Theresa Beckie, PhD, of the USF College of Nursing, compared the physical and psychosocial effects of a traditional cardiac rehabilitation to a program geared specifically for women.

ORLANDO, FL. (Nov. 17, 2009) — Depressive symptoms improved among women with coronary heart disease who participated in a motivationally-enhanced cardiac rehabilitation program exclusively for women, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2009.

Depression often co-occurs with heart disease and is found more often in women with heart disease than in men. Depression also interferes with adherence to lifestyle modifications and the willingness to attend rehabilitation.

“Women often don’t have the motivation to attend cardiac rehab particularly if they’re depressed,” said Theresa Beckie, Ph.D., lead investigator and author of the study and professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Nursing in Tampa, FL. “Historically women have not been socialized to exercise and their attendance in cardiac rehabilitation programs has been consistently poor over the last several decades. This poor attendance may be partly due to mismatches in stages of readiness for behavior change with the health professional approaching from an action-oriented perspective and the women merely contemplating change --- this is destined to evoke resistance.”

Cardiac rehabilitation programs tailored to the needs of women and to their current level of readiness to change may improve adherence to such programs and potentially improve outcomes for women, she said.

The primary goals of the 5-year randomized clinical trial were to compare multiple physiological and psychosocial outcomes of women who participated in a 12-week stage-of-change matched, motivationally enhanced, gender-tailored cardiac rehabilitation program exclusively for women compared to women attending a 12-week traditional cardiac rehabilitation program comprised of education and exercise. Depressive symptoms of 225 women (average age 63) who completed this trial were examined after the interventions as well as after a 6-month follow-up period.

Women with cardiac disease have unique needs and confront different challenges than men in adopting healthy behaviors as they recover, Beckie says.

Participants completed the 20-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale prior to beginning the intervention, one week after completing the intervention, and again six months later. The questionnaire asked them about how often in the past week they felt depressed, hopeful, lonely, happy and fearful.

Depression scores for the women participating in the traditional cardiac rehab dropped from 16.5 to 14.3 in 12 weeks, while scores in the augmented group dropped from 17.3 to 11.0 – “a significant decline compared to the traditional group,” said Beckie.

After a six-month follow-up, the traditional rehab group had an average score of 15.2 and those in the women-specific program had a mean score of 13. Beckie said “we found that improvements in depressive symptoms were sustained at the 6-month follow-up in the augmented group while those in traditional cardiac rehab were essentially unchanged. This intervention also led to significantly better attendance and completion rates than those in the traditional cardiac rehabilitation program.”

The intervention was guided by the transtheoretical model of behavior change and was delivered with motivational interviewing clinical methods. The motivationally-enhanced intervention began with an assessment of their stage of motivational readiness to change regarding three behaviors: healthy eating, physical activity, and stress management. The investigators then applied appropriate stage-matched strategies to promote the uptake of health behaviors.

“The stage-matched intervention used in conjunction with motivational interviewing applied the patient-centered principles of expressing empathy, rolling with resistance to change, respecting patient autonomy and supporting self-efficacy for change” Beckie said.

“We didn’t push them if they weren’t ready to make the changes,” Beckie said. “We have found that if some patients receive long lists of behaviors they are expected to change immediately — such as quitting smoking, eating healthier, exercising regularly — they are overwhelmed. Pushing such patients who are not ready can lead them to tune out or drop out. Instead, for these women, we acknowledged their ambivalence about change and gave them strategies to move toward being ready by reinforcing their own motivations for changing. It’s unrealistic to expect all patients to change their lifestyle all at once, right now in front of you.”

The positive impact of the women-centered program remained six months after the 12-week study ended.

The woman-centered program is a more individualized approach to rehabilitation.

“You can’t treat everyone the same when it comes to changing health behaviors,” she said.

Beckie hopes these results will lead to symptoms of depression being assessed more often in women suffering from heart disease and to more motivationally augmented, women-specific rehabilitation options. The participants may not be completely representative of the national population because they all had health insurance.

Beckie’s co-author is Jason Beckstead, PhD. The National Institute of Nursing Research funded the 5-year study.

- USF Health -

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $380.4 million in research grants and contracts last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

It was all part of a gala to launch the public phase of the most comprehensive capital campaign in USF’s history. The goal: to raise $600 million. More than 500 donors, alumni, faculty, staff and friends were on hand to hear the announcement by Judy Genshaft, president of the USF System, USF Foundation CEO Joel Momberg and Campaign Chair Les Muma.

The USF Health exhibit presented a vision of Health 2020.

So far, the campaign has raised $317 million in donor gifts and pledges.

“Tonight is a night to celebrate two things: perseverance and promise,” said Genshaft. “Our students are solving big problems. Our faculty is changing the world. USF is building the university of the future. We believe our mission to serve the educational, economic and health needs of our community, Florida and the world are too important to be deterred or delayed.”

President Judy Genshaft displays a test tube full of USF Health's favorite beverage: a Health-tini.

Two of the campaign’s most significant early gifts have gone to benefit projects at USF Health. Frank and Carol Morsani donated $10 million, used to help build the Frank and Carol Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare, as well as for sports facilities.

Muma and his wife, Pam, donated $6 million to fund neonatal research, as well as to build an neonatal intensive care unit at Tampa General Hospital. They gave another $3 million to athletics.

At Tuesday’s event, the USF Marshall Student Center was transformed by nearly two dozen exhibits showing off USF programs. At the USF Health exhibit, guests were treated to the “Health-tinis,” full of pomegranate antioxidants and delivered in mock test tubes. Video monitors featured Dr. Stephen Klasko, CEO of USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine, sharing USF Health’s vision for the future of health care, Health 2020, along with a montage of images from medicine, nursing and public health.

NBC News correspondent Kerry Sanders gets his balance checked by physical therapy students Heather Matako, left, and Elizabeth Morgan.

Physical therapy students helped guests measure their balance using a Biosway Balance machine. Guests who stood on the machine’s platform – including a spell with their eyes closed, teetering on a block of foam – got to see how they compare to others their age on several measures of balance. Physical therapists can use the data to develop therapies to improve balance and prevent falls.

He may be the CEO, but Dr. Stephen Klasko still delivers babies...real or, in this case, simulated.

The star of the show may have been the exhibit’s youngest member: the simulator baby. Faculty members from the College of Nursing dressed the baby in a “Future Bull” T-shirt and named him Rocky to mark the occasion. A steady stream of visitors came to play with Rocky, hearing him cry, feeling his heart beat, and even watching him turn blue because of breathing difficulties. Each time, of course, he was swiftly rescued by clinical instructor Jenny Molloy and teaching lab assistant Freida Lahti, who demonstrated some of the skills that nursing and medical students learn by caring for Rocky.

Dee Jeffers, program director in the College of Public Health’s Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, stopped by and was captivated. She donned a stethoscope and listened to Rocky breathe.

“I didn’t know we did this,” she said. “There’s so much happening at USF, you just can’t keep up with it. The knowledge explosion for students – it’s amazing.”

Freida Lahti helps Baby Rocky's simulated breathing return to normal.

- Story by Lisa Greene, USF Health Communications
- Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

Versie Johnson-Mallard, PhD, ARNP, assistant professor in the USF College of Nursing, has won a competitive grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to study strategies to prevent the spread of viral sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among college students and young adults.

