VA Nurse Researcher Directory
VA Nursing Research >> Nurse Researcher Information
The investigators are listed alphabetically by last name. Click on a letter below to access that section of the page.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Jane A. Anderson, PhD, RN, FNP-C, FAANP, is the Director of Education and Research for the VA National TeleStroke Program (NTSP) where her work is focused on development, implementation and evaluation of a nationwide curriculum to train interprofessional clinical teams across participating VA facilities in telehealth delivery of acute stroke care. A substantial portion of the NTSP curriculum involves using simulation in conjunction with the VA National SimLearn Center. In this role her work also involves identifying research partnerships with the NTSP to investigate effective telehealth and health information technologies for the continuum of stroke care and prevention. As a nurse scientist with the Houston HSR&D Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (IQuEST), her funded projects include development and implementation of a telehealth self-management support program for stroke risk reduction, decision support tools for evidence based stroke care, and a valid and reliable nurse-administered swallowing screening tool for patients with stroke. Dr. Anderson is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at Baylor College of Medicine and has expanded her program of research, developed in the VA, to the State of Texas through collaboration with the Lone Star Stroke (LSS) Consortium; a collaboration among leading medical research institutions in Texas to improve the health of Texans affected by stroke through patient-centered research. She serves as the Principal Investigator for LSS studies at the BCM and is a member of the LSS Executive Committee.
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Mona Baharestani, PhD, APN, CWON, CWS, FACCWS, FAPWCA, is the Associate Chief of Wound Care & Research Programs at the James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Johnson City, Tennessee where she provides interprofessional wound healing education, second opinion consultation and clinical research. Dr. Baharestani holds a Clinical Associate Professor appointment at the East Tennessee State University, Quillen College of Medicine in the Department of Surgery. In the past 4 years Dr. Baharestani has served as Principal Investigator on five clinical wound healing studies. Prior to returning to her native home of Tennessee, Dr. Baharestani served as the Director of Wound Healing in the Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New Hyde Park, New York. She has served on the Executive Boards of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC), the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP), the International Pressure Ulcer Guidelines Committee as the Debridement Task Force Chair, and the Pressure Ulcer Staging Update Task Force. Dr. Baharestani has served as a past NPUAP Vice-President and Chair of the NPUAP Neonatal and Pediatric Pressure Ulcer Task Force.
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Lelia (Lee) Barks, PhD, ARNP, is a nurse investigator at the VA HSR&D CINDRR Center of Innovation on Disabilities and Rehabilitation Research at the James A. Haley VAMC Tampa; and Assistant Professor (courtesy) at the University of South Florida College of Nursing, Tampa. She has had a 25 year career as a clinical expert in federal class action lawsuits on long term care of persons with disabilities, her doctoral cognate area is biomedical engineering, and she prefers research with vulnerable human participants. She has held an inaugural Interprofessional Patient Safety fellowship and a VA Nursing Research Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Barks’ Career Development Award 2 (VA RR&D, 2012-2017) focuses on: validating a new instrument to measure wheelchair seated posture in older Veterans, describing their posture in the Community Living Center environment, developing an intervention for wheelchair seating using mixed methods, and piloting the intervention in the CLC. The pilot also focuses on health outcomes associated with wheelchair seated posture. Dr. Barks reviews manuscripts for Rehabilitation Nursing and reviews research proposals for American Nurses Foundation. Her research career to date has focused on rehabilitation outcomes research, relative to patient safety in the VA.
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Catherine Battaglia, PhD, RN, is a nurse scientist at the VA Eastern Colorado Healthcare System. Her research is focused on improving access to care for vulnerable populations. Dr. Battaglia received funding from VA Health Services Research to study an integrated telehealth care management and tobacco cessation intervention to help Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder quit smoking. She is also conducting research in the areas of health behavior change, motivational interviewing, rural healthcare, and program evaluation. Dr. Battaglia is an Assistant Professor in the Health System Management and Policy Department in the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Denver. She is the Co-Director of the Health Services Research PhD program and in this role; Dr. Battaglia teaches, mentors and advises PhD and MS students. Dr. Battaglia is also a faculty member in the Leadership and Advocacy Track in the School of Medicine.
