SCHOLAR DIRECTORY

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to combine clinical practice as a Nurse Practitioner in the Wound Clinic at our local Veterans Administration (VA) Health Care Center with my research interest of preventing and treating pressure ulcers. Pressure ulcers cause impediment to the recovery and rehabilitation of afflicted patients, and I plan to establish a program of research that encompasses both laboratory supported biological research and clinic based patient interventions to reduce and treat pressure ulcers. Laboratory based research topics include identifying biomarkers for pressure ulcers and comparing innervated and non-innervated muscle response to pressure. Dr. Marco Brotto, the Director of our PhD Program in Nursing is my Research Advisor, and he is also the Director of the Bone-Muscle Collaborative Sciences Research Center and an expert on Biomarkers in Health and Disease. An example of a clinic based intervention study is the current collaboration between the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) Research Institute (UTARI), Dr. Brotto’s Lab, and the Veterans Affairs Human Engineering Research Laboratory on an automatic cycling air cushion to prevent pressure ulcers. These opportunities will lead into new insights about wound healing biology/physiology and the effectiveness of new technologies for its treatment, which is precisely the way that the National Institutes of Nursing Research wants us to advance the science of Nursing. As the spouse of a retired military veteran, as the mother of an active duty soldier, and as a veteran myself, I am honored to be selected as a Jonas Scholar.