Dr. Johnson-Mallard is one of just 15 nurse educators from around the country to receive the three-year $350,000 Nurse Faculty Scholar award this year, which is given to junior faculty who show outstanding promise as future leaders in academic nursing. The grant period begins this month.

“The generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will enable me to test an innovative web-based sexual health education intervention and hopefully slow the spread of viral sexually transmitted infections on college campuses,” Dr. Johnson-Mallard said.

In her research, Dr. Johnson-Mallard will develop a PowerPoint educational intervention STI prevention messaging presentation on the Human Papillomavirus, Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), Hepatitis B (HepB), and Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV). This intervention will be delivered in an innovative web messaging format. Follow-up surveys will determine whether students exposed to the innovative format, are more knowledgeable about the diseases, had a better understanding of the risks associated, and were more likely to take prevention measures such as vaccinations, abstinence and condom use.

Ultimately, she hopes to use her findings to develop a standard electronic prevention-education protocol for use on college campuses.

Cecile Lengacher, PhD, professor at the USF College of Nursing, and Anna Giuliano, PhD, a researcher at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, will serve as her mentors.

“Instead of having to stand in front of a poster on campus or read a brochure in a doctor’s office, this project will enable college students to learn about viral sexually transmitted infections in private settings, through an electronic format,” Dr. Lengacher said. “This will hopefully give them more time to study the materials and more knowledge about the diseases, which will hopefully lead to lower rates of infection.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Nurse Faculty Scholar award aims to strengthen the academic productivity and overall excellence of nursing schools by developing the next generation of national leaders in academic nursing.

Supporting junior nurse faculty will help curb a severe shortage of nurse educators that threatens to undermine the health and health care of all Americans. Many nursing schools lack the resources needed to hire and support enough faculty to train the next generation of nurses. As a result, nursing schools are turning away thousands of qualified applicants—rejecting the very people who can help reverse a serious looming nurse shortage. As the supply of nurses shrinks and the demand for their services grows, patient care will suffer.

The Foundation’s Nurse Faculty Scholars program aims to curb the effects of the nursing shortage by helping more junior faculty succeed in, and commit to, academic careers. The program provides talented junior faculty with salary and research support as well as the chance to participate in institutional and national mentoring activities, leadership training, and networking events with colleagues in nursing and other fields, while continuing to teach and provide institutional, professional and community service in their universities.

The program will also enhance the stature of the scholars’ academic institutions, which will benefit fellow nurse educators seeking professional development opportunities.

To receive the award, scholars must be registered nurses who have completed a research doctorate in nursing or a related discipline and who have held a tenure-eligible faculty position at an accredited nursing school for at least two and no more than five years.
The program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered through the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. To learn more about the program, visit www.rwjfnursefacultyscholars.org.

Sandra Cadena, PhD

Tampa, FL (Aug. 3, 2009) -- Sandra J. Cadena, PhD, ARNP, assistant professor and director of global health at the University of South Florida College of Nursing, has been selected for a Fulbright Specialists project in Colombia, South America. She will be based at El Bosque University during Fall, 2009 semester, according to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Dr Cadena will provide consultation to develop a graduate psychiatric/mental health nursing curriculum, expand research projects focused on cultural competency, and provide educational opportunities for nursing faculty and students.

Dr. Cadena is one of over 400 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad this year through the Fulbright Specialists Program. The Fulbright Specialists Program, created in 2000 to complement the traditional Fulbright Scholar Program, provides short-term academic opportunities (two to six weeks) to prominent U.S. faculty and professionals to support curricular and faculty development and institutional planning at post secondary, academic institutions around the world.

The Fulbright Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange activity, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Over its 60 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have taught, studied or conducted research abroad, and thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States. Over 285,000 emerging leaders in their professional fields have received Fulbright awards, including individuals who later became heads of government, Nobel Prize winners, and leaders in education, business, journalism, the arts and other fields.

Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement. Among the thousands of prominent Fulbright Scholar alumni are Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist; Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Rita Dove, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet; and Craig Barrett, Chairman of the Board of Intel Corporation. Distinguished Fulbright Specialist participants include Mahmoud Ayoub, Professor of Religion at Temple University, Heidi Hartmann, President and CEO, Institute for Women's Policy Research, Percy R. Luney, Jr. Dean and Professor, College of Law, Florida A&M University, and Emily Vargas-Barone, Founder and Executive Director of the RISE Institute.

- USF Health -
USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $360 million in research grants and contracts last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

The University of South Florida College of Nursing has partnered with Cerner Corporation to add the Academic Education Solution (AES), a fully integrated electronic medical record, to the College’s state-of-the-art human simulation lab. The AES is the only full clinical information system adapted to support academic curricula and classroom instruction. The system will enable students to use an interactive approach to learn evidence-based clinical practices, critical thinking skills, and data-driven decision making.

The USF College of Nursing’s adoption of electronic health records (EHR) into its curriculum and classroom instruction is part of a growing national movement to digitize the medical record-keeping process.

The complexity of care, volume of patients, and rapid growth of healthcare knowledge are beginning to push the physical and intellectual limits of healthcare professionals. Care providers need to quickly understand a patient’s complete past and present health information to apply the latest effective clinical practices for improving or managing the patient’s health. EHRs facilitate better access to this important information.

Improving Health Professionals’ Education

To address this evolution in patient care, the USF College of Nursing recognized the need to improve the methods of educating future healthcare professionals. The College plans to embed the EHR into the health professions’ curricula, as well as use it as a teaching and learning tool. The Academic Education Solution, coupled with the College’s simulation lab, enhances the faculty’s ability to teach the clinical process, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills and making evidence-driven decisions.

“By exposing students to the EHR early in the curriculum we are meeting two goals -- improving students’ healthcare information technology skills and, with that added skill set, increasing the market appeal our nursing graduates to our collaborating partners,” said Dr. Laura Gonzalez, director for the Center of Virtual Simulation at the USF College of Nursing. “New graduates will have had substantial training prior to employment, which will result in cost savings in terms of new hire training expenses.”

Paving the Way for Success

Healthcare technologies are widely recognized as an effective tool to counteract today’s crippling shortage of qualified healthcare providers. The USF College of Nursing’s students embrace technology as part of their education and training process, easing the transition from the academic to the professional setting. This translates into more efficient, confident new nursing graduates in increasingly automated healthcare environments where safety and accountability are driving forces.

- Story by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications

Sandra Cadena, PhD

Tampa, FL (April 13, 2009) -- Sandra J. Cadena, PhD, ARNP, CNE, director of Global Health at the USF College of Nursing, has been appointed by the National League for Nursing to serve as an NLN Ambassador. As a member of this elite corps, Dr. Cadena will help keep USF nursing faculty and administration informed about the NLN’s initiatives, grant opportunities, conferences, publications, workshops, and other benefits available to NLN members.

“We created this selective program to make it as easy as possible for nurse faculty and nursing programs at all levels of academia to understand what the NLN has to offer to enhance professional development and status,” said NLN CEO Dr. Beverly Malone. “At the same time, we expect the Ambassadors to communicate to NLN professional staff and the board what issues and challenges are of greatest concern to nurse educators in the field so that we can maximize the effectiveness of our programming and services. The Ambassadors are, in effect, the NLN’s ‘eyes and ears’ on campus.”