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Kathleen Leask Capitulo, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Chief Nurse Executive of the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in the Bronx, New York and Nurse Scientist. Dr. Capitulo’s research has focused on healing families’ grief, the journey of transplant, therapeutic use of technology, holistic care, transcultural nursing, and workforce issues. A major focus of Dr. Capitulo’s work has been on implementation of professional practice models. At James J. Peters VA she led strategic planning for nursing and patient care services and implemented Relationship Based Care and Shared Governance. She received the 2011 AONE Research Grant Award for her study, “The Impact of the Implementation of a Caring Professional Practice Model and Shared Governance on caring, structural empowerment and workplace engagement.” Dr. Capitulo is a Professor at the Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, Executive Director of the Transcultural Nursing Leadership Institute, and has served on the Boards of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric & Neonatal Nursing, New York Organization of Nurse Executives, and the American Red Cross in Greater New York. She holds a PhD from Columbia University’s School of Nursing and is credentialed in wound care by IIWCC.
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Teresita Corvera-Tindel, PhD, RN, is a Nurse Researcher in the Department of Nursing Education and Research at VA GLAHS. Over the past 12 years, Dr. Corvera-Tindel focused her research on the evaluation of appropriate and/or accessible rehabilitation programs that will improve functional status and quality of life in patients with heart failure (HF). Her research has been funded by VA Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D), and Nursing Research Initiative (NRI) grant #960311: Home Walking Exercise in Advanced HF. She received a Research Career Development Award from VA Rehabilitation Research & Development (RR&D) and HSR&D, NRI #05-209: Prevalence and Clinical Course of Depression among Veterans with HF. Dr. Corvera-Tindel mentors clinicians at all levels on research and evidence-based care.
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Linda Cowan, PhD, ARNP, FNP-BC, CWS, is the Associate Chief of Nursing Service/Research for the Center of INnovation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (CINDRR) and Associate Director of the Patient Safety Center of Inquiry (PSCI) at the James A. Haley VA in Tampa, FL. She is also a Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Wound Specialist with over 30 years’ experience. Dr. Cowan has been employed by the VA since 2007 and is currently the Principal Investigator on two secondary analyses and one randomized controlled (clinical) trial. Research interests include pressure ulcer risk assessment and management, predictive modeling, chronic wound healing mechanisms and anti-biofilm strategies, including larval debridement. Dr. Cowan has been the lead on several clinical demonstration projects funded by the VA Office of Rural Health, implementing telehealth programs for Veterans with ostomies. Dr. Cowan is an appointed member to the VA national Nursing Research Field Advisory Council. In the past, she has served as the Chair of the Oversight Committee for Clinical Research and voting member of the NF/SG Research and Development Committee for North Florida South Georgia Veterans Health System and was a voting member of the University of Florida Institutional Review Board (IRB) from 2015-2017. Additionally, she served as the Research Board Member (and Research Task Force Chair) on the Association for Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC) Board of Directors from 2013 to 2017 and is currently a Co-Chair on the International Consolidated Pressure Ulcer Guideline Task Force for AAWC.
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Mary Ellen Dellefield, PhD, RN, is a Research Nurse Scientist at VA San Diego Healthcare System and a Clinical Professor at University of San Diego Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science. She is a Hartford Gerontological Nursing Leader alumna ( University of California San Francisco/2004-2006). In the course of her career, Dr. Dellefield has received funding from AHRQ, VA HSR&D, VA Nursing Research Initiative, and private foundations focused on elder care in institutional care settings. She was a Career Development Awardee from 2008-2012. Areas of research and scholarship include nursing homes and related aspects (i.e. quality, nurse staffing, RN practice, clinical supervision and management, pressure ulcer prevention, safety, and regulation).
