Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma) will induct 20 nurses representing seven countries.
On Saturday, 21 July, 20 nurses—representing Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States—will be inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame during Sigma’s 29th International Nursing Research Congress in Melbourne, Australia. The honorees will participate in a conversation with Sigma President Beth Baldwin Tigges, PhD, RN, PNP, BC.
Created in 2010, the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame recognizes nurse researchers who have achieved significant and sustained national or international recognition and whose research has improved the profession and the people it serves. The award presentation is sponsored by Wiley.
“Each of these Hall of Fame honorees represents a lifetime of contribution to the nursing profession," Tigges says. "I am proud to add my congratulations to each of them for this monumental achievement, and I look forward to learning more about their work during our conversation in Melbourne this July.”
“Wiley proudly recognizes and celebrates the contributions of this year's inductees to the Sigma International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame,” says Wiley Publishing Manager for Nursing Kassie Stovell. “We congratulate each individual honoree for their significant involvement in outstanding research, leadership, and efforts in advancing health around the world.”
Sigma’s annual congress attracts nearly 1,000 nurse researchers, students, clinicians, and leaders who learn from evidence-based research presentations. The theme for the 29th International Nursing Research Congress is Innovative Global Nursing Practice and Education Through Research and Evidence-Based Practice. To view details or register for the event, visit www.sigmanursing.org/congress.
The following Sigma members will be inducted:
Suzanne Bakken, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, MIAHSI, is the Alumni Professor of Nursing and professor of biomedical informatics at Columbia University in New York, New York, USA, where she also serves as director of the Precision in Symptom Self-Management Center and the Reducing Health Disparities Through Informatics pre- and post-doctoral training program. In addition, she is co-director of the Health Analytics Center of Columbia’s Data Science Institute. Bakken has led a federally funded program of research at the intersection of health equity and informatics for more than 25 years and has published more than 300 scientific articles. She is a member or fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, American College of Medical Informatics, New York Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Medicine (formerly IOM), and International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics. Bakken has been honored for her accomplishments with the Pathfinder Award from the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Virginia K. Saba Nursing Informatics Award from AMIA.
“I am delighted to not only be a member of Sigma but to also be the mother of a Sigma member since my daughter, Tanya—a certified nurse midwife—is also a member. Although I have received several national awards in nursing or informatics during my career, being inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame is special for several reasons. First, Sigma is widely recognized as a symbol of excellence in all aspects of nursing. Second, receiving international recognition for my program of research is an unparalleled honor.”
Barbara Bowers, PhD, RN, FAAN, is professor, associate dean for research, and Charlotte Jane and Ralph A. Rodefer Chair at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Her work has focused on improving the quality of care for both vulnerable older adults and people with lifelong disabilities. She has conducted research on how different care models influence both care quality and work life quality. Bowers has published more than 100 articles and edited or written four books on care of older adults and people with developmental disabilities. She also oversees a campus-wide program in development of qualitative research skills and community-engaged research. She currently collaborates with nurse researchers in Australia, Thailand, China, and the UK.
“As nurses, no matter where we are from, we share a common commitment to promoting health and well-being of all people. As an organization, Sigma provides a forum for nurses from all over the world to come together and collectively address the challenges and develop the strategies needed to achieve this end. It is an honor to be part of such an organization.”
Jane D. Champion, PhD, DNP, FNP, AH-PMH-CNS, FAAN, FAANP, is professor at The University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas, USA. Her most outstanding contributions to nursing are in improving the health of ethnic minority women and adolescents. She was one of the first nurses to study the relationship among sexually transmitted infections (STI), sexual risk behaviors, unintended pregnancy, and abuse among ethnic minority women. Through her interdisciplinary clinical research program, she developed evidence-based community interventions for urban and rural populations of African-American and Mexican-American women, including adolescents with STI, substance use, unintended pregnancy, and abuse. Translation of these findings into community health programs internationally is consistent with recommendations for expansion of community engagement as an essential strategy for increasing healthcare access and eliminating health disparities. Champion has modeled her professional career to serve as a community-engaged scholar and has contributed significantly to improving the standard of care and reducing health disparities for rural and urban ethnic minority women and adolescents through findings from her NIH-funded, primary care-based intervention studies.