Dr. Cadena has been instrumental in advancing the College of Nursing’s vision throughout her nine-year University career. Before joining USF fulltime, she was an entrepreneur in her field of psychiatric nursing, and in private practice for more than 15 years. She has published in peer-reviewed journals and most recently had a book chapter accepted in the soon to be released NLN book, Giving Through Teaching: How Nurse Educators are Changing the World.

It is anticipated that, as do all NLN Ambassadors, Dr. Cadena will encourage colleagues at USF to participate in NLN professional development programs, apply for research grants, submit abstracts for the annual Education Summit and manuscripts to the NLN's peer-reviewed journal, Nursing Education Perspectives, volunteer for task groups and special committees, run for elected office, nominate colleagues for awards, and complete research surveys.

The NLN Ambassador Program was established in fall 2006 with an initial cadre of 126 members who teach in all types of nursing programs – practical nurse, associate degree, diploma, baccalaureate, master's and doctoral. Today there are more than 700 ambassadors representing schools of nursing in 49 states. New ones are appointed periodically to meet the goal of having at least one NLN Ambassador in every school of nursing.

"We are confident that the insights gained through this valuable relationship will help make the NLN more responsive to the needs of our dedicated nurse educators,” Dr. Malone said.

- USF Health –
USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With more than $360 million in research grants and contracts last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community-engaged, four-year public universities designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.health.usf.edu

- National League for Nursing -
Dedicated to excellence in nursing education, the National League for Nursing is the premier organization for nurse faculty and leaders in nursing education offering faculty development, networking opportunities, testing and assessment, nursing research grants, and public policy initiatives to its 27,000 individual and over 1100 institutional members.

Janine Overcash, PhD, ARNP

In teaching nursing students the intricacies of doing patient assessments, Janine Overcash, PhD, ARNP, makes it clear that the typical patient is not what is depicted on Grey's Anatomy. "Older patients are the primary consumers of health care services. I try to sensitize student to the fact that much of the time, as a nurse in a hospital setting, that's who they will be seeing," says Overcash, an assistant professor of nursing at USF Health.

In addition, if current demographic trends continue, cancer will become primarily a disease of older individuals, she says. And that means nursing students must focus on combining the principles of caring for the elderly with the special circumstances involved in caring for the older person with cancer — Overcash’s area of expertise, as well as her passion.

“I have always wanted to be a nurse,” says Overcash. “I became interested in aging and care of older adults while in high school volunteering in a nursing home.” During graduate school at USF, she conducted research in aging and advancing nursing care of the older adult, specifically geriatric assessment, and working at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center focused her on geriatric oncology. The recipient of a prestigious Hartford Foundation post-doctoral fellowship, Overcash has published widely on topics including aging, the role of the nurse in geriatric oncology, older women with breast cancer, constructing comprehensive geriatric assessments and geriatric nursing protocols for best practice.

Overcash says that the curriculum in USF’s College of Nursing is demanding, but students are highly motivated and committed to achievement. She particularly enjoys teaching undergraduates and sharing stories about her experiences as a young nurse. “We work hard but we laugh a lot, too.”

That sense of camaraderie along with an office door that is always open to students enables Overcash to carry out what she believes is one of the most important roles of a university professor — mentorship — including modeling a positive outlook towards the nursing profession. “One of the first things my students hear me say is how much I love nursing.”

She also loves her teaching at USF. “USF provides the tools for academic success for students as well as faculty,” she says. “It’s an energetic and positive place to work.”

During her 12-year tenure, Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, FAAN, built a thriving, nationally-prominent USF College of Nursing

Tampa, FL (Feb. 9, 2009) – After a highly successful 12-year career, Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, FAAN, has announced that she will step down as Dean of the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida. Dr. Burns is well respected in the nursing profession and the Tampa Bay community for her immeasurable contributions towards making life better through research, education and healthcare.

"I will miss the College of Nursing a great deal; however, the time has come for me to embark on a path towards a new chapter in my life,” Dr. Burns said. “I will always cherish my years at the College of Nursing and I’m looking forward to continuing a relationship with the community that I have been so much a part of for the past 12 years.”

In the Tampa Bay area, nursing shortages and nursing faculty shortages are greater than the national average. Under Dr. Burns’ leadership, the USF College of Nursing has developed new advanced degree programs and created innovative education models to fill this need in the profession. She established the Clinical Collaborative Initiative, a partnership between local healthcare agencies in the Tampa Bay area and the USF College of Nursing. The Initiative gives students seeking bachelor’s degrees the opportunity to reside in a single agency for clinical coursework. Students are often eligible and qualified to serve as nurse technicians, and employed by the agency after the first semester.

Addressing the Nursing Shortage
“The USF College of Nursing has fostered innovative programming between the community and college to address the nursing shortage by expanding student numbers and needs for more educators and enhancing the research focus within hospitals,” said Sandra K Janzen MS, RN, CNAA-BC, associate director of patient care services at James A Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida, “This forum is an exemplary model of community and academic collaboration that addresses current and future needs while systematically exploring innovative ideas together.”

The College of Nursing has built healthcare partnerships across 10 counties in Florida and forged collaborations across the University, state, nationally and internationally. The College’s exchange program with the University of Panama is now in its third year. To date, three delegations totaling nearly 45 nursing students have participated in the program, a hands-on community health learning experience.

Clinical community partnerships are imperative for preparing nurses in advanced clinical roles as much needed educators and researchers. One such partnership is the College’s longstanding collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, the only comprehensive cancer center in Florida designated by the National Cancer Institute. USF offers the only oncology nursing master’s program in the state.

Innovative Graduate Nursing Programs
The College’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), Nurse Anesthesia, and Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) advanced graduate degree nursing programs epitomize Dr. Burns’ vision of the ideal innovative education model. One of the first colleges in the country to offer the CNL and DNP programs, USF has graduated some of the first nurses in the country with these degrees. Started in Fall 2006 in response to the nationwide demand for more anesthesia providers, USF is only the third public university to offer the nurse anesthesia program out of seven accredited nursing programs in Florida. USF’s program is the first in the Tampa Bay area. In Fall 2008, 100 percent of USF’s charter class of 12 nurse anesthetists graduated with a job already lined up.

Nursing baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral program students and graduates provide safe competent healthcare in hospitals across the greater Tampa Bay area, a testament to the significant community impact of the collaborations Dean Burns initiated.

To facilitate the growth of research initiatives in the College and bring together diverse faculty and student research interests, Dr. Burns created a Nursing Research Center within the College. The Center has significantly broadened the College’s research portfolio, including multidisciplinary collaborations, and substantially upgraded its research infrastructure and capacity, including enhanced administrative support and expertise in data management, project management and statistical analyses.

Strengthening Research Collaboration
Recently, the College of Nursing increased its research awards by 64 percent and achieved its goal of raising both public and private funding by 40 percent – resulting in the highest percentage jump for a single college in research funding at USF for FY 2007-2008. The University’s overall research funding for FY2007/2008 rose by 17 percent over the previous fiscal year.