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Monica Marten DiNardo, PhD, ANP-BC, CDE, is an Adult Nurse Practitioner in the Department of Endocrinology and a Core Investigator at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP) at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS). Dr. DiNardo’s research emphasis is on theory-based intervention studies to reduce psychological and behavioral barriers that impact self-care and outcomes in adults with diabetes. She has conducted several funded projects in the area of mindfulness meditation and stress reduction in persons with diabetes, and has received pilot funding from the Nightingale Scholarship of Pennsylvania and the American Association of Diabetes Educator (AADE) to develop, implement and evaluate the feasibility of a mindfulness training and practice intervention for persons with diabetes. Her VA study (NRI) is a randomized clinical trial that examines the efficacy of this intervention provided as part of routine diabetes self-management education, for improving diabetes distress, self-efficacy, self-management, and metabolic control in Veterans. Central to her NP role, Dr. DiNardo has provided over 15 years of clinical service in diabetes management and education in both inpatient and outpatient settings, and served on national consensus panels for hypoglycemia (2005) and inpatient glycemic management (2009). Dr. DiNardo completed her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing in 2013 where she holds an adjunct faculty appointment.
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Sonia Duffy, PhD, RN, FAAN, Duffy is Professor at The Ohio State University, College of Nursing and a Research Investigator at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System. During her National Cancer Institute-sponsored pre-doctoral fellowship, Dr. Duffy was educated in health behavior and epidemiology. Having been funded by both the National Institutes of Health and the VA, Dr. Duffy's research interests have focused on cancer reduction related to health behavior change (particularly smoking cessation). Currently, she has a VA Investigator Initiated Research (IIR) project entitled: Comparative Outcomes of Pharmacologic Treatment for Veteran Smokers.
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Dana Epstein, PhD, RN, is Associate Chief of Nursing Service for Research, Phoenix VA Health Care System and adjunct faculty of Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health innovation. Dr. Epstein’s research program and clinical practice focus on the cognitive-behavioral treatment of insomnia (CBTI). She has received funding as a PI from the NIH (NINR and NCI) and VA (HSR&D) for CBTI studies. Dr. Epstein has experience in the modification and implementation of CBTI for special populations, including those with complex comorbid conditions. Her research has transitioned from randomized controlled trials with a focus on efficacy to studies with an emphasis on implementation science, the incorporation of patients’ preferences for treatment, and treatment delivery via smartphone applications. Dr. Epstein’s current study, funded by the VA Polytrauma and Blast-Related Injuries QUERI, uses stakeholder feedback to modify a VA mobile app for insomnia self-management in OEF/OIF/OND Veterans in post-deployment primary care and polytrauma care. With colleagues from Arizona State University, Dr. Epstein is currently conducting a smartphone app (BeWell24) intervention study funded by the Virginia Piper Charitable Trust Foundation. The study will determine the optimal combination of sleep, sedentary behavior, and physical activity interventions on behavioral and cardiometabolic outcomes.
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Mary Ersek, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Director of the Veterans Health Administration PROMISE (Performance Reporting and Outcomes Measurement to Improve the Standard of care at End-of-life) Center, which is located at the Philadelphia VAMC. The goals of this national program are to identify and reduce unwanted variation in the quality of end-of-life care throughout the VA and to define and disseminate processes of care (“Best Practices”) that contribute to improved outcomes for Veterans near the end of life and their families. Dr. Ersek is on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. In addition to conducting and disseminating PROMISE Center analyses, she has a research program focused on pain and palliative care in older adults, with an emphasis on residents of nursing homes. These studies include a recently completed NIH-funded project that examined the effectiveness of a pain management algorithm coupled with intensive support and consultation in enhancing the health status of nursing home residents. Dr. Ersek also was awarded a VA Merit award to develop a valid and reliable measure of pain intensity for persons with advanced dementia.
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Heather Gilmartin, PhD, NP, is a research nurse scientist with the Denver/Seattle Center of Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value Driven Care, VA Eastern Colorado Healthcare System and adjunct faculty at the University of Colorado, College of Nursing and School of Public Health. She received her undergraduate degree from Boston College, her master’s degree from Yale University, and her doctorate from the University of Colorado. She completed a post-doctoral nurse fellowship with the Veterans Health Administration, Denver VA Medical Center. Her research focuses on understanding and optimizing the culture of healthcare to enhance patient safety and facilitate organizational learning through the implementation of evidence-based interventions. She has conducted research in the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections, the use of mindfulness for healthcare staff, and testing conceptual models and applying advanced statistical methods, including structural equation modeling, to yield a greater understanding of complex systems issues. She is a member of the Association for Professionals of Infection Control and Epidemiology Research Committee, and the American Journal of Infection Control Editorial Board. Her clinical practice as a family nurse practitioner has included epidemiology, family practice, pediatrics, and public health nursing.
