Sharon Y. Irving, PhD, CRNP, FCCM, FAAN, FASPEN

Miriam Stirl Endowed Term Chair in Nutrition

Professor of Pediatric Nursing

Department of Family and Community Health

Telephone: (215) 746-2741

Email: ysha@nursing.upenn.edu

Through my clinical practice, inquiry and program of research, I strive to improve clinical outcomes and enhance nutrient delivery for critically ill infants and children. This includes educating providers to the importance of good nutrition and providing such, to even the most critical pediatric patients.

Education

PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 2011
MSN, University of Pennsylvania, 1993
BSN, Marquette University, 1980

Teaching

Dr. Irving teaches in the undergraduate pediatric nursing course and is involved with educating students in the Pediatric Critical Care Nurse Practitioner Program. Dr. Irving also lends knowledge, expertise, and mentoring to doctoral level students. In addition, she participates in the ongoing education of clinicians in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

Research

As standing faculty on the Clinician Educator track, Dr. Irving uses her hands-on clinical experience to guide her research and uses insights from her research to inform clinical care delivery, particularly nutrition care delivery for critically ill infants and children at CHOP. In one project, for example, she evaluated outcomes of the critical care nutrition feeding pathway that she co-developed at CHOP, exploring questions such as: When in the course of illness is enteral nutrition (EN) initiated?, When and how well are target nutritional goals achieved in this population?, and, Is there a direct association between nutrient delivery and overall outcomes for critically ill pediatric patients?

Clinical Practice

Dr. Irving practices as a pediatric nurse practitioner at CHOP, where she provides patient care in the pediatric intensive care and pediatric progressive care units, and recently, the nutrition support service out of the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition. She led a multi-disciplinary ICU-Pediatric Nutrition Team (ICU - PNuTs) in designing and implementing a critical care nutrition pathway to improve the way infants and children receive nutrition during and immediately following critical illness. This pathway has been fundamental in identifying the need for similar feeding and nutrition initiatives at CHOP, targeting specific populations. She led the multidisciplinary ICU-PNuT team including physicians, registered dieticians, advance practice and clinical nurses, and a clinical pharmacist in this initiative.

Opportunities to Learn and Collaborate at Penn Nursing

Dr. Irving entered Penn Nursing as a graduate nursing student in 1991, and later returned to the PhD program in 2006. She joined the standing faculty in 2012. Dr. Irving attests to the numerous opportunities afforded to students at Penn Nursing to immerse themselves in cutting-edge clinical practice, research, and education. She serves as a mentor to students in their research inquiry, quality improvement initiatives, and clinical work.

Selected Career Highlights

Awarded the National League for Nursing Isabel Hampton Robb Award for Outstanding Leadership in Clinical Practice, 2024
Elected Vice President of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 2024
Women of Color at Penn (WOCAP) Faculty Award, 2023
Fellow of American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 2021
Distinguished Nutrition Support Nurse, American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 2019
Fellow, American Academy of Nursing, 2016
Fellow, American College of Critical Care Medicine, Society of Critical Care Medicine, 2014
Distinguished Alumna in Service to Nursing Award, Marquette University, 2013
Dean’s Award for Exemplary Professional Practice, University of Pennsylvania, 2013

Accepting Mentees?

Accepting Fellows?

