to more accurately estimating fetal birth weight through the use of data science.

Professional Advancement Award — Susan Blaakman, PhD, RN, PMHNP-BC, FNAP, FAAN, in recognition of her local and national activities as a highly sought-out nurse practitioner, researcher and educator. In 2022, she joined the newest cohort of Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing. Blaakman is a professor of clinical nursing and director of the Family Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner master’s program.

Outstanding Scholarly Practitioner Award — Lisa Norsen, PhD, RN, ACNP, chief wellness officer of UR Medicine Employee Wellness, in recognition of her work to develop community partnerships and expand access to employee wellness programs throughout the region. Since taking on her leadership role in 2016, Norsen has been instrumental in creating new individual and group programs to address stress, healthy weight, obesity, depression, and other health issues.

The Dean’s Appreciation Award was presented to the following individuals in recognition of their leadership in the School of Nursing’s reaccreditation process and site visit from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. From left: Katie Helbig, administrative assistant for educational leadership, Margaret Carno, PhD, MBA, MJ, RN, CPNP, D, ABSM, FNAP, FAAN, professor of clinical nursing, Jennifer Taranto, MBA, education systems administrator, Lisa Brophy, EdD, RN, MSBA, CNE, assistant dean for education, Lydia Rotondo, DNP, RN, CNS, FNAP, associate dean for education and student affairs. (Not pictured: April Haberyan, PhD, RN, CNE, associate professor of clinical nursing.)

Mary Dombeck Diversity Enhancement Faculty and Staff Awards — Chen Zhang, PhD, MPH, assistant professor, and Margaret Lubel, payroll/personnel assistant, for their commitment to advance diversity, equity and inclusion at the School.

Drs. Jeremy A. Klainer and Pamela York Klainer Endowed Dean’s Discretionary Award in Nursing Fund provides financial support in furtherance of an idea that corresponds to the School’s strategic priorities. This year’s Klainer Fund went to: Chen Zhang, PhD, MPH; and Tara Serwetnyk, EdD, RN, NPD-BC, associate professor of clinical nursing.

Josephine Craytor Nursing Faculty Awards recognize outstanding nurse educators and provide an annual monetary award to further the professional development and research efforts of exceptional nursing faculty. This year’s Craytor awards went to: April Haberyan, PhD, MS, RN, CNE; Meghan UnderhillBlazey, PhD, APRN, AOCNS, FAAN; and Lauren Lee, MS, RN.

Outstanding Faculty Colleague Award — Jennifer Truax, MS, RNC-OB, C-EFM, instructor of clinical nursing, in recognition of her work to increase engaging, active learning strategies in the classroom.

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F E AT U R E

‘It was meant to be:’

Through nursing, Thaw Htoo sees a way to support Rochester refugees Thaw Htoo ’23N felt emotional when he visited the Children’s School of Rochester No. 15 early in the fall semester for the community health rotation of his clinical experience.

By a total coincidence, he’d been placed at his own elementary school. It holds a special place in his heart: Htoo came to the Children’s School in 2008 as a refugee, having spent the first 11 years of his life at a camp on the border of Myanmar and Thailand.

After leaving Myanmar with his parents for an unknown future, Htoo recalled the Children’s School feeling like a safe haven.

The school, a longtime partner of the University of Rochester School of Nursing, is known for its robust refugee community and English-language learning support. Its student population represents nearly 40 countries and languages.

A now-27-year-old Htoo and two of his colleagues from the accelerated bachelor’s program, Nate Schacher and Delilah Quinones, spent one Wednesday morning delivering a presentation on healthy communication for sixth-graders, leading activities such as “emotion charades” and a question game with a multi-color beach ball focused on listening skills.

understand American health care systems. Eventually, the pair also noticed a need to expand the health education curriculum for students, and Patel pitched a program in which nursing students could fill the gap by teaching kids about topics such as hygiene, nutrition, and disease prevention.

Spending time in the community, in settings such as schools, senior living facilities, and even prisons, helps nursing students see the day-to-day lives of the people they’ll soon be caring for, Patel said. Experiences like that of Htoo and his colleagues at the Children’s School exemplify her vision for community health clinicals brought to life.

It was a perfect opportunity to give back to the community that once helped him find a sense of belonging in a brand new country.

“My hope was that by doing this, students could work with people directly where they are,” Patel said. “I’ve always hoped that it would be a real-life experience, where students have an opportunity to see how social determinants of health impact patients’ lives.”

“It was really hard, because I remember when I first came to the United States, I did not know any English, but I was able to learn and catch up with the English there,” he recalled. “It was through hard work, dedication, and support that I got through the program.”

Visits from the School of Nursing offer a window into what opportunities might be available to Children’s School students in the future, said Principal Jay Piper.

Nursing students have been working with the Children’s School as part of their community health clinical experiences since 2010. The relationship started when Assistant Professor Leann Patel, MSN, RN, and sixth-grade teacher Telesta Rice collaborated to create a program that helps refugee parents 20 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

“The nursing students are the vision we want for our students,” he said.

Piper has vivid memories of Htoo as a student. He even held onto a copy of Htoo’s 2011 class photo to show him when he visited.

Delilah Quinones ‘23N, Dean Lisa Kitko, Nate Schacher ‘23N, Assistant Professor Leann Patel, and Thaw Htoo ‘23N visit the Children’s School of Rochester.

A fast learner, Htoo grasped the English language quickly, and wasted no time utilizing his new language skills to help others. He translated for parents and other new students from Myanmar’s Karen community, volunteered to help younger students onto their buses at dismissal, and became one of the school’s “fuss busters” — an older student who helps the younger ones work through problems and conflicts.

“He was a real leader who would embrace the younger kids and take them under his wing,” Piper said. “Looking back now, it makes sense to me that he would take the path of nursing.

He’s so nurturing. It’s a great honor to see him follow that path. It was meant to be.”

Htoo would agree — but it took a while for him to realize nursing was his calling.

“I had always wanted to work in the health field, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” said Htoo, who earned his first bachelor’s degree in biology from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

“I wanted to go to nursing school to see what more I could do,” he said. “We have a lot of refugee communities, and I really want to go back and hopefully work with members of those communities.”

The City of Rochester has been helping refugees resettle since the 1980s. In the past two decades, the city has welcomed more than 8,000 refugees, including almost 1,500 from Htoo’s home country.

Leading by his gentle, humble example, Htoo wants to show what is possible for those who resettle in Rochester.