Dr. Burns further strengthened the College’s research endeavors by establishing a Biobehavioral Laboratory. Scheduled for completion this year, the laboratory will support the Research Center and the College’s Center for Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI). Occupying more than 2,000-square-foot of space, it will house state-of-the art equipment for conducting blood assays, such as inflammatory markers, stress hormones, proteomics, and RNA and DNA analyses. The facility will also include multiple patient rooms for conducting physical examinations, clinical measurements, and treatments for health care and research purposes. Enabled by the College’s productive research environment and clinical partnerships, the PNI Center pursues research, education, and the translation of knowledge into clinical practice.

The College of Nursing’s collaborative structure encourages a community of scholars and clinicians interested in related topics. This benefits the college by providing a framework for research studies and partnerships. Ultimately, this strong research foundation benefits patients through evidence-based clinical care -- another way Dr. Burns’ leadership has profoundly influenced healthcare in the Tampa Bay community.

Continued community support and individual contributions are vital to the future of the College of Nursing. As dean, Dr. Burns fostered a large increase in financial donations to the College; endowments have grown by more than $5 million during her 12-year tenure.

Building National Prominence
The College has received national support and accolades as well. The USF Master’s Program in Nursing was recently ranked 72 by U.S News and World Report -- a large jump from 115 scored when the program was last ranked in 2003. The USF profile included in the 2009 Princeton Review "Best 368 Colleges" praises the College of Nursing. Among the candid comments of USF students surveyed for the book: “There’s a great nursing program.”

USF’s nursing programs have steadily flourished to accommodate a growing student population. As of Fall 2008 the College of Nursing had 1,888 students enrolled across its baccalaureate, masters, doctoral and continuing education programs – up from 628 students in Fall 1999. Dr. Burns oversaw the College of Nursing facility’s much needed physical expansion. Members of the College, University and community gathered to dedicate the new building in May 2005 and celebrated renovations that tripled the size of the College of Nursing facility, from 25,000 to 75,000 square feet.

In 2007, Dr. Burns launched the College on an exciting and momentous endeavor – a comprehensive five-year strategic planning process. Carefully constructed through student, faculty, staff, alumni and community involvement, the strategic plan has set the mission, vision, goals and values to help guide the College of Nursing to future success and prominence regionally, nationally and internationally.

As her lasting legacy Dean Patricia Burns leaves a successful, nationally-recognized College of Nursing built upon innovative education models, collaborative clinical partnerships, advanced practice graduate degree programs and a facilitative multi-disciplinary scientific research infrastructure.

- Story by Ashlea Hudak, College of Nursing Communications

Laura Moody, the anchor of Fox-13 News Good Day, Tampa Bay, broadcast two live spots from the USF College of Nursing Simulation Center Wednesday morning, Jan. 28.

The live shots led into a taped feature exploring why the nursing shortage continues despite no slack in demand for nurses in today's tough economic climate. The segment included interviews with USF College of Nursing student Jamie Simpson, who will graduate in May, and CON Associate Dean Sandra Cadena. While many companies are laying off employees, the nursing profession appears recession-proof. Ninety percent of all USF nursing students have jobs lined up before they graduate, and Dr. Cadena said she doesn't expect that to change.

The program was shown on the big screen in the USF College of Nursing gathering space.

Fox-13 News anchor Laura Moody checks out one of the patient simulators before her live broadcast from the USF College of Nursing's simulation center.

- Newsbrief by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications
- Photo by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications

L to R: USF charter CRNA students LaSonya Malbrough, Latanya Lawrence, Anita Lee, Tae Garrison, and Georgia Vong at a clinical rotation.

At the Dec. 13 commencement ceremony, 100 percent of USF’s charter class of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, or CRNAs, graduated with a job lined up -- proof that the demand for this specialized health professional remains strong even in a slow economy. The 12 graduates, who received Master of Science degrees, are working in hospitals across the greater Tampa Bay area including Tampa General Hospital, Morton Plant Mease Hospital, University Community Hospital in Carrollwood and Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

CRNAs are anesthesia professionals who administer nearly 65 percent of the 26 million anesthetics given to patients each year, according to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. CRNAs are the sole anesthesia providers in nearly half of all hospitals and more than two-thirds of the rural hospitals in the United States.

USF’s CRNA program, the first such certified program in the Tampa Bay area, began in fall 2006 as a response to the nationwide demand for more anesthesia providers.

It was only the third public university to offer the CRNA certification out of seven accredited nursing programs in Florida.

USF’s CRNA program, directed by Sierra Gower, MS, CRNA, was designed to provide a high-quality, competitive program that combines extensive education with practical clinical experience.

“The need for CRNA's nationally and in the Tampa Bay community has never been greater and we are extremely proud that 100 percent of the charter class of nurse anesthetists secured employment upon graduation well before completing their degrees,” Gower said. “These 12 very skilled people will become Certified Registered Nurses Anesthetists and provide much needed safe, competent anesthesia care.”

A 1990 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services drew attention to a national shortage of nearly 5,400 nurse anesthetists. Recognizing the increasing numbers of healthcare procedures requiring anesthesia, many retiring CRNAs, and decreasing graduation rates of nurse anesthetists, the study concluded that nurse anesthesia educational programs must produce between 1,500 to 1,800 graduates annually to meet expected demands for nurse anesthetists by the year 2010. Currently, about 1,000 nurse anesthetists graduate annually.

The graduates from USF's charter CRNA class were: Joshua Beason, Thomas Benafield, Mary Bergin, Julia Cramer, Kimberly Durham, Jason Edwards, Tae Garrison, Kathleen Harley, Lisa Hollett, Dean Jani, Lasonya Malbrough, and Anita Lee-Newkirk.

- Story by Sarah Worth, USF Health Communications

Laura Gonzalez, PhD, ARNP, director of the USF College of Nursing's Center for Virtual Simulation, instructs students using one of the laboratory's patient simulators.

New technologies have advanced ways to simulate hands-on, real-time patient experiences, including computer-controlled mannequins that can be programmed to display certain health conditions and complications in humans. Human patient simulators allow students to repeatedly practice skills and procedures and to make judgements and errors in a controlled setting. These virtual patients have helped revolutionize nursing education by providing another level of safety before students care for real patients in hospitals and other clinical settings.

“Students learn to think on their feet and enjoy using the simulation lab to practice honing their skills,” said Laura Gonzalez, PhD, ARNP, director for the Center of Virtual Simulation at the University Of South Florida College Of Nursing.

I-Stan (TM), completely wireless and tetherless, is the latest model of human patient simulator. Unlike previous models, I-Stan is controlled wirelessly through the computer and all the simulator’s operating machinery is housed inside its body. The instructor uses the computer to control all actions of the simulator, changing the physiological symptoms manually as the students administer treatment to the virtual patient. The USF College of Nursing plans to create a control room where instructors can operate the patient simulator while viewing the students’ actions through a one-way mirror. In addition, the room housing the I-Stan will be modeled to resemble a hospital room or an intensive care unit.

The simulation lab meets the needs of today’s students by complementing traditional teaching methods with technology. The use of simulators is not inteded to replace classical education, but rather to enhance learning. The process of learning through assessment, evaluation, decision making and error correction is considered a stronger learning environment than passive instruction, experts say.

In a “mock code” simulation nursing students are put in a situation in which the patient undergoes respiratory and cardiac arrest and must be given immediate care to survive. The students must call upon their training and knowledge of how to respond in an emergency without wasting any time.