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Jenice Guzman-Clark, PhD, RN, is a nurse investigator at the VA GLAHS GRECC and CSHIIP, and is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the UCLA School of Nursing. She completed her BSN (1997), MSN-GNP (1999), and PhD in Nursing (2011) from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Guzman-Clark’s program of research focuses on chronic disease management and home telehealth use. As Principal Investigator, she has been funded by the VA HSRD Nursing Research Initiative to investigate adherence to the use of home telehealth devices by Veterans with heart failure.
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K. Sue Haddock, Ph.D, RN, is an Associate Chief of Staff for Research (ACOS-R) at the WJB Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia, SC. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, Health Policy and Administration Department and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Haddock has a keen interest in evaluation research and is currently leading the national evaluation of the ONS Staffing Methodology training for the most recent roll-outs in specialty areas. Locally, she works with interdisciplinary teams at her local site to develop grants in response to requests for clinical proposals. Her teams have been awarded funding for system redesign and non-institutional care alternatives for the elderly. Dr. Haddock’s research fits well with implementation science and provides evidence about systems issues.
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Mary Hagle, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a Nurse Scientist in the Department of Nursing Research at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, and a Research Scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Nursing with the Knowledge Based Nursing Initiative. Dr. Hagle’s research interests include patient safety and prevention of adverse events, including prevention of pressure ulcers, infections from vascular access devices, and respiratory depression from opioids. Other research has focused on partnership with patients and developing nursing expertise. Of special interest is synthesizing and translating research evidence into actionable practice recommendations. Findings from Dr. Hagle’s work have clarified risk factors for surgical patients with PCA and risk factors for med/surg patients developing pressure ulcers.
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Cristina Hendrix, DNS, GNP-BC, is a nurse investigator at the GRECC Durham VAMC and Associate Professor at Duke University School of Nursing. She completed her BSN (1991) at the University of Santo Tomás in Manila, Philippines, MSN-FNP (1996) at the University of Alabama, DNS (2001) from Louisiana State University, and Post-Master's Gerontological Nurse Practitioner (2005) at the Duke University School of Nursing. Dr. Hendrix's program of research focuses on developing interventions to support chronically-ill patients and their caregivers during the hospital-to-home transition. She is funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research to investigate the effects of an individualized, tailored training for caregivers before hospital discharge of their loved ones. Dr. Hendrix obtained HSR&D pilot funding to test the feasibility of such training for caregivers of frail older veterans before hospital discharge. She is the program lead of the Transitional Care (TLC) Partner at the Durham VAMC, a program that provides clinical services to older veterans up to 30 days of hospital discharge. Dr. Hendrix is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the Gerontological Society of America, the Southern Nursing Research Society, and the Philippine Nurses Association - North Carolina.
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Ursula Kelly, PhD, ANP-BC, PMHNP-BC, is a Nurse Scientist and Nurse Practitioner in Behavioral Health at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. She holds a joint appointment as an Assistant Professor at the Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. Her research and clinical expertise are the impact of interpersonal violence on women’s mental health. The central focus of her research is on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression in women who experienced intimate partner violence and military sexual trauma (MST), particularly exploring barriers to care and developing and evaluating innovative treatment models. She received NIH National Institute of Nursing Research pre and post-doctoral fellowships and private foundation funding for her previous research with Latinas with PTSD. She recently received funding from the VA Nursing Research Initiative to pilot a trauma-sensitive yoga intervention for female Veterans with PTSD and MST. She is the principal investigator of a study of PTSD treatment seeking decisions of female Veterans with PTSD and MST and co-Investigator of a VA PTSD/MST Treatment Program Evaluation study. Dr. Kelly also works with the nursing staff at the Atlanta VAMC on evidence-based practice implementation.