“Even though you might not know the language, or you’re introduced to a new culture, once you are adapted to the culture, the beliefs, and everyday living, you’ll be able to learn so many new things,” he said. “If you put in the hard work, you’ll be able to move forward.”

He worked in labs and pharmacies, and spent the past three years working as a hair transplant technician at the nearby Quatela Center for Plastic Surgery. There, Htoo realized that nursing would offer him a way to make a meaningful impact.

“I wanted to do more than what I was doing at the time,” he recalled. “I wanted to do the injections.”

As he prepares to start his nursing career, Htoo is considering nephrology or pediatric nursing. His overall goal, however, is to pay it forward.

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F E AT U R E

Helping Women Move Forward Susan Groth, who was recently promoted to full professor, reflects on her work to advance women’s health, and what’s next.

As she celebrates 30 years as part of the University of Rochester School of Nursing community, Susan Groth, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAANP, was promoted from associate professor to the rank of full professor in Summer 2023.

Groth is an accomplished nurse scientist and women’s health nurse practitioner whose research focuses on the study of obesity and the behavioral, genetic, and environmental factors that contribute to this complex disease. Specifically, Groth focuses on weight gain among pregnant women and the long-term effects of that weight on both mothers and their children.

Her research has been funded by multiple organizations including the National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, as well as the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrics and Neonatal Nursing, and the UR School of Nursing. Her research has included prospective longitudinal studies, qualitative studies, and intervention trials.

“To be recognized at this level in not only the research arena, but in scholarship, teaching and practice, is special to me,” said Groth, who earned her master’s (1993) and PhD (2004) at the School of Nursing and began her academic career here as a clinical instructor.

How did you develop an interest in your specialty area?

My role as a women’s health NP influenced my thinking and informed my research from the very beginning. My research focus grew out of my clinical practice, which I maintained until 2012.

In particular, I was influenced by my practice at St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center, which serves underinsured and uninsured individuals. At this practice site, I created a gynecological practice, and what I especially noticed is that when I weighed women at the time of a health care 22 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

visit, they would say, “I gained all my weight when I had my babies, and I never lost it.” I heard that over and over, and as a result, my research focus became gestational weight gain because women often experience excessive weight gain during pregnancy and this can contribute to long-term detrimental health effects.

Early in my research career, I concentrated on African-American women specifically, seeking to understand their views of weight gain, physical activity, and diet during pregnancy. Later, I changed direction slightly to a broader population as I sought to examine more closely the cardiometabolic risk development during and after pregnancy that happens in conjunction with gestation weight gain and retention. We are looking to understand if the weight gained during pregnancy is the driving factor that affects their longer-term health, or if there are other factors associated with pregnancy that influence longer-term health.

What has been one of your most rewarding research opportunities?

Dr. Harriet Kitzman, former dean of research, was instrumental in the development, design, and testing of a nurse home visitation program that became the basis for the Nurse Family Partnership, titled the “New Mother’s Study,” conducted in Memphis, Tennessee, that utilizes home visits by nurses to socially disadvantaged women during pregnancy and for the first two years of a child’s life.

That randomized controlled trial was conducted in the early 1990s. I used data from the early years for my dissertation work, looking at the gestational weight gain of African-American adolescent mothers.

The New Mother’s Study has had multiple data collection iterations and we are now collecting data at 30 years post intervention from mothers and their children. Dr. Kitzman

passed away in March 2020, and shortly after her death we received notice of funding. Prior to her death she laid the groundwork so that I was prepared to serve as principal investigator for the University of Rochester with this iteration of the study. I consider it a privilege and incredible opportunity to continue the amazing work of Dr. Kitzman and this team as we learn more about how a nurse intervention with disadvantaged women at the vulnerable time of childbearing can alter the life-course of both the mother and her offspring. hat’s something you’d like readers to know about the W nurse scientist role?

Nursing takes a holistic approach to life and health. I believe strongly in prevention, rather than solving a problem after the fact. I started as a clinician first, and as a nurse scientist, I have had incredible opportunities to apply my research knowledge. My goal is to conduct research that can be applied back into clinical practice to improve how we provide care to our patients.

What makes your work meaningful to you?

From my perspective, if we don’t understand what’s happening physiologically, we are unable to determine how to intervene and improve the health of individuals. Research is a means to learn and discover what we don’t know, and if whatever we learn can be used to improve the health of women across the lifespan, that is what is important to me. hat has it been like to support emerging researchers’ W work as an advisor and mentor?

It is very rewarding to help someone move their research and thinking forward; to help them shape their conceptualization of a problem they’re trying to understand into something that yields a solid research project. I enjoy helping PhD students and postdoctoral associates take what they’ve done or learned, and apply it in a way that contributes to our knowledge and can be used to improve health.

INSIDER ADVICE

For Emerging Nurse Scientists Focus on something you like and that is important to you. It has to be scientifically realistic and feasible, but you have to like it and care about it enough to stick with it.

You’re going to hit failures and successes — sometimes more failures, sometimes more successes— but we can learn and grow from both.

Accept serendipitous opportunities that come — the benefits may be amazing.

Be open to taking advantage of all opportunities yet consider carefully.

It is also very exciting to support and mentor junior faculty as they develop their research — formulating their ideas and building their scholarship and research trajectories as they seek to achieve their own career goals.

Mentoring and bringing other people forward at this point in my career is one of the most rewarding and most important roles that I have.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Support from others is a major contributor to anyone’s success. I didn’t get to where I am on my own. It’s through the mentoring I received, the sharing of ideas, the support of others — which includes staff, team members, collaborators, other faculty, as well as family and friends — that this achievement is possible.

NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 23

COVER STORY

Bright Minds.

Bold Solutions.

A snapshot of nursing science at the University of Rochester.

24 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

While many disciplines in health care research follow a ‘bench to bedside’ approach, nursing scientists chart a different path.

Their ideas are often sparked on the front lines, where holistic observations about patients’ experiences and quality of life can be made.

with both emerging and veteran scientists connecting with one another and across campuses to create solutions that improve the health of local and global communities.

At the University of Rochester Medical Center, a hub of rich, research-focused activity, these nursing scientists are leveraging their front-line insights to not only shape but also rapidly advance health care policies and practices. This unique setting enables them to conduct rigorous studies and implement solutions that are more responsive to the real needs of patients.