Fred Slone, MD, adjunct faculty member in the College of Nursing, demonstrates the latest model of human patient simulator, I-Stan, for the college's Community Awareness Nursing Development Leadership Education (CANDLE) group.

During four-hour monthly sessions students also work with the birthing simulator Noelle. A specialized robot-mannequin, Noelle is capable of delivering a baby vaginally, simulating a fetal heart rate and illustrating physiological changes throughout the birth. Students can view cardinal movements internally and externally as the birth progresses. They get a complete, first-hand experience before, during and after delivery -- caring for mom and newborn.

“Skills that may not be available for practice in a clinical environment are practiced in the lab to increase their exposure,” said USF College of Nursing faculty member Jenny Molloy MS, ARNP, RNC. “Because their roles would primarily be as an observer, skills the students may not be able to practice can be practiced in the simulation lab."

Clinical nursing instructor Jenny Molloy MS, ARNP, RNC, helps students "deliver" a newborn using a specially-designed labor and delivery simulator.

The George & Marian Miller Center for Virtual Learning at the USF College of Nursing also meets the changing needs of students while increasing the quality of education. Topic-specific software helps students learn indispensable skills that require considerable practice.

With the support of an interdisciplinary grant, the College of Nursing and the College of Engineering created nursing educational software to help students learn and practice elements of hands-on nursing skills such as inserting a naso-gastric tube. Other interactive programs allow students to practice reading and interpreting chest X-rays and heart rhythms.

There is a strategic plan to incorporate more laboratory simulation throughout the curriculum. “The goal is to have simulation used in every semester’s coursework, from novices to experts,” Dr Gonzalez said. “We don’t need to stop with nursing students; practicing nurses always need a refresher, especially in high-risk, low-volume situations.”

- Story by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications
- Photos by Luis Battistini, USF CONECT, Joseph Gamble, USF Communications, and Ashlea Hudak.

Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, CEO for USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine, welcomed faculty and staff to the anniversary dinner.

Click here for list of all anniversary award recipients.

More than 230 employees -- including three founding members of the USF College of Medicine’s clinical group -- were honored Oct. 30 at the annual USF Health Faculty & Staff Anniversary Dinner. The event, held this year in the newly reconstructed USF Marshall Student Center, recognized faculty and staff members’ continued dedication and contributions in the success of USF Health.

Among the 35-year anniversary recipients were three physicians who helped establish USF’s clinical group practice, now known as the USF Physicians Group – Juergen Nord, MD, Internal Medicine; Leon Prockop, MD, Neurology; and Allen Root, MD, Pediatrics. Thomas Klein, PhD, professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine, was the fourth 35-year recipient.

Dr. Juergen Nord, left, receives his 35-year award from Dr. John Curran

Dr. Nord, professor of medicine, was a founding faculty member of the USF Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition. He has been chief and director of USF Gastroenterology Service at Tampa General Hospital since 1977. He built the USF Endoscopy Center, one of the country’s first ambulatory endoscopy centers affiliated with an academic medical center.

Dr. Leon Prockop, right, with wife Fran Prockop.

The theme of the evening for Dr. Prockop, professor and former chair of the Department of Neurology, was “Only in America.” Proud of his heritage, Dr. Prockop was born to Ukrainian parents who only received six years of education in the Austro-Hungarian empire. He went on to become a leading neurologist and diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Only at USF, Dr. Prockop noted, could such a collection of faculty from around the world come together to build a medical school.

Dr. Allen Root, left, and Dr. Curran.

Dr. Root, professor of pediatrics and one of the world’s leaders in pediatric endocrinology, helped founding chair Dr. Lewis Barness build the USF Department of Pediatrics. Several of his fellows have gone on to chair departments at other medical centers.

A charter faculty member of the College of Medicine, Dr. Klein worked closely with Herman Friedman, PhD, long-time chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, to establish the college’s core of basic science research. He later served as department chair.

Faculty and staff in the College of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health and USF Health Administration also celebrated milestone anniversaries of 30, 25, 20, 15, 10 and 5 years of service.

Michael Hoad, vice president of USF Communications and Marketing, was the evening's master of ceremonies. He received his own 20-year anniversary award from Donna Petersen (left), ScD, dean of the College of Public Health.

June Lake, right, a faculty administrator in the College of Public Health, celebrated 20 years of service.

Patricia Gorzka, PhD, left, an associate professor in the College of Nursing and manager of continuing nursing education at USF Health, was presented her 20-year award by Mary Webb, PhD, right, professor of nursing.

L to R: U.S. Rep Kathy Castor talks about the USF College of Nursing's partnership with James A. Haley VA Hospital, flanked by Marian Hardwick and Carey Ledee, among the first USF nursing students enrolled in the new VA Nursing Academy.

TAMPA, FL (Oct. 27, 2008) -- A new nursing academy will help alleviate the state’s nursing shortage, offer care to wounded veterans and create high-paying jobs in the Tampa Bay area, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said today.

“It marries a number of missions,” Castor said. “This VA Nursing Academy is a wonderful new initiative that builds upon the collaboration of USF and the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital.

With the Haley VA's new state-of-the-art spinal cord injury wing as a backdrop, Castor was joined at the news conference by Patricia Burns, PhD, dean of the USF College of Nursing, and Sandra Janzen, associate director for patient care services/nursing programs at the Haley VA Hospital.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has provided $3.5 million to USF’s College of Nursing to establish the VA Nursing Academy. USF's nursing school is one of 11 across the country to date selected to form nursing academies with 10 VA medical centers. The money allows Haley and the nursing college to hire five faculty members this year and another five next year. That, in turn, allows the school to enroll more nursing students.

As a result of the program, 100 new nurses are expected to graduate with their baccalaureate degrees in the next four years, Janzen said. If they join the VA system, those new nurses can expect starting salaries of about $47,000, she said.

“These are high-paying jobs for our community at a time when unemployment is on the rise,” Castor said. “These are good paying jobs with good benefits.”

L to R: Patricia Burns, PhD, dean of the USF College of Nursing; Sandra Janzen, associate director for patient care services/nursing at the Haley VA Hospital; and Congresswoman Kathy Castor responded to questions about the partnership's impact on Florida's nursing shortage.

The nursing students do clinical work at Haley, where they gain first-hand experience treating the nation’s veterans. They will be exposed to specialized services including mental health, physical rehabilitation, polytrauma and spinal cord injury care. Haley officials hope the nursing students will eventually work at the VA hospital.

The program has three main goals: to expand teaching faculty, to improve recruitment and retention of nurses, and to create new educational and research opportunities.

Florida’s nursing shortage is acute. The state is short nearly 13,000 registered nurses this year. By 2020, the shortage is expected to reach more than 52,000, according to the Florida Center for Nursing.

Part of the problem is nursing schools are forced to turn away qualified applicants. In 2007, for example, nursing schools had to say no to more than 40,000 qualified applicants, primarily because the schools didn’t have enough faculty members to teach the aspiring nurses, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

Students enrolled in the VA Nursing Academy are eligible to apply for $10,000 scholarships awarded through USF’s College of Nursing and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Nursing Academy initiative underscores Castor’s work on higher education, health care and military affairs. Castor pushed for the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, which provides loan forgiveness to students entering careers in public service – including nursing. Congress also allocated $2.4 million for a program through the USF College of Nursing to help veterans cope with emotional health and other problems.