“Recognition via this award has national and international public health policy implications for community-based interventions for STI/HIV, unintended pregnancy, substance use, and abuse for ethnic minority women and adolescents. These interventions, developed through active participation with communities in the research process, include ongoing conduct of research within rural, primary care-based practice settings. These approaches, consistent with contemporary developments in healthcare research, emphasize inclusion of community members and social construction of knowledge for development and translation of evidence-based practice findings for health disparities reduction. These interventions provide a template for sustainability of a program combining health disparities, clinical research, and practice.”
Kuei-Ru Chou, PhD, RN, is dean and professor at the Taipei Medical University College of Nursing in Taipei, Taiwan. She has acted as principal investigator for several multicenter research projects from MOST and other government grants. Some projects are focused on cognitive function training and cognitive behavior group therapy and have made a tremendous impact on elderly and mental health patients. She has published more than 130 articles in well-known SCI/SSCI journals in nursing, gerontology, and psychiatry and has presented in international conferences. Chou is an editorial board member and reviewer for several journals. She has held positions in several professional organizations, including the Leadership Succession Committee of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma) and chair of the Research Committee of the Asian Oncology Nursing Society. She has a strong record of mentoring doctoral and master’s students, fellow nursing faculty members, and clinical counterparts.
“To be inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame is a great honor. This prestigious award will contribute to my professional standing with Taipei Medical University, Lambda Beta at-Large Chapter, and fellow professional associations in Taiwan. Not only will it enhance my research track record at the international level but it will also serve as a platform to collaborate with distinguished researchers worldwide. Above all, our mentors, College of Nursing, fellow nursing counterparts, and scholars are honored with this award. My heartfelt appreciation goes to Sigma for the wonderful opportunity to recognize our work and inspire future scientists.”
Misook L. Chung, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, is professor and co-director of the RICH Heart Research Program at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. She is internationally recognized as a leading nurse researcher who has advanced the state of the science in research on patient-caregiver dyads. Chung’s collaboration with investigators across Europe and Asia on novel dyadic interventions to improve patient and family caregiver outcomes in cardiovascular disease has had a global impact. Her successful program of research has been continuously funded for 15 years, including current funding of US $5 million from the National Institute of Nursing Research. Chung has received multiple awards for her excellence in cardiovascular nursing research. She is a fellow in the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Nursing.
“I am sincerely honored and grateful to be inducted into the Sigma International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. This prestigious award will have a positive impact on my research. It encourages me to keep moving forward and introducing exciting new approaches into my research work. I would like to thank my mentors and colleagues who are also inductees of the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame for providing me all their support to be a great nurse researcher.”
Patricia D’Antonio, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Carol E. Ware Endowed Professor in Mental Health Nursing, chair of the Department of Family and Community Health, and director of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. D’Antonio is also editor of Nursing History Review, the official journal of the American Association for the History of Nursing. Her research focuses on the history of nursing and healthcare. Her newest book, Nursing with a Message: Public Health Demonstration Projects in New York City, explores ways in which nurses built what we now recognize as primary healthcare. Her earlier book, American Nursing: A History of Knowledge, Authority and the Meaning of Work, explores ways in which women and some men from different race, ethnic, and class backgrounds reframed the most traditional gendered expectations to reshape their own sense of worth and power.
“This award has special meaning because it acknowledges the place of history and the humanities in the education, practice, and research of clinicians in the discipline. Nursing is, of course, a practice discipline at its essential core. But this award acknowledges the ways in which historians help clinicians understand how practice is shaped by contextual, political, and social forces that belie the best evidence we have available. Knowing how these forces play out in practice can strengthen clinicians’ role as powerful actors in changing health systems across the globe.”
Ardith Z. Doorenbos, PhD, RN, FAAN, is professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing & Health Informatics, School of Nursing, and the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA. She is also adjunct professor in the Department of Global Health, School of Public Health, at the University of Washington. She is co-director of the Center of Excellence in Pain Education, co-chair of research operations for the Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence, and director of the Palliative Care Training Center. Doorenbos’ research is centered on palliative care and pain and symptom management. Her grant portfolio is funded by the National Institutes of Health: National Institute of Nursing Research, National Cancer Institute, and other professional sources. She has a sustained record of more than 100 peer-reviewed, data-based publications in nursing and multidisciplinary journals.
“I am thrilled and honored to be accepted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame. As a 20-year member of the Kappa Iota Chapter, I have benefited greatly from the connections, support, and network of Sigma. Being inducted into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame is an opportunity to renew ties and to meet other outstanding nurses. This award will also provide important recognition to support acceptance of future proposals to build more global sharing, joint activities, and significant investigative studies.”
