News Archives

New Leadership Appointment for Penn Nursing Professor

New Leadership Appointment for Penn Nursing Professor

Catherine C. McDonald, PhD, RN, FAAN, has been appointed Chair of Penn Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health effective July 1, 2024. Currently, she is the Vice-Chair of the Department and the Dr. Hildegarde Reynolds Endowed Term Chair of Primary Care Nursing.

Congratulations to the 2024 Penn Nursing Faculty Award Recipients

Congratulations to the 2024 Penn Nursing Faculty Award Recipients

All the honorees will be recognized at the Student, Alumni, and Faculty Awards event on Friday, May 17, 2024, 4-5:30 PM EST in the Ann L. Roy Auditorium.

National Appointment for Penn Nursing Professor
Jose Bauermeister, PhD, MPH

National Appointment for Penn Nursing Professor

José A. Bauermeister, PhD, MPH, FSBM, the Albert M. Greenfield Professor of Human Relations; Chair, Department of Family & Community Health; Director, The Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative; and Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, has been appointed to the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NACMHD). This council is part of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Meet the Inaugural Carol E. Ware PhD Fellows

Meet the Inaugural Carol E. Ware PhD Fellows

Two Penn Nursing doctoral students have been named as the first Carol E. Ware PhD Fellows. This program provides two years of financial support to PhD students who are committed to improving care for people living with Alzheimer’s disease, related dementias, and/or other mental health issues.

Finding Solutions for Burnout Among Nurses of Color
The Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing invited nursing practition...

Finding Solutions for Burnout Among Nurses of Color

The Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the School of Nursing brought together nurses and researchers for the Solutions to Health Inequities & Nurses’ Emotional Exhaustion Invitational.

After the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd, J. Margo Brooks Carthon, the Tyson Family Endowed Term Chair for Gerontological Research, worked on a research study interviewing Black nurse practitioners in the greater Philadelphia area about their efforts to address inequities in care.

Penn4C Announces Awardees for Community-led Partnership Grants

Penn4C Announces Awardees for Community-led Partnership Grants

Penn Community Collaboratory for Co-Creation (Penn4C), an initiative led jointly by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering), has awarded funding to five new research projects that address social justice through designing and implementing solutions to improve health, well-being, and safety. In addition to the involvement of Penn faculty and students, the projects are required to have active and equitable representation of the community in which the project will be completed.

New Aspen Health Strategy Group Report Identifies Strategies for Health Sector to Curb Firearm Injury; Penn Nursing Dean Antonia M. Villarruel Participated in Developing Report

New Aspen Health Strategy Group Report Identifies Strategies for Health Sector to Curb Firearm Injury; Penn Nursing Dean Antonia M. Villarruel Participated in Developing Report

The nonpartisan Aspen Health Strategy Group (AHSG), an initiative of the Aspen Institute, released a new report that examines the need to reduce firearm injury and proposes opportunities for health systems to play a role in developing comprehensive solutions.

Serving Communities in Need
A black nurse practitioner examines child's ear.

Serving Communities in Need

The first graduates of the Leonard A. Lauder Community Care Nurse Practitioner Program are already making a real-world difference in underserved communities.

This Week In the Archives
A linograph of Minnie Hogan Clemens from the neck up. Her hair is pulled up into a high bun and she is wearing a turtle neck.

This Week In the Archives

In 1888, Minnie Hogan Clemens (Dorchester) became the first Black student to attend the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s Nurse Training School (HUP). In the local news coverage at the time, Clemens’ acceptance into the program was widely celebrated by the Black community as a sign of progress for Black women, who had “no opportunities for employment in factories, stores or at trades, teaching or menial service alone being open to them.”

Improving Quality of Life and Sleep in People with Memory Problems Without Using Drugs

Improving Quality of Life and Sleep in People with Memory Problems Without Using Drugs

A groundbreaking study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), recently published in Innovation in Aging, has shown promising results in improving the quality of life (QOL) and sleep quality in individuals living with memory problems. The research delves into the efficacy of a nonpharmacological approach in a trial known as the Healthy Patterns Sleep Program.

Hilaria Supa Huamán to Receive 2024 Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health

Hilaria Supa Huamán to Receive 2024 Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health

Hilaria Supa Huamán, Director of Mosoq Pakari Sumaq Kawsay (New Dawn for Good Living) Healing Center, is a Peruvian politician and human rights activist. She will receive the 2024 Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health for her lifelong dedication in advocating for the rights and well-being of Indigenous women in Peru, most notably in her fierce work against the forced sterilization that took place in the late 20 th century. The award ceremony will be held on March 13, 2024. The event will be hybrid with the in-person portion held in the Ann L. Roy Auditorium in Fagin Hall.