RECENTLY FUNDED PROJECTS

“Rochester has always been a terrific place to do health care research,” said Associate Dean for Research Sally Norton, PhD, RN, FNAP, FPCN, FAAN. “Being part and parcel of an academic center makes connections and collaborations among clinicians and researchers easy, and provides an excellent learning environment for students and postdocs.”

Currently, School of Nursing scientists are addressing current and emergent issues in five key areas of research: cardiovascular care, maternal and child health, HIV and sexual health, oncology, and aging.

Just as nurses are adept at managing interdisciplinary care teams at the bedside, the work of nurses in health research is also a collaborative process that can transcend schools, disciplines, and professions.

“We strive to create an environment that fosters team science and helps it flourish,” Norton said.

Following in the footsteps of nursing pioneers who came before them, researchers at UR Nursing are playing a vital role in addressing health disparities, considering populations who haven’t traditionally been included in their areas of research, and focusing on issues that often get overlooked.

This mission has been reflected throughout the School of Nursing’s history. Harriet Kitzman, PhD, RN, FAAN, for example, noticed inequities firsthand as a pediatric nurse making home visits to young, socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers and children. The former senior associate dean of research’s experiences and passion inspired her body of work in the development, design, and testing of a nurse-home visitation program that became the basis for the Nurse-Family Partnership. The legacy of UR Nursing’s trailblazing researchers carries on today, through a continued emphasis on health equity.

“Our researchers are making sure that those who haven’t benefited from health care advances in the past are brought into health care advances of the future,” Norton said.

Looking ahead to the future, the School seeks to build on its progress and further strengthen its research mission.

The University’s 2030 Strategic Plan, Boundless Possibility, features research excellence as one of its most prominent goals. The School of Nursing’s research mission will be a key part of expanding the University’s overall research ecosystem,

Research led by Gamji Rabiu Abu-Ba’are, PhD, MA, earned more than $2 million in support from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) and the NIH Fogarty International Center. The project focuses on improving HIV testing and medication uptake and reducing stigma among young sexual minority men in Ghana.

Caitlin Dreisbach, PhD, RN, is leading a NINR-funded study that aims to develop a novel approach to more accurately estimating fetal birth weight, utilizing data science. Professor Susan Groth, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAANP, is also a co-investigator.

A study by Dillon Dzikowicz, PhD, RN, PCCN, and undergraduate data science major Carol Li that will explore connections between postpartum depression and heart rate during pregnancy received a grant from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Dreisbach has also lent her expertise to the project.

Lauren Ghazal, PhD, FNP-BC, is a co-principal investigator on a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute-funded project focused on how to better engage the LGBTQ+ community and people of color in cancer research.

Natalie Leblanc, PhD, MPH, RN, BSN, received awards from Gilead Sciences, Inc. for a multi-study on the optimization and uptake of HIV biomedical interventions among Black and Latine women in New York and Florida.

Meghan Underhill-Blazey, PhD, APRN, FAAN, is part of a National Cancer Institute-funded project to develop technology that optimizes genetic testing counseling and makes it more accessible to populations who are traditionally underserved in genetics, including non-English speakers and people living in rural areas.

By the NUMBERS

6.4

$

MILLION

No.

31

total research grants and contracts for fiscal year 2022-23. ranked among research-intensive in nursing schools in NIH funding in 2022, in the top third in the U.S. NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 25

H E A R T H E A LT H

AI Holds Answers

to Reducing First Responder Fatalities Firefighters risk their lives regularly, selflessly braving smoke and flames to save others. But neither fires nor smoke inhalation are the leading cause of firefighter fatalities.

There’s an often-overlooked yet critical risk, that accounts for nearly half of deaths among firefighters: cardiac events.

Sudden cardiac events have taken the lives of more than 40 percent of U.S. firefighters over the past decade. An interdisciplinary team of researchers, including two University of Rochester School of Nursing scientists, is at the forefront of helping first-responders change the narrative. Utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), they’re hoping to help firefighters catch signs of cardiac events and seek medical attention before it’s too late.

A collection of data from Professor of Nursing Mary G. Carey, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, made the study possible.

She had already spent years studying cardiovascular health among firefighters in Rochester and Buffalo. About a decade ago, Carey and colleagues from the University at Buffalo collected 24 hours of electrocardiogram (ECG) data from 112 firefighters, who had electrodes strapped to their chests.

The ECG data encompassed 16-hour, on-duty shifts and eight-hour, off-duty shifts, during which the firefighters engaged in their daily activities, exercising, eating, resting, and sleeping.

This data paved the way for co-authors from the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and Google to develop a machine-learning model called “H2M” — short for heart health monitoring — that can accurately identify abnormal cardiac rhythms in firefighters. The team published their findings in a Summer 2023 issue of Fire Safety Journal.

“The firefighter data we collected is so unique,” said Assistant Professor Dillon Dzikowicz, PhD, RN, PCCN, a co-author of 26 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

Researchers are using machine learning to help firefighters catch early signs of heart health issues.

the study. “Having robust and real-world data is essential to move our work forward and protect firefighters.”

The H2M model can provide firefighters with immediate feedback on the status of their heart health to enhance situational awareness and safety. This can help reduce firefighters’ injuries and deaths caused by sudden cardiac events.

In the future, researchers hope to incorporate the model into portable heart-monitoring devices — picture a Fitbit, Apple Watch, or even a “smart” shirt with a sensor for ECG monitoring — and to extend its reach beyond firefighters.

“This technology can save lives,” NIST researcher Andy Tam said in a news story about the study. “It could benefit not only firefighters but other first responders and additional populations in the general public.”

The model has potential for far-reaching impacts, but it’s especially important at a local level, Dzikowicz said. New York has the highest rate of firefighter deaths, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, adding a greater sense of urgency for UR Nursing’s cardiovascular nurse scientists and their collaborators to move new discoveries forward.

They consider this work a sign of appreciation and a “thank you,” from one team of frontline workers to another.

“To me, it’s about helping the unsung heroes who we rely on every day in our community,” Dzikowicz said.

CANCER RESEARCH

Closing a Gap

in Cancer Genetic Testing As an oncology nurse practitioner at the Wilmot Cancer Institute, Meghan Underhill-Blazey, PhD, APRN, FAAN, is passionate about the opportunity to facilitate genetic tests for individuals and families living with cancer.

These tests can check dozens of genes for several types of cancer, offering clarity for patients and families. A patient who has been diagnosed can find out whether they carry a genetic variant that could influence their treatment, or learn about the risk of recurrence or other cancers in the future. This information can also influence family members’ decisions to get screened, or life changes they might make to reduce their risks or prevent cancer.