Steven J. Ersser, PhD(Lond), BSc(Hons), RN, CertTHEd, PFHEA, is professor in clinical nursing research and deputy head of Health Sciences (Nursing) at the University of York in York, UK. He has held chairs in nursing at the universities of Leeds, Hull, and Bournemouth and served as dean of health at Hull. He qualified as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital London and completed his PhD in nursing at King’s College, London. Ersser has worked in clinical-academic posts in the Oxford and Southampton dermatology departments. His research work over 28 years has focused on developing nursing-related skin care and dermatological nursing, especially in support of people living with chronic dermatoses. He has more than 130 publications and has supervised 18 doctoral students. He was inaugural president of the International Skin-Care Nursing Advisory Board (1999–2010), developing scientific and educational opportunities for nurses worldwide. In 2015, he led the Nursing Scientific meeting and inaugural Dermatology Nursing Leadership Summit at the World Congress of Dermatology.
“It is an enormous honour to be recognised for this Sigma award by my peers and to share this with the international nursing community. Nursing profoundly impacts healthcare worldwide. For those of us privileged to receive this award, it shines a light on but a few examples of the significance of nursing to society. Our work has only been possible by the generous mentorship of those that have gone before us, providing encouragement and challenge. My hope is that this award may inspire a new generation of nurses to recognise the potential of their research to improve healthcare.”
Carole A. Estabrooks, CM, PhD, RN, FCAHS, FAAN, is professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She is a fellow in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and in the American Academy of Nursing and scientific director of the international Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) program. Her applied health services research program focuses on integrated knowledge translation and quality improvement—and on quality of care, quality of life/end of life, and quality of work-life outcomes in nursing homes. She is particularly interested in quality of end of life for persons with advanced dementia, the majority population in Canadian nursing homes. She focuses increasingly on innovation spread and scale-up and has developed the Alberta Context Tool currently used in nine countries and six languages, assessing the impact of organizational context on a wide array of outcomes. In 2016, she was appointed by the governor general as a member of the Order of Canada.
“This award is deeply significant to me because it recognizes—at the international level—my research career and my commitment to improving the quality of life and end of life for frail vulnerable seniors, most with dementia, living in residential settings. It is an important source of validation for my contributions to science and improved care.”
Elizabeth J. Halcomb, PhD, BN(Hons), RN, FACN, is professor of primary healthcare nursing at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. Her program of research focuses on primary care nursing workforce, chronic disease, lifestyle risk-factor reduction, and mixed methods research. She has also undertaken research on academic workforce development and nurse education. Halcomb has supervised numerous doctoral and honours students to completion, as well as clinical nurses seeking to build capacity. She has been a leader in teams awarded over $5.58 million in competitive research funding and has more than 130 peer-reviewed papers and 20 book chapters published to date. Additionally, Halcomb has co-edited Mixed Methods Research for Nursing and the Health Sciences and An Introduction to Community and Primary Health Care, 2nd edition. She is editor of Nurse Researcher and Collegian: The Australian Journal of Nursing Practice, Scholarship & Research.
“I feel very honored to have received this prestigious award and be recognised internationally for my contribution to nursing research. I am truly grateful to those who have so generously provided the mentorship and support that have inspired and challenged me to grow throughout my career. I hope that I can offer the same support to the next generation of nurse researchers.”
Hae-Ra Han, PhD, RN, FAAN, is professor and chair of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Department of Community Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Her multidisciplinary team research is focused on noncommunicable diseases and psychosocial determinants of health (particularly health literacy) among racial and ethnic minority populations with limited access to care. She has developed and tested health-literacy interventions—delivered by nurses and trained community health workers—that have contributed to reducing health disparities in chronic care. She has provided consultation to numerous medical centers, universities, and research institutes in the United States, Canada, Africa, Asia, and Europe on assessment of hypertension self-care, hypertension knowledge, and health literacy. Her work is widely disseminated through more than 150 publications. In recognition of her work, Han has received numerous awards from multiple organizations that include the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations, Southern Nursing Research Society, American Public Health Association, and Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus for Public Health. She also received the Certificate of Congressional Recognition from U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski.
“I am deeply humbled by this honor, which represents the acknowledgement of the significant contribution that nurse-led, community-engaged health programs have made in improving chronic care and health outcomes among vulnerable populations. There is so much to do to promote health equity globally, and nurses are at the forefront of the effort as leaders of research, practice, and policy improvements.”