Wendy A. Henderson, PhD, Appointed a Presidential Distinguished Professor

Wendy A. Henderson, PhD, Appointed a Presidential Distinguished Professor

Wendy A. Henderson, PhD, CRNP, FAASLD, FAAN, has been appointed the Gail and Ralph Reynolds President’s Distinguished Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and will serve as a faculty member in Penn Nursing’s Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences. She joins Penn Nursing from the University of Connecticut where she held a joint appointment as Professor in the School of Nursing and the School of Medicine. Henderson most recently served as director of the PhD program at the School of Nursing and before that was director of the school’s Center of Nursing Scholarship and Innovation. Henderson was previously a clinical investigator and lab chief of the National Institute of Nursing Research, Digestive Disorders Unit, Division of Intramural Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Welcome Back Spring 2024: A Message from Dean Villarruel
Penn Nursing Dean Antonia Villarruel

Welcome Back Spring 2024: A Message from Dean Villarruel

Welcome to Spring semester! I hope you had a restful winter break and peaceful holiday celebrations. The news of Claire Fagin’s passing has us united in grief and gratitude. A colleague, friend, leader—she believed in the excellence of the School and the value of each of us as individuals. She laid a strong foundation for who we are today—and what we will be tomorrow. 

Claire M. Fagin, PhD, RN, FAAN, Former Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Passes Away at Age 97
Claire M. Fagin, PhD, FAAN, RN Professor of Nursing and Dean Emerita

Claire M. Fagin, PhD, RN, FAAN, Former Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Passes Away at Age 97

She served as dean of Penn Nursing for 15 years from 1977 to 1992, during which time she transformed the school into a world-renowned education, research, and clinical development enterprise, established landmark education programs and increased the number of standing faculty seven-fold. In addition to her deanship, Fagin served as the interim president of the University of Pennsylvania from July 1, 1993, to June 30, 1994.

Promising Approaches

Promising Approaches

Influencing health care and health care workplaces through leadership, policy implementation, and patient care takes incredible skill and thoughtfulness. Penn Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program is an example of how to do it right.

Introducing the First Cohort of the Conway Scholars

Introducing the First Cohort of the Conway Scholars

Earlier this year Penn Nursing received a $1 million grant from the Bedford Falls Foundation – DAF, a donor-advised fund established by Philanthropists William (Bill) E. Conway Jr., co-founder and co-chairman of The Carlyle Group, and his wife, Joanne, to support a total of 40 high-merit students over a four-year period who are enrolled in a Penn degree program. Ten students will be selected every year to receive this support.

Starting the Conversation: Implications of Generative AI for Gerontology

Starting the Conversation: Implications of Generative AI for Gerontology

Recently, Penn Nursing and the Penn Artificial Intelligence and Technologies Collaboratory for Healthy Aging (PennAITech) – funded by the National Institute on Aging – invited experts from academia, industry, and government to participate in a two-day (December 5-6, 2023) roundtable discussion to discuss challenges and opportunities in the use of Large language models (LLMs) and Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in gerontology. LLMs and the platforms they support such as ChatGPT have experienced an exponential growth in popularity and use in recent months.

Cacchione to Receive 2024 Norma M. Lang Award for Scholarly Practice and Policy

Cacchione to Receive 2024 Norma M. Lang Award for Scholarly Practice and Policy

Pamela Z. Cacchione, PhD, CRNP, BC, FGSA, FAAN, the Ralston House Term Chair in Gerontological Nursing, Professor of Geropsychiatric Nursing in the Department of Family and Community Health, and a Nurse Scientist at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center will be the 2024 recipient of Penn Nursing’s prestigious Norma M. Lang Award for Scholarly Practice and Policy. The award, given biennially to a Penn Nursing faculty member or a graduate from the School’s doctoral program who has made a distinguished contribution to nursing through scholarly practice, honors Norma M. Lang, PhD, the Professor and Dean Emerita of Penn Nursing, for her world-renowned contributions to health policy and practice.

Announcing the 2023 Amy Gutmann Leadership Scholars

Announcing the 2023 Amy Gutmann Leadership Scholars

This endowed program – created from a $2 million gift to Penn Nursing by former University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann and her husband Michael Doyle – provides financial aid for exemplary undergraduate and graduate nursing students, supplementing their education with tailored learning to help shape nurse leaders who deliver exceptional evidence-based care, design research, inform policy, spark innovation, and advocate for social justice world-wide.

Penn Collaboratory to Fund Ten New Pilot Studies on Aging

Penn Collaboratory to Fund Ten New Pilot Studies on Aging

The Penn Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory for Healthy Aging (PennAITech) – made up of Penn’s School of Nursing, the Perelman School of Medicine, and other departments across the University – focuses on identifying developing, evaluating, commercializing, and disseminating innovative technology and artificial intelligence methods/software to support aging. This is year two for the collaboratory – made possible through a grant from the National Institute on Aging – and it is providing more than $2.3 M in funding to ten pilot projects.