“I get to meet generations of families, children, and siblings, and we get to look at the big picture and discuss the things we can do to change the family narrative,” she said.

However, less than half of people with cancer who are eligible for cancer genetic testing actually get tested. It’s not because they don’t want to.

“I have met very few people with cancer who have a family and are not interested in learning things that might help their loved one avoid the same experience,” said Underhill-Blazey.

Barriers such as access to care, time, lack of awareness, and whether a provider makes a referral often stand in the way.

With support from the National Cancer Institute, Underhill-Blazey and colleagues from the University of Southern California, Northeastern, Harvard, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute are developing technology that optimizes genetic testing counseling and makes it more accessible.

Titled the Patient-Facing Educational and Relational Agent (PERLA), the digital program will provide automated pre-test education on cancer genetics in both English and Spanish. In the form of an animated character that simulates a conversation between a patient and provider, the relational agent can be personalized for different types of cancer and stages, and culturally tailored.

An animation shows the Patient-Facing Educational and Relational Agent (PERLA) providing counseling on cancer genetics in Spanish.

PERLA will be especially important for patient populations that already face disparities in health care access and are traditionally underserved in genetics, such as non-English speakers and those who live in rural communities.

Underhill-Blazey is also hopeful that PERLA can provide a sense of relief to patients who are likely overwhelmed by appointments and medical bills, and inundated with other information about their diagnosis.

“Using technology like this can allow people the space and time to better understand the content that provides them the information that they need for an informed health decision,” she said. “It allows them to revisit it, and to do it in a time when they are not so overburdened. A family member could watch with them too.”

The tool also helps address a national shortage of genetics professionals, which leads to longer wait times for patients.

Researchers envision PERLA helping health care systems meet the growing demand for genetic counseling, and helping patients get testing and results in a timelier manner.

As Underhill-Blazey and fellow cancer genetics experts work toward a future where testing and counseling are easier to access, nurses and nurse scientists will be a key part of supporting their efforts, she said.

“Nurses are a huge, important part of cancer care,” she said.

“Other providers may see the patient in the clinic to establish a treatment plan, but NPs, advanced practice professionals, and RNs carry out those plans.”

Nurses are present for every phase of cancer care, putting them in the perfect position to implement meaningful interventions.

“It’s important to have nurse navigators and nurses at the frontline who understand the benefits of genetic information to the patient and the family. They can take on a leadership role in ensuring that cancer genetics care is provided to patients.”

NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 27

AGING

UR Nursing Study Offers Rare Look at Home Antipsychotic Use

Among People with Dementia

Antipsychotic use is a major safety concern among older adults in home health care, especially for those with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. A new study from the University of Rochester Medical Center finds that antipsychotic medications are potentially over-prescribed and used inappropriately among home health care patients to address behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.

When researchers examined information on more than 6,000 adults aged 65 years and older who were receiving care from a home health care agency across the state of New York in 2019, they found that patients with Alzheimer’s and related dementias were more than twice as likely to use antipsychotic drugs than patients without those conditions.

The side effects of antipsychotics can be harmful: antipsychotic use is linked to less improvement in daily activities, and a higher risk of heart attacks and death. Most antipsychotic medications that were included in the study are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat dementia, but the condition is one of the most common off-label uses for those drugs.

“Many times, when those behavioral and psychological symptoms occur, there seems to be an urgency among family members and providers to offer a quick fix,” said Assistant Professor of Nursing Jinjiao Wang, PhD, RN, lead author of the study. “We’re looking at a medication that is prescribed with good intentions, but very often is not followed up on and is associated with a higher risk of adverse outcomes.”

Past research and policy efforts focused on antipsychotic use have primarily focused on nursing homes, yet little is known about antipsychotic use by older adults at home in the community setting. However, a majority of people with dementia live in the community, especially during transitions 28 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

Using statewide data collected by home health care nurses, researchers found that antipsychotics may be overprescribed.

between care settings, such as hospital-to-home, which is the focus of this study. The study utilizes data collected by home health care nurses, who also play an important role in addressing the issue, Wang said. Nurses have the advantage of seeing everything in a patient’s home and noticing the small details.

“Being a home health care nurse allows you to have a deeper perspective and see a complete picture of what’s going on in a patient’s home,” Wang said. “We’re caring for a person who lives in his or her own environment, and we need to be holistic about how we assess and support the patient.”

“That’s exactly what nurses advocate for: the holistic approach to taking care of a human during the most vulnerable times of their lives,” she added.

Wang hopes to empower individuals with dementias to ask questions and take an active role in their own care.

“Don’t ever feel shy about asking questions. If you’ve been taking a medication for 20 years, and you’re not sure if it does anything to you, ask about it,” Wang said. “Sometimes, patients don’t want to ask too many questions, but your providers are there to support you.”

The study’s findings also emphasize the importance of caregiver education, strengthened relationships between home health care agencies and pharmacists, and advocating for access to non-pharmacological and behavioral interventions, such as music therapy, to improve symptom management.

“Dementia can make it harder for someone to manage many aspects of their life, but when you give people the right support, they can still have a good quality of life,” Wang said.

M AT E R N A L H E A LT H

30 Years Later, New Mothers Study Sparks New Discoveries

It’s been over 30 years since Harriet Kitzman, PhD, RN, FAAN, former senior associate dean of research, first studied the impact of nurse visits on new moms and their children.

The New Mothers Study in Memphis, Tennessee, was a randomized controlled trial that began in 1990. Now, as researchers collect data once again, the longitudinal study continues to spark new discoveries and offer insights into how this nurse intervention continues to affect women and their children who participated in the original trial.

A collaborative effort with developmental psychologist David Olds, PhD, the Memphis trial was one of three seminal studies that provided the evidence base for the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP), which provides prenatal and infant home visits to low-income mothers expecting a first child. It has been implemented and disseminated nationally and globally and is now a federally funded initiative that serves nearly 40,000 families.

As a pediatric nurse who engaged in home visits in the 1960s, Kitzman saw the impact of home visits firsthand, inspiring her to connect with Olds, who had implemented a randomized controlled trial using nurse visits with first time mothers in rural Chemung County, New York in the late 1970s. Olds left the University in 1994, but Kitzman continued to collaborate with him, and maintained the infrastructure at the School of Nursing to continue to center study activities at the school.

Evelyn Collins, a social worker who has served as the project coordinator since the inception of the study, follows hundreds of Memphis mothers and their first-born children who participated in the New Mothers Study, along with her team.