Laura L. Hayman, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN, is professor in the Department of Nursing, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, at the University of Massachusetts Boston in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and adjunct professor of medicine, Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Her clinical, community-based, and translational research and scholarship focus on prevention of obesity and cardiometabolic conditions across the life course with emphasis on children, adolescents, and families from vulnerable populations. She has contributed her expertise in cardiovascular and child health nursing and behavioral sciences in development and dissemination of scientific statements, practice guidelines, and policy statements. Hayman has mentored nurse scientists and scholars from other disciplines who are advancing the science and practice of cardiovascular health nationally and globally. She has held leadership roles in the Society of Behavioral Medicine, the American Heart Association, and the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association.
“I am honored and humbled to receive this very special recognition from Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. I am grateful for my research mentors and collaborators and for the opportunities I had to advance the science and practice of cardiovascular health promotion and to engage and mentor the next generation of nurse and transdisciplinary scientists, scholars, and advocates for the health of the public—locally and globally.”
Claudia K.Y. Lai, PhD, RN, FAAN, is honorary professor, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in Hong Kong SAR, and visiting professor, Yangzhou University in Yangzhou, China. She has two main research programs—the care of people with dementia and their families and the care of frail older people. She focuses on interventional and implementation research, aiming to make an impact on the health and well-being of humankind through practice changes. In 2010, Lai established the Health and Cognitive Assessment Service at PolyU to advance practice scholarship. In 2012, her team founded the Centre for Gerontological Nursing at PolyU. She has won many research awards for her work on dementia care and health promotion. She is dedicated to the cause of dementia care and has been a volunteer with the Hong Kong Alzheimer’s Disease Association since 1996. Over the course of her career, she has volunteered her time for local and international professional initiatives.
“To me, this award means a recognition of my career in nursing as a researcher—an affirmation that I have been doing the right thing as a nurse faculty. It certainly means a great deal to me.”
Violeta Lopez, PhD, RN, MNA, MPET, JBICF, FACN, is professor at Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, National University of Singapore. She has worked with and led teams composed of not only nurses but also medical professionals, psychologists, sociologists, and biomedical and computer engineers, focusing on empowering patients to self-manage their chronic and long-term health problems as well as supporting caregivers using evidence-based, psycho-educational interventions, including the application of mobile and eHealth. A unique feature of her research is based on the Salutogenic framework in implementing interventions that promote good health rather than explore what causes the disease. As a transcultural nursing scholar, she has conducted research impacting diversity, acculturation, equity, and access to healthcare of multi-ethnic communities. She has a strong record of international awards, funded research grants, publications, and, most importantly, mentoring doctoral students, junior faculty, and clinical colleagues.
“I am deeply honored to receive this highest level of recognition from the renowned international society. This award is the pinnacle of my long contribution to nursing science, which I will carry with pride, being among the prestigious group of international nurse researchers. I hope that I could use this achievement to provide a strong voice to my Asian nursing colleagues that they, too, can have this recognition and inspire them to steadfastly promote nursing contributions in promoting a healthier community.”
Kathy Puskar, DrPH, RN, FAAN, is tenured professor and associate dean for undergraduate nursing education at the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. For more than two decades, Puskar has dedicated her professional life to furthering the field of depression, suicide, substance use, stress, and coping among children and the young adult population. She has published more than 150 papers in refereed journals and book chapters. Puskar’s behavioral intervention program, “Teaching Kids to Cope,” addresses the health disparity associated with lack of access to child psychiatric specialty services in rural areas. This behavioral intervention was accepted for inclusion in the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). To further build on this work, she recently served as a principal investigator to develop the mobile app MilTeenChat, which provides a sustainable online platform supporting coping among military adolescents around the world.
“I am humbled and honored to receive this award. I appreciate the role of Sigma in advocating and acknowledging the contributions of nurses to the field. I am so pleased to be a member of Sigma and to be inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.”
Nancy R. Reynolds, PhD, RN, ANP, FAAN, is associate dean of global affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and co-director of the PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center (GANM). She previously was the Independence Foundation Professor of Nursing at Yale University and director of the NIH-sponsored training grant in self-management and family management of chronic illness. Reynolds has a 25-year record of continuous NIH funding. Her pioneering research has focused on the use of low-cost cellphone technology to bring healthcare services to vulnerable populations affected by HIV to enhance medication adherence and clinical outcomes. This research has progressed from single-site, developmental studies to large-scale, multisite trials in international settings. She has published widely and served on multiple NIH scientific review groups. She is a dedicated mentor of pre- and post-doctoral scholars from many different universities in the United States, China, India, Ghana, Uganda, and Thailand.
“Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing has a long and distinguished history of supporting excellence in scholarship and the advancement of science. Funding from Sigma was instrumental in my early development as a researcher. It is now a great privilege to be among the outstanding nurse researchers whose body of work is recognized by Sigma as an inductee in the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.”
Mi-Kyung Song, PhD, RN, FAAN, is professor, Edith F. Honeycutt Endowed Chair in Nursing, and director of the Center for Nursing Excellence in Palliative Care in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She is also senior faculty fellow at the Emory Center for Ethics. Song’s research is focused on improving end-of-life and palliative care for patients with serious multiple, chronic illnesses and their family members. Specifically, her research areas of interest are end-of-life communication, treatment decision-making, surrogate decision-making, integration of palliative care, and bioethics. Her methodological areas of interest include intervention development and testing, treatment fidelity, clinical trials, and mixed methods in intervention programs of research.
“I have never linked my research career or scholarship to fame and thought ‘hall of fame’ would be something for celebrities. Nonetheless, I feel extremely honored to receive this award as it may mean that my years of hard work and dedication to generating new knowledge to benefit patients and family members are recognized by someone else. It is a long, lonely journey, even when you collaborate with other researchers and scholars. This award made me feel as if I have arrived somewhere that is recognizable.”
Hilaire J. Thompson, PhD, RN, ARNP, FAAN, FGSA, is the Joanne Montgomery Endowed Professor, graduate program director, and co-director of the Omics and Symptom Science Training Program at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, USA. Her program of research has focused on injury prevention and improvement of outcomes from traumatic brain injury, with an emphasis on older adults. Her research features bedside-to-bench methods as well as clinical epidemiologic approaches. Thompson is currently conducting a clinical trial, funded by NINR, of cognitive training to prevent falls in older adults. She received her BSN from The Catholic University of America, her MS from Virginia Commonwealth University, and her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
“I am both honored and humbled by this acknowledgement of my research efforts. In particular, the fact that I join so many of my mentors (Drs. Pamela Mitchell, Margaret Heitkemper, Terry Richmond, and Cindy Munro) as a member of the Hall of Fame reflects highly on the quality of their mentorship and trust in my abilities.”
Connie M. Ulrich, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Lillian S. Brunner Chair in Medical-Surgical Nursing and a professor of bioethics and nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy. She was the first nurse trained in bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. Her bioethics scholarship has focused broadly on ethical issues in clinical practice and research, including moral distress in the health professions, both nationally and internationally. Ulrich also conducts research on informed consent and perception of patients and care partners on the benefits and burdens associated with participation in cancer clinical trials. She has received federal funding from the National Institutes of Health for her work. Ulrich has published in leading peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international professional meetings. She is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a Salzburg Global Fellow.
“I am very honored to receive the Sigma International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame award. It is a reflection on the important role of bioethics in nursing and the contributions that nurse bioethicists bring to the many ethical issues that healthcare clinicians encounter in their clinical practice and research. It is also an opportunity to advance normative and empirical bioethics scholarship and its impact on addressing salient societal concerns. This award will help advance empirical bioethics research and the value of studying timely bioethical concepts such as informed consent, moral distress, end of life, genetics and genomics, and patient- and family-centered care concerns.”
Sandra J. Weiss, PhD, DNSc, RN, FAAN, is professor and Eschbach Endowed Chair of the University of California San Francisco School of Nursing in San Francisco, California, USA. Her transdisciplinary research focuses on biological mechanisms underlying stress and depression and their effects on neurological and psychological development of the fetus and infant. Her findings have advanced knowledge of women’s gender-specific depressive symptoms and assessment and also have led to improvements in assessment and early intervention for preterm infants. She leads a national, multi-university research program on women’s depression, sponsored by the National Network of Depression Centers, and has been a member and chair of numerous NIH scientific review groups. Weiss’ research leadership includes roles as associate provost for research in the University of California Office of the President, co-director of the UCSF Depression Center, director of the Health Care Consortium, director of the Center for Family Health Studies, and principal investigator for a Biobehavioral Research Training Program in Symptom Science. Her mentorship has inspired stellar scientists and research pioneers worldwide.
“Induction into the Sigma International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame is so meaningful to me. It reflects an appreciation by my profession and discipline for the significance of my research contributions to the advancement of science and improved healthcare. This recognition not only validates my past research efforts but inspires continued innovation in my ongoing research and even greater commitment to my mentorship of other nurse scientists.” RNL