Faculty, Student, and Staff News

Faculty—Acute & Chronic Care

Diane Aschenbrenner, MS, APRN, RN, is leading a group of faculty and students dedicated to ensuring ethical behavior as the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing’s new chair of the Academic Ethics Committee.

Deborah E. Jones, PhD, RN, was appointed dean of Hampton University School of Nursing located in Hampton, VA.

Laura Taylor, PhD, RN, is the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing’s All-School Curriculum chair, heading a nine-member committee.

Faculty—Community–Public Health
Jodi Shaefer, PhD, RN, was the distinguished speaker for the third Annual Nursing Research Conference held on November 3 at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV. Her topic was “Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Model: Excitement in Clinical Practice.” She also presented a poster at the 2012 Prematurity Prevention Symposium on January 19 in Washington, DC.

Nicole Warren’s study aims to improve family planning services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and their partners.

Nicole Warren, PhD, MPH, CNM, received one of nine faculty grants in global health from the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health for the 2011–2012 cycle. The study will be co-funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health. The study aims to improve access, knowledge, and utilization of family-planning services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and their partners in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Faculty—Health Systems & Outcomes
Laura Gitlin, PhD, spoke about “Living at Home with Dementia: Practical Strategies that Can Make a Difference in Quality of Life,” at the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers Mid-Atlantic Chapter 2011 Conference in Philadelphia, PA, on November 8.

Students
Postdoctoral student Jeanne Alhusen, CRNP, MSN, received a 2012 Travel Award from the Hon. Ruth D. Vogel Fund for Professional Development.

Traditional and accelerated students Bethany Ackerman, Emily Bisker, Heather Coleman, Lesley Dokes, Christina Dorsey, and Daniel Mertz, participated in the Maryland Independent Higher Education Day in Annapolis on February 9. Matthew Palmer, associate director of State Affairs for the Hopkins Government, Community and Public Affairs Office, said, “The students were amazing and did a great job of putting a human face on the issues that our office advocates for each day.”

Graduate students Joahnna Fournier, Lea Marineau, Jacqueline O’Connell, and Emily Spede won awards at the annual Nurse Practitioner Student Poster Presentation on December 8.

Traditional 2013 students Kristen Butt and Hilary Rabuck have been elected to the Maryland Association of Nursing Students 2012-2013 Board of Directors. Kristen is the secretary and Hilary is the Breakthrough to Nursing director.

Team Efforts
Faculty members Laura Gitlin, PhD, Nancy Hodgson, PhD, RN, Sarah Szanton, PhD, CRNP, and Elizabeth (Ibby) Tanner, PhD, MS, RN, traveled to Boston, MA, to present at the Gerontological Society of America meeting from November 18–22. Presentation topics included depression, innovative collaborative trial methodologies, dementia care, family caregiving, and function in older adults.

In early February, faculty members Diane Aschenbrenner, MS, APRN, RN; Pam Jeffries, PhD, RN; Sharon O’Neill, JD, MSN, CRNP; and doctoral student Christine Keenan visited La Source School of Nursing in Lausanne, Switzerland. Jeffries delivered a presentation about the challenges, issues, and future direction of simulation while Aschenbrenner, Keenan, and O’Neill conducted a faculty development institute on implementing simulations and debriefing.

Faculty member Betty Jordan, DNSc, RNC, staff member Rachel Breman, and students Teresa Pfaff and Samantha Schneider attended the mHealth Summit in Washington, DC, in December. The Summit featured conference sessions discussing the benefits and challenges of mobile healthcare technology.

Patricia Abbott, PhD, RN, associate professor, Department of Health Systems and Outcomes, received a personal invitation from William E. Kennard, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, for the High-Level Workshop on Innovation in Healthcare on November 16 in Brussels, Belgium. Policymakers and academic and private-sector representatives from both sides of the Atlantic attended the Workshop to produce a set of concrete policy recommendations on healthcare and remote monitoring for cure and prevention. The recommendations from the Workshop will be shared with relevant transatlantic policymakers to ensure rapid uptake of health technology for the benefit of patients around the world.