Maureen George, PhD, RN, AE-C, FAAN
Assistant Professor of Nursing
Contact Information
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Room 416 Fagin Hall
418 Curie Blvd.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4217
UNITED STATES
tel: (215) 573-8659
email: mgeorge@nursing.upenn.edu
MAUREEN GEORGE, PHD, RN, AE-C is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and member of the Center for Health Disparities Research. She seeks to establish a program of research that enhances patient-provider communication about comprehensive asthma management strategies, including complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in communities with marked health disparities.
Teaching
Dr. George has taught in the undergraduate and graduate programs. She has expertise in the care of chronically ill minority adults with asthma. Her teaching has emphasized health behaviors in the context of culture, access, resources, and health literacy, particularly at it relates to the preference for integrated approaches that employ both conventional treatments and CAM.
Research
Dr. George’s doctoral research project was supported by both an individual National Research Service Award (NRSA 1 F31 AT01149-01) from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and from an American Lung Association Lung. This qualitative study found that low-income African American adults with asthma had high CAM use (George, et al, 2006). Follow-up focus groups identified barriers to medication adherence (George, et al, 2003), including health literacy (Apter et al., 2006).
Dr George completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The fellowship was supported by an individual NRSA (1F32AT0020-01) from NCCAM that allowed her to extend her dissertation work exploring CAM use and patterns of patient-provider communication.
Following her fellowship, Dr. George joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing where she obtained internal funding to evaluate mindfulness meditation in retinitis pigmentosa and African Americans’ preferences for lung cancer treatment.
Dr. George has been awarded a 5-year K23 grant from NCCAM to develop and pilot test a tool to promote patient-provider communication about CAM for asthma. It is expected that the results from this study will provide caregivers with the practical information needed to successfully negotiate a treatment plan with their clients with asthma.
• Currently Funded Grants
• Center for Health Equity Research
Clinical Practice
Dr. George is a certified asthma educator and a Pulmonary Clinical Nurse Specialist. In these roles she observed that inner city minority patients had frequent hospitalizations for asthma and wondered if a collaborative approach to care might better meet the unrecognized needs of this patient population. In 1991 Dr. George was awarded a Clinical Collaboration Grant from the Mary C. Rockefeller Foundation to conduct a randomized clinical trial of inpatient education, discharge planning and outpatient management, delivered within a collaborative care model, compared to usual care. Claims data demonstrated that patients who were randomized to the collaborative care approach had fewer subsequent emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma and improved outpatient follow-up resulting in enhanced asthma control at a significant cost savings (George, et al., 1999) and was recently included in a Cochrane systematic review of asthma self-management in adult asthma (Gibson, P.G., Powell, H., Coughlan, J., Wilson, A.J., Abramson, M., Haywood, P., et al. (2002). Self-management education and regular practitioner review for adults with asthma. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 3. Publication No. CD001117.). Dr. George remains active in the community.
Honors/Credentials
2011 Recipient, Dean’s Award for Undergraduate Scholarly Mentoring
2011 Associate Editor, Primary Care Respiratory Journal
2010 Fellow, American Academy of Nursing
2010 Outstanding Member Award, Association of Asthma Educators
2008 Editorial Board, Journal of Asthma
2006 Educator-of-the-Year Award, Association of Asthma Educators
2005-2008 National Respiratory Training Center Board of Directors
2005-present Editorial Advisor, Primary Care Respiratory Journal: the Journal of the General Practice Airways Group
2003 MHDP Visiting Expert [Scholar], Ministry of Health SINGAPORE
2001-2003 Association of Asthma Educators President
2001 Scholarly Achievement Recognition, University of Pennsylvania Health System
2000-2001 Outstanding Leadership Award, South Eastern Pennsylvania American Lung Association
1998-2002 Association of Asthma Educators Board of Directors
| Publications (select year) 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 and Prior | In Press | More Publications |
There are limitless options for managing disease or responding to symptoms. Many prefer to integrate conventional therapies with complementary and alternative medicine. Gaining an enhanced understanding of the dynamic and complex antecedents to health behaviors is necessary before partnerships can be developed and decision-making shared. Only then can we hope to improve the lives of our most vulnerable populations who suffer the greatest disease burden and most pronounced health inequities. 