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Carol T. Kostovich, RN, PhD, is a post-doctoral nursing fellow for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital. She is also an Associate Professor of Nursing at Saint Xavier University, Chicago, IL. Dr. Kostovich’s research focuses on the phenomenon of nursing presence and its related outcomes. Her dissertation work involved the development and psychometric assessment of the Presence of Nursing Scale (PONS), an instrument used to measure acutely ill hospitalized patients’ perceptions of nursing presence. Dr. Kostovich found that patients’ perceptions of nursing presence were positively correlated with perceived patient satisfaction. Psychometric assessment of the scale revealed it to be reliable and valid in this sample. During her fellowship, Dr. Kostovich will establish the dimensions of nursing presence in the Veteran population, establish the psychometric properties of the PONS in a chronically ill Veteran population, develop an instrument to measure nurse-perceived nursing presence and determine the relationship between nursing presence and patient, nurse, and organizational outcomes.
Dr. Kostovich earned her bachelor of science in nursing degree from Saint Xavier College, Chicago, her master of science in nursing degree from Governors State University, University Park, Illinois, and her doctor of philosophy degree from Loyola University Chicago.
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Sarah L. Krein, PhD, RN, Research Career Scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Center for Clinical Management Research and a Research Professor of Internal Medicine with an adjunct appointment in the School of Nursing at the University of Michigan. Her research includes the use of mixed-methods and implementation science approaches with a focus on patient safety and management of complex chronic conditions. This includes studies that involve large-scale implementation of patient safety practices, mixed-methods studies of disease transmission, provider communication and hospital resuscitation care, as well as trials of novel approaches for managing c hronic pain.
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Yu-Fang Li, PhD, RN, is a Research Health Science Specialist in Northwest HSR&D CoE, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, and Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, University of Washington. Dr. Li’s research interests include the associations of nurse staffing with nurse, patient and cost outcomes; care transitions from the hospital to the community; and psychometric analysis. She was Project Manager of the HSR&D team for the VA Nursing Outcomes Database project and is collaborating with the VA Inpatient Evaluation Center on quality improvement projects. Dr. Li has conducted or has been actively involved in VA nationwide nurse staffing studies.
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M. Katherine Maeve, RN Ph.D., is the Nurse Researcher at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, GA. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the Medical College of Georgia, and a Clinical Associate Professor in the College of Nursing at the Medical University of South Carolina. She earned her BSN from Mesa State University, and her MS and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Dr. Maeve’s research has focused on the intersection between health behaviors and criminal behaviors, and has worked extensively with incarcerated women. She has served as a consultant to the ACLU regarding inmate health care, and was a Visiting Scholar at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. In 2004, Dr. Maeve was named a Health Disparities Scholar by the Department of Health & Human Services, Public Health Services, NIH, National Center on Minority Health Issues. Currently, Dr. Maeve is developing research to identify health profiles of incarcerated veterans and document their continuity of health care after release from a county jail.
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Maura Farrell Miller, PhD, ACHPN, GNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, is Director, Hospice and Palliative Care at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center. She is Affiliate Associate Professor at the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University and Affiliate Assistant Professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She completed her BSN (1978) at the State University of New York @ Utica/Rome, MSN-CNS/GNP (1984) at the University of Miami School of Nursing, and PhD (1996) at the University of Miami School of Nursing. Dr. Miller’s current focus is on building and sustaining evidence based VA Palliative Care programs. She has received VA funding to support the following initiatives: FY12 Grant to Implement Comfort Care Order Set (CCOS) and ICU Family Meetings, FY15 VISN-8 Inaugural Innovation Grant for Building Therapeutic-Sensory Garden, FY16 VAVS Grant to Support Interprofessional CommUNITY Garden/Therapeutic Gardening Program (Mental Health, Nursing, Recreation Therapy, Dietician, Wellness). Dr. Miller serves the Medical Center as Nursing representative for the Scientific Advisory Committee and is Co-Leader for the Life Sustaining Treatment Decisions Initiative (LSTDI).
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Angelo D. Moore, PhD, FNP-BC, , is the Chief Nurse, Education at the Fayetteville VA Medical Center in Fayetteville, NC. He completed his BSN (1995) at Winston-Salem State University, MSN-FNP (2002) at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and PhD (2010) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After 25 years of active duty service in the US Army, he joined the VA in April 2016. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focuses on psychosocial factors that impact patient outcomes. He has conducted research related to cancer survivorship, Patient Centered Medical Home, patient satisfaction, patient–provider communication, and health disparities. Dr. Moore has been funded by TriService Nursing Research Program and has served as a Principle Investigator, Assistant Investigator, and Consultant. Dr. Moore has numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and has presented podium presentations at local, regional, national, and international conferences.