Collins’ remarkable relationship-building skills and connection to the community are central to the study’s high retention rate among families who have been participating since 1990.

“This is my calling,” Collins said, reflecting on more than 30 years as part of the ongoing trial.

“Nurses are like second moms to the participants,” she added.

“People want to get in touch with them, and nurses wonder about how participants are doing. The nurses offer women help navigating human services, show them how to ride the bus, how

A longitudinal New Mothers Study has highlighted how home visits by nurses make a positive impact on at-risk families. to make toys, how to be good parents, and overall, good people.”

Collins and her colleagues from the School of Nursing aren’t done yet. For the past three years, they have been collecting data in a 30-year follow-up with the families who were enrolled in the New Mothers Study to assess if the original intervention has influenced the health and well-being of the mothers and their firstborn children, given that the intervention occurred during a critical stage of life: pregnancy and early childhood.

Now in the fourth and final year of collection, Professor Susan Groth, PhD, WHNP-BC, FAANP, and Assistant Professors Elizabeth Anson, PhD, and Joyce Smith, PhD, ANP, are preparing to work with colleagues in Colorado to analyze this new data.

Leading up to this 30-year milestone, however, the study has already offered a wealth of insights on maternal and child health.

“The legacy of Harriet Kitzman’s work is broad,” Groth said.

“The data is rich and beautiful, and it continues to lend itself to answering new research questions raised by faculty and students.”

Data from the New Mothers Study has played a crucial role in the work of several researchers, including both Groth and Anson: Groth studied gestational weight gain and its long-term effects, and Anson assessed physical aggression among children and its connection to violence later in life. The continued contributions of these data to new discoveries would not surprise Kitzman if she were here today.

“The investment that society can make at this critical stage in a woman’s life pays off over the long run in many ways,” she once said in an interview about the New Mothers Study more than 20 years ago.

Evidence shows that nurse home visits lead to healthier pregnancies, improve the health and development of children, and help at-risk families improve their self-sufficiency. For Groth, the expansion of the New Mothers Study, along with two other seminal trials Kitzman was engaged in, to the establishment of the Nurse Family Partnership is an incredible testimony to what makes nurses’ roles unique, both in patient care and research.

“Nurses take a holistic approach to health and research; we don’t compartmentalize,” Groth said. “We assess a person’s environment, family, and relationships in practice, and in research we do the same thing: we consider the biological and behavioral cues we’re taught to pick up on and integrate them into everything we do.”

NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 29

S E X U A L H E A LT H & H I V

Creating Pathways

to HIV Prevention Modern-day medicine can reduce the risk of getting HIV through sex by 99 percent. But not everyone who can benefit from Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) medication and other important HIV prevention services is able to access them.

Barriers such as stigma, location, experiences with providers, and other factors often stand in the way.

Researchers at the School of Nursing are working to address these inequities among communities that are disproportionately affected by HIV, both at home and abroad.

“In my years of public health, nursing, and research experience, I know that the mere existence of biomedical interventions is not enough for uptake, and pathologizing people and their behaviors cultivates stigma, which remains a barrier to ending the epidemic,” said Assistant Professor and Harriet J. Kitzman Endowed Fellow in Health Disparities Natalie Leblanc, PhD, MPH, RN, BSN. “How HIV biomedical interventions are conceptualized, understood, and integrated into the lives of people disproportionately susceptible to or living with HIV, requires investigation in order to ensure strategies are salient.”

She recently received an award from Gilead Sciences for a pair of studies that seek to better understand the optimization and uptake of HIV biomedical interventions among Black, Hispanic and Latine women, who are least likely to benefit from evidence-based interventions due to historical, social, and systemic racism, stigma, and policies that aren’t entirely supportive of health promotion for diverse populations.

Similar factors have also impacted individuals’ ability to access HIV and sexual health services abroad. Recent work by Assistant Professor Gamji Rabiu Abu-Ba’are, PhD, MA, and the Behavioral, Global & Sexual Health Lab has focused on young sexual minority men in Ghana, one of Africa’s most rapidly urbanizing nations.

Recent work from the Interdisciplinary Sexual Health & HIV Research group has focused on optimizing the uptake of HIV biomedical interventions among groups who have been least likely to benefit from them.

“In Ghana, men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected by HIV,” Abu-Ba’are said. “For those who are living in slums, social and economic barriers can intertwine with intersectional stigma to exacerbate the risk of HIV infection and discourage testing.”

“We hope that by training young sexual minority men in slums, we can improve their expertise around HIV, so they know what the risk behaviors are, and they will be able to assess themselves and know what options for prevention are best for them.”

Lafiya is an adaptation of Many Men, Many Voices (3MV), a culturally-adapted behavioral intervention that originated at the University of Rochester in 1997, to promote HIV and STI prevention among Black men who have sex with men. The study will also focus on ways to leverage assets such as anti-stigma training for nurses to reduce the stigma men experience when they visit health care facilities.

Nurses have an important role in optimizing HIV care. Past research from the School of Nursing has found that nurse practitioners are more likely to prescribe PrEP than physicians, making NPs and other non-physician providers key partners in improving access to care for diverse populations.

With this knowledge in mind, Assistant Professor Chen Zhang, PhD, MPH, and Associate Professor Mitchell Wharton, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, CNS, ACRN, AAHIVE, are currently developing an intervention to increase PrEP use among Black women that combines artificial intelligence (AI) with support from NPs.

The team earned a grant from the NIH Fogarty International Center to support their development and implementation of a group intervention program called “Lafiya” (“wellness” in the West African Hausa language).

AI can help deliver culturally-tailored health communication and accurate responses to women who might otherwise feel reluctant to discuss PrEP with their providers, while having NPs on hand to support a patient as they navigate the platform humanizes the process and allows for more intimate conversations. There aren’t many other studies that consider how nurses’ work complements AI-facilitated health care yet.

Researchers will explore its potential to reduce stigma and discrimination, and to increase HIV self-testing and PrEP uptake among young men in Ghana. The program has already shown early efficacy in boosting HIV testing.

“The role of nurses has been ignored in many studies, but research shows that nurses have a very special role in the patient-provider relationship, and a willingness to help patients engage with PrEP,” Zhang said.

30 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

ALUMNI E VENT

Boundless festivities at Meliora Weekend 2023

Alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends gathered at the School of Nursing during Meliora Weekend, the University of Rochester’s annual fall event combining reunions, alumni programs, and various activities. Weekend highlights included the school’s Class of 1973’s 50th Reunion, tours of the expanded Helen Wood Hall and Loretta C. Ford Education Wing; dean’s lunch and student poster session.

