The Vanderbilt School of Nursing has named six new Health Equity Faculty Fellows and awarded them funding to conduct projects advancing health equity scholarship.
Established in 2024, the Vanderbilt School of Nursing Health Equity Faculty Fellows program is designed to propel research, support VUSN’s work in the health equity arena, and foster opportunities for improving health equity.
“Health inequity—the factors that prevent people from attaining optimal health—remains one of the greatest problems facing people across the country,” said Dean Pamela R. Jeffries, PhD, FAAN, ANEF, FSSH. “This program was created to increase scholarship in much-needed areas of health equity. I am confident that the work of our Faculty Fellows will both find solutions and inspire further research that addresses the very real issues faced by our communities.”
We are proud to announce this year’s scholars and their projects:
- Instructor Leah Branam, MSSW, “The Road to Birth: A Journey Mapping Study of Maternal Health Equity in Rural Maternity Care Deserts”
- Professor Misook Chung, PhD, FAAN, FAHA, “Exploring Health Status and Self-Care Engagement in Black Informal Caregivers of Adults with Chronic Disease”
- Assistant Professor Mulubrhan Mogos, PhD, FAHA, “Establishing Community-Engagement Program and Identifying Strategies to Advance High Blood Pressure Awareness”
- Professor Julia Philippi, PhD, FACNM, FNAP, FAAN, “Assessment of ‘Multiple Moves’ in the Childbearing Years”
- Assistant Professor Gloria Littlemouse, PhD, “Spirituality and End-of-Life Care: A Multicultural Approach to Addressing Health Inequities”
- Assistant Professor Ying Sheng, PhD, “Palpitations Across Chemotherapy Continuum in a Heterogeneous Group of Women with Breast Cancer”
2024’s fellows and their projects were:
- Assistant Professor James Muchira, PhD, “A Community-Based Approach to Health Equity Through Trauma Care and Promoting Cardiovascular Health”
- Associate Professor Regina Russell, PhD, “Amplifying Health Equity in the Evaluation of Nursing Education Programs”
- Assistant Professor Markie Sneed, PhD, “Whole Food for Families: A Pilot RCT of a Dietary Gudielines-Based Intervention to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes”
- Assistant Professor Julia Steed, PhD, “Advancing Health Equity through Diverse Nurse Practitioner Student Success: A Quality Improvement Study for Culturally Competent Care”
- Instructor Jade Vergara, “Expansion of Integrated Community-Based SDOH Resources for Older Adults in a Historically Black Community”
- Professor Carol Ziegler, DNP, “Launching the Planetary Health Policy Innovation Lab”
“It’s an honor to recognize these talented faculty for their contributions to health equity knowledge and collaboration, and for their work in addressing the circumstances, contexts and injustices that underlie their patients’ care,” Jeffries said.
The work was funded by a $1 million matching fund established in 2024 by Jeffries. This program is made possible by Benjamin A. Smallheer, PhD’11, MSN’04, FAANP, and Brett Morgan, DNP, CRNA; Diane R. Lauver, PhD, BSN’75; and the Vanderbilt School of Nursing Dean’s Advisory Council. We are very grateful for their support.