Research

Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Professor Sheila Ridner, PhD, FAAN, recently completed a large randomized trial to assess early detection methods coupled with a prevention intervention for a common side effect of breast-cancer treatments—lymphedema. Read More

Associate Professor Laurie Connors, DNP, FAANP, has received a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute to train doctoral nurses—doctors of nursing practice and PhD nurses—in the translation and integration of genomics into academics, research and clinical practice. Genomics, the… Read More

Assistant Professor Mulubrhan Mogos, PhD, has been named an ambassador for the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research, an independent nonprofit organization that advocates for nursing science and its role in promoting the health and well-being of Americans. Mogos was one of 15 nurse… Read More

Assistant Professor Jeremy Neal, PhD, FACNM, has been awarded an R21 exploratory/development grant of more than $250,000 from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities to assess the differences in labor progress and care among Black and white women with low-risk pregnancies. The study findings… Read More

Vanderbilt University professors Sheila Ridner at the School of Nursing and Barbara Murphy at the School of Medicine have contributed to the development of a first-of-its-kind device to treat head and neck lymphedema–a chronic disease that causes fluid buildup in the body and can complicate normal functions. When this disease occurs in the head… Read More

Investigators analyzing comments received during a 2020 Vanderbilt University Medical Center study that showed women have a difficult time accessing treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) have shed further light on barriers to care. Those included everything from long on-hold times to difficult interactions with clinic receptionists during phone calls seeking appointments, said Vanderbilt University School of Nursing assistant professor Julia Phillippi, PhD, CNM, FACNM, FAAN, lead author on the qualitative study published in "Women's Health Issues." Read More

Associate Professor Terrah Foster Akard, PhD’08, MSN’01, FAAN, has been named director of the PhD in Nursing Science program at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Akard, a Vanderbilt University Chancellor’s Faculty Fellow and noted scholar in pediatric palliative care, had been… Read More

Vanderbilt researchers are prolific and resolute in their pursuit of transformative research and innovation. During the pandemic, more than 3,000 Vanderbilt research personnel have returned to in-person research activities, while many others have continued remotely through perseverance and ingenuity. On campus and at home, they are making discoveries that advance… Read More

Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, School of Nursing postdoctoral fellow James Muchira designed a study to examine the relationship between maternal cardiovascular health and early childhood obesity and arterial stiffness in 1- to 5-year-old children. He altered his recruitment and data collection protocols to prioritize the safety of the participants and research personnel when he returned to the lab through Vanderbilt's Research Ramp-up process. Read More

When in-person research activities at Vanderbilt were put on hold in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheila Ridner, PhD'03, MSN'00, FAAN, the Martha Rivers Ingram Professor of Nursing and director of the PhD in Nursing Science Program, was the primary investigator on two research studies with oncology patients. “The participants in the lymphedema prevention study had given us five years of their lives, and so we also felt an ethical responsibility to finish our work in supporting them,” Ridner said. Read More