Lisa Kitko, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, the sixth dean of the School of Nursing, also delivered the annual Clare Dennison lecture, “Caring Across Generations: Aging Well with Family Support,” where she discussed her research and the importance of the caregiver role in an aging population.

At Meliora Weekend, School of Nursing alumni and friends recalled memories in familiar places, saw how the campus has changed, and made connections with former classmates, current students, faculty, and staff.

Meredith Kells, PhD, RN, CPNP, and Reginald Anthony ’93 chat during the Dean’s lunch and poster session as part of Meliora Weekend events.

Susan Ciurzynski ’97N (MS),’11N (PhD), RN, NPD-BC, VCE, FNAP, professor of clinical nursing and director of clinical scholarship, joined by Alexis Munding ’11S (MS),’17N (MS), ’25N (DNP), AGPCNP-BC, MSBA, and Lauren (Wittman) Pierson ’22N (MS), RN, BSN, CCRN-CMC, TCRN, who presented research findings at the student poster session.

Carol Watrous Twitchell ’58N (left) joined School of Nursing faculty member and graduate Craig Sellers ’78N, ’88N (MS), ’09 (PhD), ’10N (PMC) together on a memorable tour of the School of Nursing expansion during Meliora Weekend festivities. The two reminisced over the growth of the school since their times and, despite celebrating their reunions 20 years apart, found many opportunities for laughter and joy while walking campus together.

Nursing alumni (from left) Jean Booker Roberts ’58N; Sonja Poe ’58N, ’61W; Margaret Trott ’58N; and Jacqueline Smith ’58N reconnected at Meliora Weekend.

Class of 1973 nursing alumni (from left) Martha Ball Pignataro ’73N, Elizabeth O’Brien ’73N, Sue Griffey ’73N, and Michelle Young-Stevenson ’73N celebrated their 50th reunion.

NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 31

ALUMNI PROFILE

DIVERSE PATHS, SHARED MISSION:

UR Nursing Grads Tackle Mental Health

Challenges Head-On Evelyn Santos is breaking barriers as a fierce advocate for underserved populations.

Nurses have always been at the forefront of addressing health disparities, and that’s a part of the role that Evelyn C. Santos ’23N (MS), BSN, RN, PMHN-BC, has never shied away from.

“What stood out to me as I explored opportunities for my master’s degree was the UR School of Nursing’s mission to be an inclusive environment,” Santos recalled. “The School of Nursing makes diversity, equity and inclusion efforts a priority.

As a minority student, this was important to me.”

Her LHCS capstone project focused on optimizing depression screenings among the local Latino community.

When she joined the School of Nursing’s Leadership in Health Care Systems (LHCS) master’s program, she had already built a reputation at the University of Rochester Medical Center as a fierce advocate for underserved populations.

“I completed a needs assessment through a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens and implemented the utilization of iPads at my working site to capture depression screens electronically in Spanish,” she explained. “This project provided an opportunity to improve depression screening rates among our Latino patient population, and also helped improve our collaborative decision-making strategies within the program I support.”

Her years of experience in psychiatric and mental health nursing have inspired her work. Santos is the former lead nurse of UR Medicine’s Lazos Fuertes Clinic, Upstate New York’s only bilingual outpatient mental health clinic. It’s a role that she developed and implemented herself, leveraging the ability of nurses to build strong ties with the communities they serve.

Santos’ graduate capstone is the latest highlight of a career defined by breaking barriers for this growing population. In addition to her role at the Lazos Fuertes Clinic, she served as a consultant to help expand UR Medicine’s Spanish-language neurology clinic, and created a guide dedicated to helping English-speaking nurses overcome language barriers that often interfere with care.

“Working with the Latino community was personally important to me. I knew my work made a significant impact on patient outcomes,” Santos said. “Research shows that to improve treatment outcomes, there is a need for increasing diversity in health care, which includes the psychiatric workforce.”

“Evelyn is a very hard worker who consistently embraces the importance of communicating in an inclusive manner, showing respect to her peers and patients during each interaction,” said Linda Migliore, MS, RN, NPD-BC, CNL, specialty director for the LHCS program.

Rochester’s Latino population has more than tripled since the 1980s, according to the Ibero-American Action League.

Nationally, Hispanic and Latino communities often face unique barriers to mental health care, such as a lack of cultural competence among providers, immigration status, stigma, or language barriers.

During her time at the School of Nursing, Santos was honored with the Paul J. Burgett Nursing Student Life Award, which recognizes a graduating student who enriches the School’s environment and serves as a positive catalyst for change.

“The most rewarding part of the role is being an advocate for cultural awareness and providing equitable health care services,” she added.

She knew UR Nursing was just the right place to advance her work as an advocate for health equity.

32 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

Just a few months after finishing the LHCS degree, Santos accepted a promotion within the Department of Psychiatry to a new role as a quality and education nurse. She looks forward to utilizing her nurse educator role to bring diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, trauma-informed care, and the impact of adverse childhood events (ACEs) to the forefront of the department’s educational curriculum.

Photographer: Christopher Cardwell

Natalie Lewis’s journey in mental health nursing leads her back to her childhood community.

Natalie Lewis ‘22N spends most of her week either at school or her two jobs as a nurse and emergency response social worker.

Since finishing her bachelor’s in 2022, Lewis has been passionate about contributing to her community through psychiatric and mental health nursing. It’s her way of staying connected to her city. She has worked as a nurse at the Monroe County Children’s Detention Center, and as a per-diem member of Rochester’s Person In Crisis team, accompanying police on mental health calls.

Recently, she returned to the University of Rochester Medical Center as part of the Pediatric Behavioral Health & Wellness team.

That has also been one of the most rewarding parts of her work as a nurse so far, at both the Children’s Center and the hospital.

“I’m able to make an impact on the youth and have conversations with them about their current situation and how they can make changes in the future,” she said.

Eager to widen her scope of practice as a nurse, Lewis knew UR Nursing would be the right place to pursue her master’s degree. She had already felt a strong sense of belonging during her time as an accelerated bachelor’s student.

“I enjoy the community within the school,” Lewis said. “I have developed friendships in nursing school that I feel I will have for a lifetime. My friends and I always say, ‘we are related by nursing school.’”

