Barbra Mann Wall, PhD
Associate Professor of Nursing
Contact Information
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Room 2016 Fagin Hall
418 Curie Blvd.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4217
UNITED STATES
tel: (215) 746-8321
email: wallbm@nursing.upenn.edu
Barbra Mann Wall is a nurse historian who is widely known for her studies on women and health care institutions. She received her BSN at the University of Texas, her MS in Nursing from Texas Woman's University, and her PhD in history from the University of Notre Dame. She has received funding from the Irish American Cultural Institute, the University of Virginia Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry, and the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame. Her work on Catholic sisters as nurses and founders of the American Catholic hospital system earned an award from the American Association for the History of Nursing for her book, Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Catholic Sisters and the Hospital Marketplace, 1865-1925. This book also has received positive reviews in professional journals in nursing, medicine, and religion. Dr. Wall currently is Book Review Editor for Nursing History Review, and she is an Associate Director of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing.
Teaching
Dr. Wall has over 21 years of teaching experience in both undergraduate and graduate programs. She serves on the Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing team. She also teaches N518: Nursing, Health and Sickness in the United States, 1860-1965. This courses uses nursing's history as a framework for analyzing gendered themes in health and health care. It considers the influence of gender on class based, ethnic, and racial ideas about health and illness; the development of health care institutions; the interplay between religion and science; and the experiences of patients and providers.
Research
Dr. Wall's research involves the history of Catholic hospitals and sister-nurses as well as oral histories of retired nurses. Her work illustrates the gendered story of hospital establishments and the nursing profession. The overriding theoretical foundation is the interplay between religious and secular institutions and the place of that interplay in American social history. Her recent work addresses the history of disaster nursing in the Southwest and the range of discourses people drew upon when interpreting disasters of the past. Dr. Wall's research has been utilized in the classroom and in other academic and public settings.
• Currently Funded Grants
• Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing
Clinical Practice
Dr. Wall's clinical experience has included nursing in the areas of critical care, trauma, home care, and psychiatric nursing.
Honors/Credentials
2006 Lavinia Dock Award for Exemplary Historical Research and Writing (Awarded for the book, Unlikely Entrepreneurs: Catholic Sisters and the Hospital Marketplace, 1865-1925)
2005 Excellence in Media Award, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing, Delta Omicron Chapter (Awarded for the book Advocacy and Action: 100 Years of Nursing in Indiana and the Indiana State Nurses Association)
2004 Excellence in Research Award, Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nursing, Delta Omicron Chapter
2002 Lavinia Dock Award for Best Journal Article, American Association for the History of Nursing
Dr. Wall also has been a frequent participant on the National Library of Medicine/NIH Scholarly Publication Grants Panel.
| Publications (select year) 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 and Prior | In Press | More Publications |
“History is a problem-solving discipline. By integrating history into nursing, students can develop the ability to find and evaluate evidence and identify diverse interpretations.” 