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Shannon Munro, PhD, APRN, BC, FNP, is a Researcher and Nurse Practitioner at the Salem, Virginia VAMC. She is also a VHA Diffusion of Excellence Fellow, and former chair of the Nursing Research Field Advisory Committee. She has presented and published her research internationally and has also served as IRB Chair. Her research interests include implementation science, hospital acquired pneumonia prevention, improvement in patient self-management skills and adherence to patient-provider developed treatment plans, and effective health care utilization. Dr. Munro and her team have significantly reduced the risk of developing hospital acquired pneumonia by providing consistent oral hygiene during hospital admissions. She is leading the national deployment of Project HAPPEN, a pneumonia prevention initiative, that is underway and is supported by funding from the VHA Diffusion of Excellence Initiative, Office of Strategic Integration, and the Veterans Engineering Resource Center.
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Judy I. Murphy PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, is a Nurse Researcher, Nurse Educator and Simulation Coordinator. She is a Visiting Associate professor of Nursing at Rhode Island College School of Nursing and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Alpert Medical School Brown University. The central program of her research is clinical simulation, interprofessional simulation and ultimately the impact on patient safety. She has been funded by VA Office of Nursing Service to investigate the most effective method of debriefing after simulation. She was also funded with a National VHA Innovation award to develop an interactive learning platform for health professional students to learn how to use CPRS using high fidelity medical records for practice. Dr. Murphy was also recently funded for a VISN innovation project where she worked with Dr. Woolfall-Quinn a Primary Care Physician and Medical Educator to videotape medical residents performing a health interview on a Standardized Patient (SP). Residents view the video, receive feedback from the patient and set improvement goals. Two months later they come back and repeat the simulation with a different SP, experiencing different symptoms. Dr. Murphy’s research includes developing and testing a tool to measure interprofessional education competence self-efficacy. She is the VISN Simulation Champion and has served on the Women’s Health Education Steering Committee to develop Medical and Nursing Triage simulations.
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Christine Olney, PhD, RN is a nurse scientist with the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. She completed her doctorate at USF, Tampa and post-doctoral work with the Tampa VA [funded by Office of Academic Affiliation]. Her research focus is prevention of pressure injury in Veterans with spinal cord injury. Dr. Olney works collaboratively with the Minneapolis Adaptive Design& Engineering (MADE) Program, a multidisciplinary team of clinicians (MDs, OTs, PTs, and Nurses), engineers and specialists who design, develop, and test adaptive devices for Veterans. Her current projects include development and testing of 1) a skin self-screening tool for persons with spinal cord injury [VA SPiRE]; 2) a supine arm-ergometer for patients on prolonged bedrest [Local VA]; 3) a trunk control system for persons who lack trunk control [State of Minnesota], and 4) a personal use seating pressure measurement system for persons with spinal cord injury in collaboration with Mayo Clinic [DoD].
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Dr. Kathleen Parker, Ph.D., APRN-CNP is the Health Promotion Disease Prevention Program Manager and Veterans Education Coordinator at the Oklahoma City VAHCC. Dr. Parker is a published investigator and serves on the local IRB and nationally on ONS Evidence Based Practice Field Advisory Council. She completed her BSN (1986) and MSN-FNP (1996) at the University of Oklahoma HSC. Dr. Parker was the first graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s inaugural PhD in Nursing program (2011). Dr. Parker's program of research focuses on the correlates of physical activity among African-American women. As Principal Investigator, she has received $20k grant funds from Women’s Health Services and the Office of Public Health (FY13) for a public health improvement project “Women Veteran’s Health and Hepatitis- Fight the Silent Enemy with Awareness, Advocacy, and Action”. Dr. Parker was co-investigator of VA study: “The Effect of Distance Mentoring on EBP” IRB # 15921 (2013).
