A world-class city filled with art and culture and an incredible campus that offers cutting edge resources–that’s what students receive at Penn Nursing. And that’s just the start. Penn Nursing and the wider university offer something for everyone, as well as a lifelong community.

Penn Nursing is globally known for educating dynamic nurses—because our School values evidence-based science and health equity. That’s where our expertise lies, whether in research, practice, community health, or beyond. Everything we do upholds a through-line of innovation, encouraging our exceptional students, alumni, and faculty share their knowledge and skills to reshape health care.

Penn Nursing students are bold and unafraid, ready to embrace any challenge that comes their way. Whether you are exploring a career in nursing or interested in advancing your nursing career, a Penn Nursing education will help you meet your goals and become an innovative leader, prepared to change the face of health and wellness.

Penn Nursing is the #1-ranked nursing school in the world. Its highly-ranked programs help develop highly-skilled leaders in health care who are prepared to work alongside communities to tackle issues of health equity and social justice to improve health and wellness for everyone.

Penn Nursing’s rigorous academic curricula are taught by world renowned experts, ensuring that students at every level receive an exceptional Ivy League education. From augmented reality classrooms and clinical simulations to coursework that includes experiential global travel to clinical placements in top notch facilities, a Penn Nursing education prepares our graduates to lead.

Deatrick to Receive 14th Distinguished Researcher Award

The biennial award honors the best scholarly qualities that Dr. Fagin, the School’s third Dean, exemplified. It is given to a faculty member, or a graduate from the School’s doctoral program, who has made a distinguished contribution to nursing scholarship.

September 20, 2016

Janet A. Deatrick, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor Emerita of Nursing and formerly the Shearer Endowed Term Chair in Healthy Community Practice and Director of the Center for Health Equity Research at Penn Nursing will receive the Claire M. Fagin Distinguished Researcher Award. Deatrick will deliver a lecture on the science of family care giving during the October 26th event (Fagin Hall, 3:00-5:00 PM). For more information, or to RSVP, please click here.


Deatrick is internationally known for her contributions to the science of family caregiving. Her groundbreaking research pioneered the use of innovative qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches to better understand how families integrate the care of youth who have serious chronic conditions and who have survived brain tumors. She and her research partners at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, discovered that families who integrate the care of their children into ongoing family life have better outcomes than those whose family life focuses on the condition. Their Family Management Styles Framework is used throughout the world to guide family research and has been adapted for use across the life span in a variety of health conditions. The Family Management Measure has been translated into 10 languages.

A family-centered approach to care that supports family management and encompasses family strengths through provider-family partnerships are career-long cornerstones of Deatrick’s research. Her sustained scholarly productivity was a catalyst to the development of family nursing and to the standards of clinical care for vulnerable families and their children. She disseminated this work to diverse stakeholders in 125 peer reviewed articles in 46 different journals and in 16 book chapters.

Deatrick’s accomplishments have been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including a Fellowship in the American Academy of Nursing; the Excellence in Nursing Research Award from the Society of Pediatric Nurses; the Suzanne Feetham Nurse Scientist Family Research Award from the Eastern Nursing Research Society; the Distinguished Contribution to Family Nursing Research Award at the International Family Nursing Conference, Bangkok, Thailand; the Christian and Nancy Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania; the Suzanne Brouse Lectureship from the University of Michigan School of Nursing; Distinguished Alumni and Alumni Legacy Awards from the University of Cincinnati; and the Achievement Award from the University of Illinois Alumni Association.

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