Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Announces 12 New 'Nurse Faculty Scholars'

Prestigious Program is Advancing the Careers of Some of the Nation's Most Promising Junior Nurse Faculty

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) today announced the selection of 12 outstanding nursing faculty from across the country to participate in its prestigious Nurse Faculty Scholars program, which is strengthening the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by developing the next generation of leaders in academic nursing. The program is providing $28 million over five years to outstanding junior nursing faculty to promote their academic careers and reduce the national nurse and nurse faculty shortages. This is the third cohort of Nurse Faculty Scholars.

Each Nurse Faculty Scholar receives a three-year $350,000 grant to pursue research, as well as mentoring from senior faculty at his or her institution. The award is given to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as future leaders in academic nursing.  The Scholars chosen this year are investigating a range of health issues, from a legacy-making intervention to reduce suffering of children with cancer, to body temperature and peripheral blood flow in preterm infants, to the spread of sexually transmitted infections in young adults.

"As the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholars program enters its third year, we are beginning to see the impact it is having on nursing schools and nursing research," said Jacquelyn Campbell, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., who is Anna D. Wolf Chair and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, which provides technical direction to the program. "This new cohort joins an existing group of talented and skilled Scholars who are already making important strides in improving public health, advancing health care and sharing their knowledge with others.  We look forward to working with all of our Scholars as they continue to contribute to nursing research and the academy, and identify ways to improve the nation's health and health care."

The program supports junior nursing faculty to help curb a shortage of nurse educators that threatens to undermine the health and health care of all Americans. The new health reform law will vastly increase the number of people who can access health care in the United States. As the number of patients increases, there will be greater demand for skilled nurses to provide care, and for faculty to educate those skilled nurses.  Right now, many schools of nursing are turning away qualified applicants because they lack the faculty to teach them.

RWJF's Nurse Faculty Scholars program is helping to curb the shortage by helping more junior faculty succeed in, and commit to, academic careers. The program provides talented junior faculty with salary and research support as well as the chance to participate in institutional and national mentoring activities, leadership training, and networking events with colleagues in nursing and other fields, while continuing to teach and provide institutional, professional and community service in their universities.

The program will also enhance the stature of the Scholars' academic institutions, which will benefit fellow nurse educators seeking professional development opportunities.  First instance, three members of the first cohort of Nurse Faculty Scholars are being inducted into the prestigious American Academy of Nursing in November, 2010, which is a tribute to their personal accomplishments and a positive reflection on their schools of nursing.

To receive the award, scholars must be registered nurses who have completed a research doctorate in nursing or a related discipline and who have held a tenure-eligible faculty position at an accredited nursing school for at least two and no more than five years.

This year's Nurse Faculty Scholar award recipients and their research projects are:

• Betty Bekemeier, Ph.D., R.N., University of Washington, Creating A System For Monitoring How Changes to Public Health Services Impact the Health of Vulnerable Populations;
• Alison M. Colbert, Ph.D., A.P.R.N., B.C., Duquesne University, Intensive Case Management for Recently Incarcerated Women;
• Jodi Ford, Ph.D., R.N., The Ohio State University, The Contribution of Neighborhood and School Disadvantage during Adolescence to Sexual Risk and STI during Young Adulthood: A Multi-Level Analysis;
• Terrah L. Foster, Ph.D., R.N., C.P.N.P., Vanderbilt University, A Legacy-Making Intervention to Reduce Suffering of Children with Cancer;
• Alison Holman, Ph.D., F.N.P., University of California, Irvine, Susceptibility to Acute Stress and Cardiovascular Ailments: A Genetic-Environmental Analysis;
• Maria Katapodi, Ph.D., R.N., University of Michigan, Development of a Family Communication and Decision-Support Intervention for Women who Carry a BRCA1 or a BRCA2 Mutation and Their At-Risk Family Members;
• Robin Knobel, Ph.D., R.N.C., N.N.P., Duke University, Maturation of Body Temperature and Peripheral Blood Flow in Preterm Infants;
• Elizabeth A. Kostas-Polston, Ph.D., A.P.R.N., W.H.N.P.-B.C., St. Louis University, Genomic Instability: Oncogenic Mechanisms of HPV Oncoprotiens;
• Laura S. Larsson, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., Montana State University, Montana Radon Study;
• Laurie Theeke, Ph.D., R.N., West Virginia University, Story-Sharing to Decrease Loneliness and its Sequelae in Chronically Ill Older Appalachian Adults;
• Andrea S. Wallace, Ph.D., N.D., A.P.R.N.-B.C., A.D.M., University of Iowa, Implementation of Diabetes Self-Management Support in Community Primary Care; and
• Shannon Zenk, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., of Illinois at Chicago, Stress-Environment Interactions and Obesity-Related Behaviors in Urban African-American and Hispanic Women.

To learn more about the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar program, visit www.rwjfnursefacultyscholars.org.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, we work with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years we've brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those we serve. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, we expect to make a difference in your lifetime.

SOURCE Robert Wood Johnson Foundation