Support from faculty and the Center for Academic and Professional Success also contributed to Lewis’ decision to return to UR Nursing for her master’s. That support even lasted after Lewis graduated, when Kathy Hiltunen, MBA, RN, helped her study for her licensure exam, she recalled.

“It’s always been mental health for me. That’s my niche,” said Lewis, who is currently pursuing her master’s in the family psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner specialty.

“It’s so important, especially for African American families.

Most people will tell you — ‘you’re not depressed,’ or ‘you’re not stressed.’”

“There was never a time where I asked for help and did not receive it,” she said.

Growing up in Rochester, Lewis said she experienced “old-school” beliefs about mental health in the Black community, but she has also seen attitudes start to shift.

“Natalie is a true example of a great mentor to her peers,” Waite said. “She offered knowledge and insight to others when working on group assignments in class and collaborated with the class and instructors by actively seeking knowledge and engaging with the information. It has truly been a pleasure to work with Natalie in the classroom and see her blossom into a wonderful nurse.”

Her interest in mental health, combined with a natural gift for math and science, led Lewis to pursue her first bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University at Buffalo.

Afterward, Lewis knew she would need an advanced degree if she wanted to work in a clinical setting. She had considered pursuing a master’s in mental health counseling, but she also felt drawn to nursing. A job as a crisis specialist at Strong Memorial Hospital, where Lewis worked alongside the various members of a behavioral health team, helped confirm her interest in psychiatric nursing.

“Nursing spoke to my caring, compassionate side, and who I am as a person,” Lewis said. “I love talking to people, relating with them, and learning about them.”

Lewis’ personal and professional experiences have positioned her for future success as a nurse practitioner, said Instructor of Clinical Nursing Julie Waite, MS, RN.

Continuing her education is one of Lewis’ proudest achievements. She is the youngest of six siblings, and the first to go to college. She is grateful not only for the chance to build a better future for herself, but to make her family proud as well.

“Seeing my mom happy and proud is the most important thing to me,” Lewis said. “I want to make her life easier and be able to take care of her. I like knowing she doesn’t have to worry about me.”

NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 33

CL ASS NOTES

1970s Debbie Kampff ’75N is a semi-retired pediatric nurse who teaches CPR, AED, and First Aid training for local school districts while working as an RN at Cradlebeach Camp.

Her husband, Raymond Kampff ’74A, is still working full-time at home for DAY Engineering. They keep busy with their children and grandchildren, regularly bouncing between Kenmore, New York and London, England to see their family.

Eileen Sullivan-Marx ’80N (MS) stepped down as dean of the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing in July 2023 after 11 years at the post. While dean, she served as chair of the NYU Deans Council and President of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October, she received the President’s Award for exemplary leadership during the pandemic, adding to a long list of accolades which she received from the United Hospital Fund, Village Cares, Irish America, the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, and the Penn School of Nursing.

Sullivan-Marx is a professor at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, adjunct faculty at Howard University College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, and professor emerita, clinician-educator at Penn Nursing. She holds board of director positions at VNS Health, United Hospital Fund, and the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. On the third Thursday of the month, she hosts the Sirius XM Nurse Practitioner Show on Doctor Radio.

Nancy Gaden ’83N was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing’s 2023 class of fellows at the academy’s annual Health Policy Conference on Oct. 7 in Washington, D.C. She is currently the senior vice president and chief nursing officer of Boston Medical Center.

34 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

Fran London ’86N, ’91N (MS) hopes to help educate patients, provide skills, and optimize health outcomes with the third edition of her book, No Time to Teach, which shows how to apply research to practice, and how to use one’s teaching time most efficiently and effectively.

1990s Cynthia Cantu Cruz ’91N completed her DNP in Nursing Education Leadership from Post University in 2022. She accepted a position as the clinical coordinator at South University’s BSN program in Round Rock, Texas.

2000s Julie A. Berkhof ’01N, ’03N (MS) received the Region Leadership Award from the New York Organization for Nursing Leadership, one of four nursing leaders in the state to receive the recognition. Berkhoff is the director of regional nursing at Wilmot Cancer Institute, and oversees nursing at Wilmot’s 14 community oncology locations.

Erin E. Howe ’05N, ’13N recently wrote a book, Caring for Aging Loved Ones: A Comprehensive Guide to Navigating the Healthcare System While Avoiding Caregiver Burnout.

She hopes the book will offer guidance, information, insight, and reassurance to the many families that are dealing with the challenges of caring for aging family members.

Michael Hasselberg ’07N (MS), ’13N (PhD) was selected to serve on the National Academies Standing Committee on Primary Care that will inform the future of primary care nationwide. He will serve a three-year term and is one of 15 members of the committee. Elsewhere, Hasselberg works with Microsoft, Stanford, and the Mayo Clinic on leading edge

regenerative AI work for health care. He’s extremely positive about the potential for regenerative AI to improve health care.

currently works as a nurse at Highland Hospital and is a student in the School’s Family Nurse Practitioner program.

Yvette Conyers ’07N joined the University of Maryland School of Nursing as the associate dean for equity, diversity, and inclusion, with a faculty appointment as an assistant professor, Teaching Excellence tenure-track, in the Department of Family and Community Health in June.

Victoria Winogora ’17N will be starting her PhD at Columbia University School of Nursing this year.

2010s Kamila Barnes ’11N (MS), ’13N (DNP) is leading the National Black Nurses Association’s newly created Black Maternal Health Taskforce to help address the maternal mortality crisis that Black women face and improve conditions that pregnant women face. Barnes is the graduate program director for Long Island University’s Family Nurse Practitioner program.

Clare S. Lyons ’12N completed a nurse residency in the emergency department at Strong Memorial Hospital, worked in level 1 trauma centers in New York City as well as in labor delivery. Now, she directs nursing at a premier concierge emergency department in New York City.

Vincent Tata ’15N was named director of patient services for HCR Home Care’s Finger Lakes Certified Home Health Agency (CHHA). Tata supervises the day-to-day clinical operations and all patient care for the CHHA and brings more than a decade of experience to his role.

Jose Perpignan ’16N received the National Black Nurses Association’s Daisy Health Equity Award for a Frontline Registered Nurse, which recognizes excellence of a registered staff nurse who goes over and beyond to address health equity and works to mitigate one or more of the social determinants of health.

He was also named the 2023-24 Advocacy Leader by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Graduate Nursing Student Academy. Perpignan

2020s Jassel Glanville ’20N graduated from Officer Training School in the spring and began a new role as a med-surg clinical nurse at Travis Air Force Base in California.

