Recent honors and awards for School of Nursing faculty and students
Faculty and students in the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing are regularly recognized for career accomplishments, research, scholarship and leadership. Recent noteworthy honors include:
Professor Susie Adams, PhD, PMC’01, PMC’11, FAANP, FAAN, was inducted into the 2020 University of Kentucky College of Nursing Hall of Fame during virtual ceremonies held in September. Adams was hailed as a champion for integrating mental health services within primary care settings.
Professor Terri Allison, DNP, PMC’00, ACNP-BC, FAANP, assistant dean for academics and director of the Vanderbilt DNP program, received the 2020 Distinguished Alumna Award from Auburn University School of Nursing. She was recognized for distinguished service to the nursing field through her scholarship, promotion of health care, professional service and remarkable impact on nursing education and nursing practice.
Associate Professor Debra Arnow, DNP’11, MSN’96, was elected treasurer for the Board of Directors of the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board.
Assistant Professor Leanne Boehm, PhD’16, MSN’09, has been named a fellow of the American College of Critical-Care Medicine. Fellows are selected for having made outstanding contributions to the collaborative field of critical care.
Leah Branam, assistant in clinical nursing, received first place for her poster, “Addressing Rural Health Equity and Access in Rural Tennessee,” at the Center for Disease Control’s Public Health Ethics Forum. Her co-author was Peabody doctoral student Catherine Gonzalez.
Springer Publishing has published a book by Professor Tom Christenbery, PhD’04, MSN’87, CNE. Fast Facts for Writing the DNP Project: Effective Structure, Content and Presentation was published Sept. 14.
Associate Professor Laurie Connors, DNP, was honored with the International Society of Nurses in Genetics’ Founders’ Award for Education. The award recognizes ISONG members who demonstrate excellence in genomic nursing education, research or service.
Associate Professor Stephanie DeVane-Johnson, PhD, MSN’97, was accepted into the inaugural American College of Nurse Midwives LEAD leadership development program. She was one of 50 selected nationwide for the program, which helps certified nurse-midwives earn leadership knowledge and skills.
Professor Sarah Fogel, PhD’01, MSN’94, received the 2020 Spotlight Award from Vanderbilt University’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Life for her contributions to the LGBTQI community.
A paper written by Assistant Professor Diane Folk, DNP, has earned the distinction of being one of the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health’s most cited papers 2018-2019. Folk’s paper, “Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy: Overview and Current Recommendations,” was in the journal’s May 2018 issue.
Associate Professor Karen Hande, DNP’13, has received a 2020 NLN Foundation for Nursing Education Faculty Scholarship Award from the NLN Foundation for Nursing Education, as well as the Oncology Nursing Foundation Doctoral Scholarship from the Oncology Nursing Society.
Alvin Jeffery, PhD’17, assistant professor of nursing and biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University, has been elected as a director on the national board for the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, the largest specialty nursing organization in the world with more than 120,000 members.
Pam Jones, DNP’13, MSN’92, BSN’81, senior associate dean for clinical and community partnerships, was named one of Nashville Medical News’ Women to Watch. She was also recognized by the American Academy of Nursing for her leadership in Vanderbilt University’s successful return to campus.
Postdoctoral Fellow James Muchira, PhD, received the Nursing Research Article of the Year Award from the American Heart Association’s Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing as lead author of “Temporal Trends and Familial Clustering of Ideal Cardiovascular Health in Parents and Offspring Over the Life Course: An Investigation Using The Framingham Heart Study.”
Assistant Professor Julia Phillippi, PhD, MSN’99, was invited to present at a National Institute of Nursing Research Workshop in September. She spoke about her research during a presentation on Integrated, Person-centered Care: Building Systems that Facilitate Inter-professional Collaboration Innovative Models of Care for Reducing Inequities in Maternal Health.
Courtney Pitts, DNP’11, MSN’09, director of VUSN’s Family Nurse Practitioner program, has been appointed to the Public Policy Committee of the National League for Nursing for a two-year term.
Jennifer Wilbeck, DNP, MSN’99, PMC’06, received the 2020 Certified Nurse Award for Acute Care Nurse Practitioner from the American Nurse Credentialing Center (ANCC).
Student honors
DNP student Heather Meissen, MSN’05, FAANP, was appointed as a commissioner to the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation in Practice Transition Programs.
Several VUSN nurse-midwifery students have received awards from the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Shaloma Taylor received the Dorthea Lang Memorial Scholarship and Jasmine Powell received the Midwife of Color Scholarship. Hannah McGrew received a third place award in the ACNM Foundation Twentieth Century Midwives Student Interview Project Awards. Hannah Bergren, Emili Broyles and Sarah Hodges received honorable mentions. PhD in Nursing Science candidate Robyn Schafer, CNM, received the Dianne S. Moore Midwifery Research Scholarship for CNM/CM members of ACNM enrolled in research-oriented doctoral or post-doctoral education.
The NLN Foundation for Nursing Education awarded a 2020 NLN Foundation for Nursing Education Faculty Scholarship Awards scholarship to PhD in Nursing Science candidate Robyn Schafer, CNM. The NLN Foundation scholarships are awarded to nurses pursuing advanced degrees who have completed at least one year of academic studies toward their degrees.
Robyn Schafer, CNM, PhD in Nursing Science candidate, and Hannah McGrew, dual Nurse-Midwifery/Family Nurse Practitioner student, have each won national March of Dimes Graduate Nursing Scholarship awards. The scholarships are given each year to the highest scoring graduate nursing scholarship applicants. The awards recognize and promote excellence in nursing, and further the organization’s commitment to ensuring moms and babies receive the highest quality of medical care.
Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner students Christine Nguyen, Amy Lee and Elaine Do have been accepted into the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nursing Association. The fellowship supports full-time nursing students focusing on mental health and/or substance abuse disorders, prevention or treatment. The fellows commit to working in mental health and/or substance abuse nursing for a minimum of two years post-graduation.
Women’s Health and Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner student Emily Friedman won first place in the 2020 Hope Babette Tang Essay Contest sponsored by the Gold Foundation. Her essay, “In Good Hands,” will be published in the January/February 2021 issue of the Journal of Professional Nursing.
Related News
Recent School of Nursing Recognitions and Honors
August 17, 2018
Faculty and students in the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing have recently been recognized for career accomplishments, research, scholarship and leadership. Student Kaitlyn McGowen, right with patient Roger Conrad, has been named a Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions fellow. Other recent honors include:
Lauderdale urges nation’s nursing students to be culturally competent
June 12, 2018
When Assistant Dean Jana Lauderdale, PhD, FAAN, took the stage at the National Student Nurses’ Association (NSNA) 66th Annual Convention plenary session presented by Johnson & Johnson, she introduced herself in a unique way: “I’m a Comanche Indian and I’m a nurse.” Johnson & Johnson later featured her in an article in its “Nursing Notes” newsletter. Read more / Watch Lauderdale’s presentation.
School of Nursing announces official diversity and inclusion position statement
January 13, 2018
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing (VUSN) has adopted a new diversity and inclusion statement that sets out its dedication to the equity, diversity and inclusion of all students, faculty and staff and proclaims its responsibilities as an educational institution to foster and graduate highly educated and culturally sensitive health care professionals. The statement was developed…