See Related Story:
USF awarded $100,000 for RWJF New Careers in Nursing Program

USF College of Nursing Dean Patricia Burns with Kathy Castor.

USF nursing student Marian Hardwick, a participant in the VA Nursing Academy, is interviewed by ABC Action News anchor Sarina Fazan.

Hardwick and Ledee help out veterans Alfred Rozelle (second from left) and Charles Alston during lunchtime at the Haley VA spinal cord injury unit. Cas Cahill, far left, USF assistant professor of nursing, is director of the VA Nursing Academy.

Alston shares a laugh with nursing student Ledee.

- Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

VA Nursing Academy participants Marian Hardwick, left, and Carey Ledee were two of eight students in the College of Nursing's Accelerated Second Degree Program awarded RWJF scholarships this fall. Hardwick has a bachelor's degree in health education and Ledee in biology.

The University of South Florida (USF) College of Nursing is among the first institutions in the nation to receive funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) through the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program. Grants provided through this competitive program will be used for scholarships to increase the number of students enrolled in USF College of Nursing’s accelerated baccalaureate nursing program.

This groundbreaking national initiative, launched by RWJF and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), aims to help alleviate the nation’s nursing shortage by dramatically expanding the pipeline of students in accelerated nursing programs. The USF College of Nursing was awarded $100,000 to provide 10 student scholarships for 2008/2009.

Scholarship applications were distributed to the incoming class of Accelerated Second Degree students from the VA Nursing Academy (VANA) cohort, and 8 eligible students were awarded the scholarships on Sept. 22. The VA Nursing Academy is a collaboration between The Department of Veterans Affairs and the USF College of Nursing aimed at boosting care for veterans and job opportunities for nurses.

Students were thrilled to have this wonderful opportunity. One student commented, “This is unbelievable – now I can focus on my courses without worrying about the bills so much!” Another said, “You can’t imagine how much this is going to help me because now I can drop back my hours at work!”

Through the RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program, scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each will be distributed to entry-level nursing students in accelerated programs during the 2008-2009 academic year. Award preference is given to students from groups underrepresented in nursing or from disadvantaged backgrounds. Grant funding also will be used by the school of nursing to help leverage new faculty resources and provide mentoring and leadership development resources to ensure successful program completion by scholarship recipients.

“This program aims to safeguard the health of the nation by helping to ease the nurse and nurse faculty shortage,” said RWJF President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A. “This new initiative also will advance our strategic goal of promoting leadership in the health professions.”

The RWJF New Careers in Nursing Scholarship Program supports accelerated programs, which offer the most efficient route to licensure as a registered nurse for adults who have already completed a baccalaureate or graduate degree in a discipline other than nursing.
Although enrollment in these programs has steadily increased over the past few years, many potential students are unable to enroll since already having a college degree disqualifies them for receiving most federal financial aid programs for entry-level students. The New Careers in Nursing scholarships address this problem, and will also address the overall nursing shortage, by enabling hundreds of students to launch their nursing careers through accelerated education.

“Students admitted to USF under the VA program will do their clinical work at the James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa and, ideally, will end up working there," said Dr. Cass Cahill, an Assistant Professor at USF and Director of the new VA Nursing Academy.

USF was competitively selected as one of seven nursing schools across the nation this year to join the VA Nursing Academy. The VA awarded $3.5-million grant to the university to establish the VA Nursing Academy at USF. The money will pay for five faculty positions for four years and is part of a five-year, $40-million effort by the VA to team up with universities near their medical centers.

“The VA Nursing Academy expands our teaching faculty, improves recruitment and retention, and creates new educational and research opportunities," U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs James B. Peake said in a statement.

By bringing more nurses into the profession at the baccalaureate and master’s degree levels, the new scholarship program also helps to address the nation’s nurse faculty shortage. Data from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration show that nurses entering the profession at the baccalaureate level are four times more likely than other nurses to pursue a graduate degree in nursing, which is the required credential to teach.

Additionally, the program targets the need to recruit students from groups underrepresented in nursing or disadvantaged backgrounds. According to the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, diversifying the nursing profession is essential to meeting the health care needs of the nation and reducing health disparities that exist among many underserved populations.

Two scholarships are being held in reserve at the USF College of Nursing until the next class of VANA students are admitted, which is expected to be in April 2008. Only students who are admitted to the College of Nursing in the accelerated second degree program are eligible.

AACN serves as the National Program Office for this RWJF initiative and oversees the grant application submission and review processes. For more information about this program, visit www.newcareersinnursing.org.

- Story by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing Communications
- Photo by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications

88 years young, Shirley Marie Turner has her eye on the future and making a difference in nursing. After more than three decades of retirement she and her daughter Janis Boyd have found a way to make that happen. At the USF College of Nursing, Janis is creating a scholarship fund in her mother’s name.

“I just love nursing,” says Shirley, now a retired nurse in Delray Beach. “…love it because you’re helping people. I know sometimes it can be difficult. It was difficult for me when I was young to be able to afford nursing school, so I can understand those young people who want to go and don’t have the finances to. Thank goodness my father was able to get funding for me to go.”

Janis, a USF graduate, Class of ‘73, says it’s the kind of legacy that certainly “fits” her mom, a petite 4’5” woman with a Herculean passion for nursing and kids. “My late husband Jack and I have been involved with USF scholarships for years. I thought it would be good to create a nursing scholarship in mom’s name. At first she said ‘I’m so not worthy!’” laughs Janis. “I said ‘Mom, you raised three teenaged daughters at one time! I think that counts for something!’ After it sunk in, mom thought it was really cool.”

Cool indeed.

“I think what the USF College of Nursing is doing is so great, so I went for it,” says Shirley. “It’s always a great thing when you’re able to give back,” says Janis.

Looking back, it’s clear that nursing allowed this family to have the best of both worlds. For the kids, it was quality time with mom at home. For Shirley, it was a rewarding career.

William Robert Turner and Shirley Marie Foreman were married on April 25, 1941.

A 1942 graduate of the Springfield City Hospital Nursing School in Ohio, then Shirley Marie Foreman, began her nursing career ‘working the floor’ of Springfield City Hospital. Two years later and married, Shirley faced the question new moms have struggled with for generations – whether or not to become a stay at home mom. She made the choice to put her nursing career on hold until her girls, Lois, Janis and Sara were in high school and college. “It was very fulfilling to be able to do that,” says Shirley of her return after years of child rearing. “At the same time, Florida was having nursing shortages, and I wanted to help.”

Speaking from her home in Homosassa, daughter Janis is quick to point out that Shirley was as devoted to her colleagues as she was to her patients. “Mom often worked weekends and holidays to give nurses who were still raising kids time to spend with their families,” says Janis beaming with pride. “Helping people has always been mom’s first priority.”

“I just did what the Lord wanted me to do. I felt a calling and followed my heart,” says Shirley. “I’d work my own weekends and then help other nurses if they wanted a day off for a special reason. We were a team.”

Daughter Sara, who lives in Palm Coast, Florida, notes that her mother first felt a calling for nursing since childhood. “Mom knew she wanted to be a nurse when she was just 10 or 11 years old. We always felt that mom had a gift. When ever one of us was sick, one of the first things mom did was to touch us. She could tell, just by touching us, what was going on,” says Sara, who also attended USF. “We could NEVER fake being sick because mom could tell right away!” adds Janis. “We never got to stay home faking we were sick. Believe me, we tried!”