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Charlene Pope, PhD, MPH, BSN, is Chief Nurse for Research at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, SC where she is a Coordinator of the Implementation Research Core in the Health Equity and Rural Outreach Innovation Center (HEROIC)/COIN and is Associate Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) College of Nursing (CON). As Chief Nurse/Research, Dr. Pope advises the Nurse Research Committee and mentors nurses and others in research development. Dr. Pope is principal investigator of a VA-funded study, StoryCall, a comparative trial of a mobile application for caregivers of Veterans with dementia. She is also co-investigator on a study of dual use of health services for Veterans with heart failure and a study of group motivational interviewing for homeless Veterans in VA services with substance use disorders. At MUSC, Dr. Pope is principal investigator of the NIH/NLM funded Carolinas Conversations Collection, a Web-based qualitative data repository of recordings and time aligned transcriptions of interviews with people over 65 from diverse ethnic and linguistic groups; she is also a co-investigator of a study of ethno-cultural barriers to health literacy and disease management in African Americans. Her primary research interest is health disparities and she is trained in sociolinguistics as applied to communication in health services research.
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Mary Jo V. Pugh, PhD, RN, is a nurse investigator at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System and Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UT Health San Antonio. She completed her BSN (1984) at the College of Saint Scholastica and served as an Air Force nurse from 1984-1988. She completed a Masters in Education from Boston University (1992), and PhD in Psychology (1999) at the Catholic University of America. Dr.Pugh's program of research focuses on long-term outcomes and quality of care provided for Veterans with complex comorbidity including Veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Veterans with epilepsy. As Principal Investigator, she has been funded by VA Health Services Research and Development, Rehabilitation Research and Development, the Department of Defense, and the NIH to investigate long-term outcomes of deployment-related and military exposures.
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Laurel E. Radwin, RN, PhD is a Nurse Researcher at the Manchester NH VAMC. Dr. Radwin’s program of research focuses on the quality of patient-centered care and its associated outcomes. Dr. Radwin is experienced in qualitative methods to devise empirically generated models of care; quantitative methods to develop scales; and hypothesis-testing quantitative methods. Dr. Radwin’s scales to measure patient-centered nursing care and its outcomes have been requested by nurses in the US and in at least 35 other countries, and have been translated into numerous other languages. Dr. Radwin’s research also focuses on health disparities, and she was recognized by Howard University for her work examining nursing care equity. Dr. Radwin’s appointment at Manchester VAMC is funded in part by VISN1 Research Enhancement Funds awarded via competitive review. Previously, Dr. Radwin’s research has been funded by the NINR, the AHRQ, the Massachusetts General Hospital Office of Quality and Safety, and University of Massachusetts awards. She is currently a co-investigator on a 3-year HSR&D-funded study (Dr. Kathy Horvath, PI) that examines the implementation of a Home Safety Toolkit. Dr. Radwin is an Affiliate Investigator at the Center for Healthcare Organization and Implementation Research (CHOIR) and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.
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Lynn F. Reinke, PhD, ANP-BC, FAAN, is an Investigator in the Center of Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care (COIN) and a Pulmonary Nurse Practitioner at the Puget Sound VA. Her research focuses on testing nurse-led models of care delivery to improve the palliative and end-of-life care for patients with advanced, life-limiting illnesses, specifically lung cancer and COPD. Dr. Reinke has a specific interest in clinicians’ communication skills, symptom management, and coordination of care. Her current NRI funded multi-site randomized control trial will determine the efficacy of an innovative nurse-led care delivery model to improve patients’ access to palliative care. Dr. Reinke is a 2016-2017 Health and Aging Policy Fellow with the goal of gaining the skills necessary to help translate research data into health policy to better meet the needs of aging Veterans.
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Kathryn Rugen, FNP-BC, FAAN, FAANP, is the national Nurse Practitioner Consultant for the VA Centers of Excellence in Primary Care Education. These Centers are funded by the Office of Academic Affiliations. In this role, she is responsible for facilitating transformation of health professions education and integration of team-based collaborative practice. She leading the program evaluation form the Nurse Practitioner Residency Programs at the seven Centers. Dr. Rugen is a member of the ONS Evidence Based Practice Field Advisory Committee. She is also Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she teaches in the graduate program for advanced nursing practice. Dr. Rugen completed her BSN at Marquette University (1980), MSN at Loyola University Chicago (1985) and PhD at Rush University (2002). She maintains clinical practice in Primary Care at a local CBOC. She is a volunteer site reviewer for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and manuscript reviewer for Worldviews on Evidence Based Practice. Locally, she is a member of the IRB committee. Dr. Rugen’s research interests include behavioral change utilizing motivational interviewing techniques, specifically for medication adherence and colorectal cancer screening; educational strategies and outcome measures; and implementation science.