When Segregation of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Threatens Care for People with Coexisting Conditions

When Segregation of Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Threatens Care for People with Coexisting Conditions

Life becomes very complex for patients who need to manage pain due to cancer or other illness while still receiving methadone treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). Methadone is a highly effective medication for treating OUD, however, the current U.S. regulatory framework mandates that methadone for OUD is exclusively accessible through federally approved Opioid Treatment Programs, with many individuals required to make daily visits for supervised dosing. This requirement places a significant burden on those with competing health needs, limited access to transportation, living in rural areas or in regions with few or no treatment programs.

Lasater Receives Funding for Groundbreaking Study
Karen Lasater, PhD, RN, Postdoctoral Fellow

Lasater Receives Funding for Groundbreaking Study

Dr. Karen Lasater’s new study, “Learning from Hospital Preparedness during COVID: Chronically Under-Resourced Nurses and Patient Safety,” has garnered coveted funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. 

Penn Nursing and Annenberg School for Communication Partner with Camden County to Launch Virtual Reality Narcan Training
The VRcoLAB films a Narcan Training video in collaboration with the Penn Nursing School and the County of Camden. Script by Natalie herbe...

Penn Nursing and Annenberg School for Communication Partner with Camden County to Launch Virtual Reality Narcan Training

Last year, 354 people died from opioid overdoses in Camden County, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, which in 2022 recorded an estimated 15,407 administrations statewide of naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan. This year, New Jersey launched an initiative allowing anyone 14 and older to anonymously obtain naloxone for free at more than 600 participating pharmacies across the state. Camden County, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, has also installed secure NaloxBoxes in every public school.

As People Live Longer, Family Caregivers Face Financial Challenges
Close up of old man holding hands of his son while sitting on the couch. Shot at home

As People Live Longer, Family Caregivers Face Financial Challenges

Many people overlook the short- and long-term costs of financial caregiving, a growing problem that financial advisors and employers can help address, according to a new report by the TIAA Institute and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing).

Supporting the Well-Being of LGBTQ+ Adolescents and Their Families

Supporting the Well-Being of LGBTQ+ Adolescents and Their Families

Penn Nursing’s Dalmacio Dennis Flores, PhD, ACRN, FAAN, Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Department of Family and Community Health, has been awarded a 2023 grant from the Hillman Innovations in Care (HIC) program. The $600,000 grant will be used to expand a Penn Nursing-led program that supports the well-being of LGBTQ+ adolescents and their families. This grant is awarded by The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation.

Hillman Grant for Penn Nursing Professor to Study Virtual Reality & Loneliness

Hillman Grant for Penn Nursing Professor to Study Virtual Reality & Loneliness

Penn Nursing, with partners from the Annenberg Virtual Reality ColLABorative and New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing, have been awarded 2023 grant from the Hillman Emergent Innovation: Serious Illness and End of Life program to study the use of social virtual reality (VR) in enhancing the treatment experience and reducing loneliness in people undergoing hemodialysis. This grant is awarded by The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation.

Study Highlights Concerns and Preferences of Residents Regarding Police Involvement in Mental Health Crisis Response

Study Highlights Concerns and Preferences of Residents Regarding Police Involvement in Mental Health Crisis Response

Police officers often respond to incidents that do not involve crime or immediate threats to public safety but instead deal with community members facing unmet mental health needs. In response to this, many cities are experimenting with co-deploying police officers alongside health professionals or deploying teams entirely composed of civilian health professionals.

NIH Grant for Innovative Study Using Patient Verbal Communication to Detect Deterioration in Heart Failure Patients in Managed Long-Term Care

NIH Grant for Innovative Study Using Patient Verbal Communication to Detect Deterioration in Heart Failure Patients in Managed Long-Term Care

To improve the quality of care and reduce healthcare expenditures, heart failure patients in the U.S. are increasingly being treated in community-based programs such as managed long-term care. Although early identification of patients’ risks of negative outcomes, including hospitalizations or emergency department visits, has been shown to prevent these adverse outcomes in settings including hospitals and nursing homes, it has not been studied in managed long-term care.

Factors Linked to Racial Disparities in Chronic Pain After Injury

Factors Linked to Racial Disparities in Chronic Pain After Injury

Chronic pain is a top cause of disability in the United States, with the costs of medical care and lost productivity exceeding $500 billion, according to an Institute of Medicine report. Many people who suffer an acute traumatic injury—such as from a car crash or violence—continue to experience pain in the year after injury.

Integrating the Transitional Care Model into Nurse Practitioner Curricula to Improve Outcomes for High-Risk Older Adults

Integrating the Transitional Care Model into Nurse Practitioner Curricula to Improve Outcomes for High-Risk Older Adults

Managing transitions in care for older adults and their family caregivers, no matter the care setting, is especially challenging in a rapidly changing health care system. Patient discharges which typically require prescription writing, discharge summary creation, and team consultations for home care entail more complex coordination and planning.