Jahaira Capellán ‘12N (MS), ‘21N (PhD) recently received the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry’s Postdoctoral Appointee Award for Excellence in Equity & Inclusion. Capellán is a population health research postdoctoral fellow with the University of Rochester Clinical & Translational Science Institute whose research focuses on Puerto Rican parent and child health.

Melissa Langworthy ’23N (MS) started a new role as a full-time nursing instructor at Finger Lakes Community College after earning her Master’s in Nursing Education in August.

Martez D.R. Smith, LMSW, ’23N (PhD), pictured on right, shared this photo from the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care conference on social media, with the caption: “In the 44-year history of the @ UofRSON PhD program, there have only been 4 Black men to have graduated from PhD program.

Here we are, together at the 2023 @ANACnurses conference.” From left is: LaRon E. Nelson, ’02N, ’04N (MS), ’09N (PhD), Mitchell J. Wharton, ’13N (PhD), RN, FNP-BC, CNS, ACRN, AAHIVE, and Orlando Harris, ‘14N (PhD), FNP, MPH.

NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 35

FROM THE ARCHIVES

These photos submitted by Michelle Young-Stevenson ’73N feature the first graduating class (1973) after Dr. Loretta Ford became dean of an independent School of Nursing more than 50 years ago.

Front row seated: Kay Quillan, Nancy Fletcher, Karen Audin, Mary Skogland. Middle row: Kathy Lynn, Peggy Lindley, Sister Mary Jean Tague, Maureen Henehan, Donna Powell, Valerie Sand. Top row: Susan Griffey, Judy Hoffman, Dawn Texter, Mary Jacobs, Diane Rudy.

On ground: Nancy Newton.

First row: Anne Peduto, Rosemary Higgins, Sharon Anderson, Janine Primono, Joe Cappiello, Judy Calvin, Diane Nichols, Fran Deslauriers. Back row, standing: Lev Keely, Elaine Kubiak, Mary Hall, and Bob Parmentier.

Front row seated: Sister Nora Shirley, Jane Hill, Elizabeth Ely, Becky Wallace. Middle row: Linda Sampson ’74N, Laura Powers, Judy Hall, Yvette Kraft, Emily Hauenstein. Top row: Susan Westrich, Elaine Graf, Michele Pulcino.

DON’T STOP

the music

Thanks to members of the Class of 1966, we know almost everyone in the photo from our 2023 Vol. 1 issue.

Anne Parke (Burr) and Jane Hess are seated at the piano.

Jan DeYoung is behind them on the left; John Zarola and Marion Dreby Brile are standing in front of the painting, and Doris Fina is on the far right. If you know second person in from the right in the white dress, let us know at son-communications@urmc.rochester.edu.

36 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

Front row: Virginia Boyd, Carol Gustafson, Michelle Young, Martha Ball, Kathyn Tyau, Karen Larson. Second row: Cassandra Jackson, Lesley Dawson, Connie Syilwell, Diana Roy, Rose Marie Krinsky, Barbara Hathaway.

In MEMORIAM Word has reached us of the passing of the following alumni and faculty.

The School of Nursing expresses its sympathy to their loved ones.

Vivian Littlefield, PhD, RN, FAAN

(1938-2023)

Prominent nursing educator, advocate, and leader Vivian Littlefield, PhD, RN, FAAN, a former UR Nursing faculty member, passed away Aug. 22 at age 85. Littlefield was a recognized expert in women’s health, nursing care delivery, and the impact of alternative approaches to care on patient outcomes.

In 1979, she was appointed associate professor of nursing at the University of Rochester School of Nursing and clinical chief of obstetrical and gyne­cological nursing at the University of Rochester Medi­cal Center. She also taught at the University of Colorado and established the nursing program at the University of Kentucky in Hopkinsville.

Littlefield served for 16 years as dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing before her retirement in 1999. It was during her deanship that the School’s PhD program was approved—elevating recognition and opportunities for nursing science. Upon her retirement, the Littlefield Leadership Lecture series was established to honor and promote nurse leadership. The annual lecture series is now in its 24th year.

She was a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing as well as a member of the American Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau International. Additionally, Littlefield served in the federal Health and Human Services agency, as the national chair of nursing for the American Red Cross, and on many boards in health care and professional organizations as well as the Girl Scouts. She received the 2013 Florence Nightingale International Medal honoring exceptional nurses, and the Ann Magnussen Award in 2012.

1940s

1960s

Lois C. Miller ’49N October 4, 2023 in Rochester, NY

LCDR John R. Lovett ’68N September 21, 2023 in Collierville, TN

Eleanor (Zientara) Graham ’43N June 6, 1922 in Rochester, NY Rosemary (Brinkman) Nachtwey ’49N July 7, 2023 in Aurora, OH E. Regina (Wiggins) Stewart Schnacky ’48N, ’57 September 17, 2023 in Rochester, NY

1950s

Phyllis Beard ’53N November 3, 2023 in Hagerstown, MD Jane Ann Richard ’55N, ’65 August 14, 2023 in Olean, NY

Priscilla (McKendrick) Atwood ’63N April 30, 2023 in Houston, TX

1970s

Mary E. Hauptmann ’77N September 22, 2023 in Irondequoit, NY

1980s

Jacqueline (Marple) Leysath ’86N (MS) July 20, 2023 in Naples, NY

Christa M. (Brauch) Perea ’59N (DPL), ’65 September 16, 2023 in Rochester, NY NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 37

Calling all UR Nursing Alumni: SHARE YOUR NEWS & UPDATES

Did you receive a promotion? Move to a new city? Publish your research findings? We want to hear from you! Submit your news and we will share it with your classmates and the UR Nursing community in the next NURSING Magazine. Fill out the alumni class notes form online or mail to:

School of Nursing Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations

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Larry & Cindy Bloch Alumni & Advancement Center P.O. Box 278996 | Rochester, NY 14627-8996

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TODAY’S DATE: 38 NURSING 2023 | Volume 2

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Please publish my news in NURSING magazine and share with other University publications.

NURSING 2023 | Volume 2 39

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Photo provided by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners®

PARTING SHOT Loretta C. Ford, EdD, RN, PNP, FAAN, FAANP, was honored for her service as a World War II Army Air Corps Nurse veteran at a ceremony held at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. Dr. Ford, co-founder of the nurse practitioner role and founding dean of the University of Rochester School of Nursing, turned 103 years old this December.