February 21, 2008
School of Nursing posts stellar achievements
Last year was a stellar year for the UW School of Nursing. Here are just a few of the accomplishments of faculty and staff.
In January 2007, the School of Nursing launched its new Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program. The DNP provides a key opportunity for the UW to respond to critical local, state and national health care challenges by preparing advanced practice nurses (nurse practitioners, midwives, clinical nurse specialists and community health nurses) to provide leadership in an increasingly complex health care delivery system and to address inequities in access to care created by shortages of health care providers. The program was developed in response to national organizations calling for substantial reform in educating the health care workforce of the future.
Department of Family and Child Nursing
Susan Spieker, professor, and Jean Kelly, research professor, both from the Department of Family and Child Nursing, were named director and co-director, respectively, of the Center on Infant Mental Health and Development (CIMHD). Spieker, faculty lead on research at CIMHD, director of the center’s Birth to Three Lab and principal investigator on a new $2.3 million project — Promoting Infant Mental Health in Foster Care — has spent the last 20 years studying the relationship between experiences during infancy and later behavior problems and social competence. Kelly has directed research and training programs focused on young children’s social and emotional health for more than two decades, including Promoting First Relationships, an attachment-theory-based program used by professionals nationwide.
Betty Lucas, lecturer in the Department of Family and Child Nursing, was recognized as a leader in maternal and child nutrition with the Excellence in Practice Award for Community Dietetics from the American Dietetic Association.
Cathryn Booth-LaForce, the Charles and Gerda Spence Endowed Professor in Nursing, was appointed to the Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention study section of the National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review. This is the primary study section focused on social-emotional development in children.
Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems
Pamela Mitchell, associate dean for research and professor in the Dept. of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, became president of the American Academy of Nursing in November and will serve a two-year term in that post. Mitchell was also appointed to the 2007 review panel for the NIH Director’s New Innovators Award; and she will be the 2007-2009 chair of the Nursing and Rehabilitation Committee of the American Stroke Association/American Heart Association.
Margaret Heitkemper, the Elizabeth Sterling Soule Endowed Chair in Nursing, was appointed to the National Institute of Health’s National Commission on Digestive Diseases, which is charged with conducting an overview of research in digestive diseases and developing a strategic plan for the next 10 years of NIH digestive diseases research. She was also a visiting scholar in the Department of Medical Surgical Nursing at Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, in September. During her visit, she taught a course on research methods using videoconferencing technology, and she consulted on biobehavioral research with many São Paulo faculty. She also gave a presentation on complementary and alternative medicine at Samaritan Hospital, São Paulo. As a result of her visit, the Universidade de São Paulo now participates in the Worldwide Universities Network.
George Demiris, associate professor, Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, was the keynote speaker at the Telemedicine and eHealth Conference 2007 in Tromso, Norway, in June 2007. The conference, co-sponsored by the WHO Collaborating Centre in Telemedicine, promotes practice, research and development within the field of telemedicine and e-health in elder care.
Department of Psychosocial and Community Health
Linda Teri, professor in the Department of Psychosocial and Community Health, was named a member of the National Institute of Mental Health Interventions Committee for Disorders Related to Schizophrenia, Late Life, or Personality. She will serve on the committee from 2007–2011.
Bobbie Berkowitz, the Alumni Endowed Professor in Nursing, was appointed to the Institute of Medicine board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. The board focuses on issues affecting the health of the public, including population-based public health measures and the public health infrastructure.
For more information about the School of Nursing, please contact Lia Unrau at unrau@u.washington.edu or 206-221-2456.