As one might expect, Shirley’s nursing memories are many and varied – stretching from Ohio to Florida. “Too many to remember in great detail,” she says with a laugh. Her daughter’s personal favorite is one from Ohio. “In the early days, they had large hospital rooms with 4 to 6 patients to a room. Mom was taking care of a group of men one day when one of them told her he needed something, but he was having a hard time telling her what that was. He was an older man, shy and in a roomful of other men. Maybe he wasn’t comfortable telling my mom, a tiny, pretty 22 year-old, what he needed,” says Janis with a chuckle. “Finally he said to her ‘I need…you know…one of those vases.’ And my mom said ‘Oh, okay. How big is your bouquet?’ Well, as it turned out, what he wanted was a urinal.”

True story.

“Oh my, yes!” says Shirley, almost blushing.

Focusing on today, Shirley marvels at the increased choices nursing students have. “Back in 1942, you hit the books and from then on it was ‘learn and do’” says Shirley. “And back then, you were either an operating room nurse, an emergency room nurse, or a floor nurse…and even those were limited,” she recalls. “Now? My goodness, it’s wide open! Unbelievable!” Re-energized by the opportunity to give back to the profession she loves, Shirley’s golden years of retirement are filled with a renewed sense of optimism and hope.

“There just never seems to be enough qualified nurses around and this is our way of doing our part to help,” says Janis.

“The College of Nursing is honored to have a scholarship memorializing Shirley Turner,” says Patricia Burns, PhD, RN, Dean of nursing and Senior Associate Vice President, USF Health. “She is truly a role model for the nursing profession and her passion for nursing is infectious.”

Shirley has this advice for nursing students of today. “Number one, you really have to love it. You have to know in your heart that you want to do this. It may be tough sometimes, as any job would be, but if you really want to do it, hang in there! It will work out.”

Shirley Turner is living proof of that.

Story by Lissette Campos, USF Health Communications

Other Links:

PHOTO GALLERY

Nursing Life Magazine Spring 2008 Edition

USF College of Nursing

To: The USF Community
From: President Judy Genshaft

One of the most exciting developments at the University of South Florida today is the growth of research awards and the wide range of interdisciplinary ideas that are contributing to this momentum.

In my Fall 2008 Address yesterday, I talked about how USF's strategic plan recognizes and shapes signature research programs that cross disciplines and colleges. Integrated research will make us the university of the future.

On our USF news website, you'll see USF's press release on research awards from the fiscal year 2007-2008. I'd like to thank the many members of our community who contribute their best ideas and hard work to our research mission: faculty members, as well as graduate students, staff members, and undergraduate students who've become involved in research.

Congratulations to all of you.

USF Sees Record Breaking $360 Million in Research Awards:

- The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has seen a reduction in funds allocated from the Federal government, awarded $107.5 million to USF in FY 2007/2008, up from $62.5 million during the previous fiscal year.

- Funding for medical and health research leads the university’s quest for excellence. Year after year, programs headed by Dr. Jeffrey Krischer in the USF College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics help drive the research dollar totals upward. In FY 2007/2008, the college’s external funding increased by 35 percent.

- The USF College of Nursing increased its research awards by 64 percent and achieved its goal of raising both public and private funding by 40 percent.

Other Links:

Click here for News Release - USF’s record breaking $360 million in research awards.

Click here for podcast of President Genshaft's Fall Address on Sept. 10, 2008.

Click here for full text of Fall Address.

Media Clips on USF's growing research awards:

St. Petersburg Times - USF President Upbeat on University's Future (Sept. 11, 2008)

ABC Action News - USF Sees a Huge Boost in Research Funding (Sept. 10, 2008)

Tampa Bay Business Journal - USF Research Funding Increases 17% (Sept. 10, 2008)

Click here for Part One of interview on Psychoneuroimmunology, PNI. Interview with Dr. Nick Hall, Director, USF College of Nursing Center for Psychoneuroimmunology.

Click here for Part Two of Dr. Hall interview on Psychoneuroimmunology, PNI.

For more information on the PNI conference, visit www.cme.hsc.usf.edu/pni

Are you sick because you’re depressed, or are you depressed because you’re sick? The short answer is yes.

For more than 25 years researchers in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, or PNI, have been accumulating evidence showing that what you think and feel may alter your immune system. Relatively recently researchers have also begun documenting the flip side – that the immune system gone awry may profoundly impact the inner workings of your brain, leading to significant behavioral and health consequences. PNI has evolved with advances in technology, which now allows scientists to more precisely measure inflammatory chemicals such as cytokines and stress hormones like cortisol, as well as tap into sophisticated imaging techniques that map out metabolic changes in parts of the brain controlling emotions.

Some of the nation’s leading experts in psychoneuroimmunology, or PNI, will gather Sept. 18 to 21 when the University of South Florida College of Nursing hosts a national conference, Frontiers in Psychoneuroimmunology: The Emotional Interface, at Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, FL.

They will share emerging research linking emotions with health and immunity, the connections between emotions and cancer progression, the immune system’s involvement in diseases such as fibromyalgia, depression and metabolic syndrome, the potential of stress and fatigue to hurt the body’s ability to fight infection, and the global health implications of mind-body research. The conference will include a preconference training program in meditation/stress reduction and roundtable discussions with opportunities for health professionals in attendance to ask questions.

Nick Hall, PhD, directs the USF College of Nursing Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, one of few PNI research centers in the country housed within a nursing school.

“One of the biggest challenges is interpreting the results of mind-body interactions and transforming them into clinical outcomes that will benefit our patients and clients. We are dealing with an extraordinarily complex system and we don’t yet understand all that we need to consider.” said Nick Hall, PhD, director of the USF College of Nursing Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, one of few PNI research centers in the country housed within a nursing school. “But this conference will bring together the country’s top PNI experts in one spot to answer tough questions. Many of the speakers are funded by the National Institutes of Health, and we all share a passion for scientific validity.”

PNI is a wide-ranging field studying the relationships among the mind (psyche), the brain (neuro) and the immune system (immunology) and what all that has to do with your health and susceptibility to disease.

“In the early days when the term ‘psychoneuroimmunology’ was coined, the bias was that the brain controls everything – that information flows in the direction of gravity, from the nervous system down to the rest of the body,” Dr. Hall said.

When researchers found that depressed people were more prone to infections, they assumed the brain must be triggering a stress hormone to tamp down the immune system. But, Dr. Hall said, the evolutionary advantage for suppressing the immune function of a depressed person with slowed reflexes -- already lacking energy and motivation – was questionable. Making the depressed individual more susceptible to viruses and bacteria didn’t seem to make sense. Scientists eventually suspected that symptoms of depression may sometimes be triggered by the immune system sending the body a message to slow down so it can rest and restore energy, he added. But, what would happen if that message didn’t get turned off?

“We now know that some forms of depression may actually be triggered by too much immunity, rather than weakened immunity,” Dr. Hall said. “Something happens to make the immune system keep going on and on, without any restraints, rather like the Energizer Bunny.”