Selected Publications

Raina, R., Suchan, A., Sethi, S. K., Soundararajan, A., Vitale, V. S., Keller, G. L., Brown, A. M., Davenport, A., Shih, W. V., Nada, A., Irving, S. Y., Mannemuddhu, S. S., Crugnale, A.S., Myneni, A., Berry, K. G., Zieg, J., Alhasan, K., Guzzo, I., Lussier, N. H., Yap, H. K., … Bunchman, T. E. (2024). Nutrition in Critically Ill Children with AKI on Continuous RRT: Consensus Recommendations. Kidney360, 5(2), 285–309.
Honarmand, K., Sirimaturos, M., Hirshberg, E.L., Bircher, N.G., Agus, M.S.D., Carpenter, D.L., Downs, C.R., Farrington, E.A., Freire, A.X., Grow, A., Irving, S.Y., Krinsley, J.S., Lanspa, M.J., Long, M.T., Nagpal, D., Preiser, JC., Srinivasan, V., Umpierrez, G.E., Jacobi, J. (2024) Society of Critical Care Medicine Guidelines on Glycemic Control for Critically Ill Children and Adults 2024: Executive Summary. Critical Care Medicine.
Gance-Cleveland, B., Frenn, M., Browne, N., Greenberg, C.S., Snethen, J.A., Hodges, E.A., Fial, A.V., Small, L., Irving, S.Y. (2024). A scoping review of the role of policy in mitigating childhood obesity in underserved populations using the RE-AIM framework. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 10.1111/wvn.12725.
Irving, S.Y., Berry, K.G., Morgan, S.E., Seiple, S.M., Nagle, M.L., Stetzer, M., Tabatabaei, N., Murphy, S., Srinivasan, V., Mascarenhas, M. Nutrition considerations for skin integrity and pressure injury in critically ill pediatric patients. Nutrition in Clinical Practice, (2023); 38, S125-S138.
VanDamme, D.M., McRae, E.M., Irving, S.Y., Kelley, S.P., Tarquinio, K.M., Giuliano J.S., Ruppe, M.D., Kierys, K.L., Breuer, R.K., Parsons, S.J., Mallory, P.P., Sheoni, A.N., Swain, K.A., Polifoff, L.A., Lee, A., Adu-Darko, M.A., Napolitano N., Shults, J., Nishisaki, A., Berkenbosch, J.W., National Emergency Airway Registry for Children (NEAR4KIDS) and Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI). Tracheal intubation by advanced practice registered nurses in pediatric critical care: Retrospective study from the National Emergency Airway for Children Registry (2015-2019). Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.
Kaplan, S., Jalloul, M., Akbari E., White, A.M., Flowers, C., Srinivasan, V., Xiaowei, Z., Irving, S.Y. (2023). Development and clinical use of a reduced-dose radiograph for feeding tube placement. PediatricRadiology.
Typpo, K.V., Irving, S.Y., Prince, J.M., Pathan, N., Brown, AM. (2022). Gastrointestinal Dysfunction Criteria in Critically Ill Children: The PODIUM Consensus Conference. Pediatrics. 2022 Jan1; 149(Supplement_1): S53-S58.
Tjoeng, Y.L, Myers, C., Irving, S.Y., Esangbedo, I., Wheeler, D., Musa, N. The current state of workforce diversity and inclusion in pediatric critical care. Critical Care Clinics. (2022); 39(2).
Browne, N.T., Hodges, E., Small, L., Snethen, J., Frenn, M., Irving, S.Y., Gance-Cleveland, B., Greenberg, C. (2021). Childhood obesity within the lens of racism. Pediatric Obesity, 17(5) e12878.
Brown, AM., Irving, S.Y., Pringle, C., Allen, C., Brown, M.F., Nett, S., Singleton, M.N., Mikhailov, T.A., Madsen, E., Srinivasan, V., Anthony, H., Forbes, M.L. (2021). Bolus gastric feeds improve nutritional delivery to mechanically ventilated pediatric medical patients: Results of the COntinuous vs BOlus (COBO2) Multi-Center Trial. JPEN Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

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CV for Irving, Sharon (July 2024).pdf

National Award for Penn Nursing Professor

Penn Nursing’s Sharon Y. Irving, PhD, CRNP, FCCM, FAAN, FASPEN, Professor and the Miriam Stirl Endowed Term Chair in Nutrition in the Department of Family and Community Health, will receive the 2024 National League for Nursing (NLN)’s Isabel Hampton Robb Award for Outstanding Leadership in Clinical Practice. She will be honored during the 2024 NLN Education Summit: A Daring Proposition: Competency-Based Education, on September 18-20, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas.

New, National Leadership Role for Penn Nursing Professor is a First

Penn Nursing’s Sharon Y. Irving, PhD, CRNP, FCCM, FAAN, FASPEN, is the first nurse, nurse practitioner, and woman of African-American heritage to be elected Vice President of ASPEN, the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Her term begins June 1, 2024. Irving, Irving, who was recently promoted to full Professor effective July 1, is also the Miriam Stirl Endowed Term Chair in Nutrition, and Vice-Chair of Graduate Education in the Department of Family and Community Health.