Dr. Janet A. Deatrick currently received 1.4m in funding from NIH/NINR  in support of her project “Mother as Caregivers for Survivors of Brain Tumor.”    In the U.S. there are about 26,000 survivors of primary  brain and/or central nervous system tumors under the age of 19. Care giving for these children usually continues to adulthood and they typically do not become independent of their families of origin. This interdisciplinary study proposes to begin to fill the gaps that exist in our understanding about these caregivers in terms of how interventions can be designed to increase their competence as caregivers and reframe their care giving demands.


Dr. Lisa Lewis is the recipient of the 3 year K01 Mentored Career Developmental Award from NINR for her project, “The Relationship of Spirituality and Blood Pressure Control in African-Americans.” The specific aims of this study are to determine the role of spirituality in ADH to antihypertensive medications and to test spirituality as a moderator of blood pressure control in hypertensive African-Americans.


Dr. Terri H. Lipman has developed and maintained the only registry of type 1 diabetes in children in Philadelphia; one of only 4 such registries in the U.S. Dr. Lipman has received funding from the Hampton-Penn Center to Reduce Health Disparities to investigate “Health Disparities in Children with Diabetes.” The significance of this proposal is that data from focus groups of African American and White families of children with diabetes will inform the development of a culturally appropriate, family-centered diabetes program derived from the goals and priorities of the families.
 

Dr. Loretta Sweet Jemmott is one of the nation’s leaders in HIV risk reduction intervention research. Three of her evidenced-based adolescent HIV risk-reduction intervention curricula were selected by CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health Program entitled, "Research to Classrooms, Program That Work!" for dissemination to schools, community based agencies, and clinics nationally and internationally. These curricula have been culturally adapted, tailored and translated into various languages for use in regions where HIV is at pandemic levels, including counties in Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. Recently, her 20-minute evidenced-based HIV risk-reduction intervention for women (Sister-to-Sister) was selected by the CDC as a national model to be disseminated for use in women health clinics as part of the Replication of Effective  Programs.

Dr. Loretta Sweet Jemmott, received the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania Award (Governor's Award) (October 2007), and the Baxter Foundation - Episteme Award, Sigma Theta Tau International  (November 2007)


Dr. Lynn Sommers is known for her expertise in the physiologic basis of critical illness and injury. She has been involved in research in the area of injury and violence for more than 15 years. She is currently completing a follow-up clinical trial funded by the CDC to test the effectiveness of brief intervention to reduce risky driving behaviors for persons seen in the emergency department.  Dr. Sommers has also been developing and testing interventions to reduce violence against women. This year, she received a four years grant from the National Institute of Health for her study “Injury from Sexual Assault: Addressing Health Disparities and injury. She has been involved in research in the area of injury and violence for more than 15 years. She is currently completing a follow-up clinical trial funded by the CDC to test the effectiveness of brief intervention to reduce risky driving behaviors for persons seen in the emergency department.

Dr. Sommers is the recipient of the 2008 Claire M. Fagin, Distinguished Researcher Award.  This award was established to honor the best scholarly qualities that Professor Claire M. Fagin exemplified in her long productive career. This annual award is given to a Penn Nursing faculty member who has made a distinguished contribution to nursing scholarship


 Dr. Anne Teitelman  received funding this year from Urban Research Center and Center for AIDS Research for her research study “Talking About Healthy Relationships.” The research study is aimed at developing an intervention to promote healthy relationships and HIV prevention for African American adolescent girls ages 14-17 years through focus group discussions. This study will also address the context of relationships among African American girls and young women in order to prevent HIV through one-on-one interviews.