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Karen L. Saban, PhD, RN, APRN, CNRN, FAHA, is a nurse investigator at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital and Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Research at Loyola University Chicago Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing. She completed her PhD from Loyola University Chicago in 2006 and a 3-year VA postdoctoral nursing fellowship in 2010. In 2013, Dr. Saban completed the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) Summer Genetics Institute, a month long intensive training program in Bethesda.
Her program of research focuses on integrating social context and inflammation with epigenetic signature to explain disparities in cardiovascular disease in disadvantaged women and examining interventions that may ameliorate stress-related inflammation in vulnerable populations. Dr. Saban’s VA study (NRI) is a randomized clinical trial that examines the extent to which an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program is effective in improving psychological well-being, reducing inflammatory burden, and decreasing cardiovascular risk in women Veterans at risk for cardiovascular disease. She recently completed a National Institutes of Health (NINR-K01) career development award to investigate the extent to which prior life adversity contributes to cardiovascular disease risk and the proinflammatory response (IL-6) to acute stress in African American and non-Hispanic women. In addition, she is determining the degree to which prior life adversity predicts global DNA methylation status in women at risk for cardiovascular disease and the extent to which global DNA methylation predicts the proinflammatory response.
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Sheila Cox Sullivan, PhD RN VHA-CM, is the Director of Research, EBP, & Analytics at VACO Office of Nursing Services. She completed her BSN (1982) at the Harding University, MSN (1996) at the University of Virginia and her PhD from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 2001. Dr. Sullivan’s program of research focuses on aging Veterans. As Principal Investigator, she has been funded by the VISN 16 to investigate the role of Vitamin D in recuperating elderly Veterans. Presently, Dr. Sullivan is also co-investigating missed nursing care in Veterans Hospitals.
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Constance R. Uphold, PhD, ARNP, FAAN,, is the Associate Director of Implementation and Outcomes Research for the VA Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center (GRECC) and a Research Health Scientist with the VA Center of Innovation in Disability and Rehabilitation Research (CINDRR) in Gainesville and Tampa, Florida. Dr. Uphold is Associate Professor in the University of Florida, College of Medicine (Department of Aging and Geriatrics). Dr. Uphold’s research focuses on interventions for family caregivers of older adults and Veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, informatics, patient empowerment, health literacy, and HIV and aging. Dr. Uphold was recently awarded funding for a VA HSR&D merit project and a VA RR&D SPiRE project to study the efficacy of different on-line and telephone interventions for caregivers of Veterans with stroke. Dr. Uphold completed a VA nursing postdoctoral fellowship and was a Veterans Affairs Research Career Development Awardee. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She is a member of the VA Polytrauma Field Advisory Committee and serves on the VA HSR&D Scientific Review Panel.
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Bonnie J Wakefield, PhD, RN, FAAN, is a senior investigator, Iowa City HSR&D Center for Comprehensive Access & Delivery Research and Evaluation (CADRE), Clinical Coordinator for the VA eHealth QUERI, and Associate Research Professor, University of Missouri School of Nursing. Her main research focus is design and evaluation of e-health communication technologies to improve care for chronically ill elders. Her studies have included evaluating the feasibility of telemedicine involving patients at a distant state veterans’ home and VA Medical Center and two RCTs evaluating home telehealth in chronically ill veterans. The first study evaluated post- hospital care for patients with heart failure, comparing use of telephone versus videophone. The second evaluated use of a messaging device to improve outcomes in patients with co-morbid diabetes and hypertension. This study also evaluated varying the dose of the intervention. A recent study examined caregiving strain and satisfaction in caregivers of veterans with chronic illness enrolled in the VA Care Coordination Home Telehealth program (CCHT). She serves as Editor of the Technology Innovations Section for the Journal of Gerontological Nursing, which focuses on innovative applications of technology to improve elder care.
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