The USF conference’s keynote speaker is Peter Bourne, MD, a former health advisor to President Jimmy Carter, whose frontline studies on the psychological and physiological aspects of combat stress during the Vietnam War are considered classics in the field of psychoendocrinology.

Dr. Bourne, a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford, will speak on the public health implications of stress, which he maintains often exacerbates illness among those struggling with poverty and global conflicts.

Other top scholars will include Lydia Temoshok, PhD, of the University of Maryland, author of the book The Type C Connection: Behavioral Links to Cancer and Your Health, and Ronald Glaser, PhD, a pioneer in studies linking stress and infection. Dr. Temoshok’s latest research looks at how higher inflammatory cytokine responses correlated with a Type C coping style (characterized as unfailingly eager to please and unable to express emotions, particularly anger) may influence the progression of HIV. Dr. Glaser, an immunologist from the Ohio State University, found that the immunity of medical students went down every year under the stress of their three-day exam period. The test takers had fewer natural killer cells, which fight tumors and viral infections, and stopped producing immunity-boosting gamma interferon.

Contributors from the USF College of Nursing will be Maureen Groer, RN, PhD, director of the Center for Women’s Health Research, and Dr. Hall. Dr. Groer will discuss the immune and long-term health consequences of post traumatic stress syndrome in women who have experienced events such as rape, accidents, threats and warfare. Some studies suggest that inappropriate activation of inflammatory responses in these women may contribute to their future risk for chronic illnesses like heart disease and autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Hall’s research probing the interrelationships between emotions and health has been featured on “Nova” and the Emmy-Award winning television series “Healing and the Mind” produced by Bill Moyers for PBS.

He will speak about his previous work at USF and Arizona State University, which indicated that the body chemistry of theatre actors was impacted by the emotions they experienced while performing in a controlled setting. If they performed an uplifting piece requiring a lot of laughter, their immune systems were boosted and disease-fighting chemical reactions were enhanced. If they acted in a tense dramatic role requiring expressions of grief and anger, their immune systems were suppressed. While more study is needed, Hall said, eventually role playing exercises intended to create physiological changes might help patients with chronic illnesses like cancer and AIDS.

Initial skepticism among scientists about the link between emotions and physical health has been greatly muted by mounting evidence from animal and human studies showing that the brain communicates with the immune system and vice versa, said conference speaker Margaret Kemeny, PhD, director of Health Psychology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Kemeny’s own research is looking for ways to bridge the science of emotions and meditation with the aim of developing interventions that can influence emotion regulation, biology and health. “We want to determine whether we can modify biological systems by helping people to become aware of and alter their emotional reactions – and that’s still an open question,” she said.

“I’d venture to say not one of us in this field thinks psychological interventions should be the sole treatment for any disease. But we are excited about the prospect of developing interventions based on PNI findings that might not only supplement standard high-quality medical care, but synergize with treatment benefits," Dr. Kemeny said.

Dr. Hall emphasizes that there is too much uncertainty to draw a direct cause and effect line between emotions, or personality, and disease. Being a pessimist won’t give a person cancer any more than being an optimist will spare someone who has a family history of heart disease, eats poorly and never exercises from a heart attack, he said.

“Getting any illness is like playing the lottery. You’ve got to have all the numbers lined up to get the disease,” Dr. Hall said. “One of those numbers is your genetic blueprint, but genes only determine probability, not causality. There has to be something to activate or deactivate genes. It could be a behavioral factor like how you cope with stress or your social support system. It could be any number of environmental factors that can impact biology – nutrition, how much you exercise, how much sleep you get, how much caffeine or alcohol you pour into your body, whether you take drugs.”

While no one is to blame for their health consequences, everyone can learn how to take a more active role in preventing illness, improving quality of life and take advantage of therapies that may allow traditional medical treatments to work better, Dr. Hall said.

“There are scientifically based things you can do, like mindfulness meditation, stress management or reframing exercises, that can make a significant difference in promoting your overall health – in ways you may have never imagined.”

- Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications
- Graphic from National Institutes of Health (1995) Mind-Body Interactions and Disease conference

The outstanding contributions and internationally-recognized scholarly accomplishments of four USF Health professors have earned them the university’s highest honor -- recognition as 2008 distinguished professors. One faculty member -- Laurence Branch, PhD, College of Public Health -- was awarded the title Distinguished University Professor. Three have been named Distinguished University Health Professor – C. Hendricks Brown PhD, College of Public Health, Susan McMillan, PhD, College of Nursing; and David Sheehan, MD, MBA, College of Medicine.

Originally established in 1998, the Distinguished University Professor (DUP) award recognizes USF senior faculty across all disciplines who have distinguished themselves among their peers both within and outside the university through their research, scholarship and creative activity. Selection is based on a process of nomination to the provost and external peer review. The recipients will have their titles formally bestowed at the university’s Fall 2008 Honors and Awards Ceremony.

The Distinguished University Health Professor (DUHP) award was established and presented for the first time in 2007. The award recognizes USF Health faculty members for their highly distinctive achievements in research, teaching and service. Like the DUP award, the DUHP is selected through a rigorous process of internal recommending review and external peer review. DUHP recommendations are forwarded to the senior associate vice president for USF Health. Each awardee will receive a commemorative medallion and be invited to present at the 2008-09 USF Health Lecture Series scheduled to begin this fall.

As leading experts in their fields, these distinguished professors attract millions of federal research dollars to USF, publish in prestigious journals, teach and mentor students who have earned top spots as health leaders in their disciplines, and share their time and talent with the community.

Distinguished University Professor

Laurence Branch, PhD
Department of Health Policy and Management
College of Public Health

Dr. Branch shares the Distinguished University Professor award with Authur Bocher of the Department of Communication, College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Branch is an internationally-recognized researcher in the field of gerontology -- one of only four scholars at USF to make the coveted Institute for Scientific Information list of “highly cited researchers.” He has been credited with conceptualizing the widely-used term “active life expectancy” to describe the time period during which the elderly are fully functional and independent. He has received external funding of more than $12 million to support his various research programs. His research interests include successful aging, life expectancy, quality of life, functional status of the elderly, long-term care needs and use, alternatives to institutional care, gerontologic epidemiology and intervention trials.

In recognition of his excellent teaching at the doctoral level, Dr. Branch had an award named in his honor -- the “Laurence G. Branch Doctoral Student Research Award” -- by the American Public Health Association’s Gerontological Health Section. The award is presented at the APA’s annual meeting. In addition to his exemplary scholarship and teaching contributions, Dr. Branch has served with distinction in several roles in professional organizations and is President-Elect of the USF Faculty Senate. He is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.

Distinguished University Health Professors

C. Hendricks Brown, PhD
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
College of Public Health

Dr. Brown is an international leader in prevention science methodologies and statistics -- routinely consulted by other top faculty in his field at other universities. His landmark work has been a major influence in the development of prevention science, which uses statistical theory to evaluate prevention strategies in community settings and requires close collaboration with research teams conducting field trials. The Prevention Science and Methodology Group he directs is testing several different approaches to reducing suicides in youth, evaluating the long-term impact of school-based prevention programs on mental disorders and substance use disorders, and testing new implementation strategies for widescale evidence-based programs, particularly in the foster care system. The PSMG has received continuous funding from NIH for 20 years, and over the past several years, he has been the principal or co-principal investigator on 10 NIH-funded grants. Dr. Brown is a member of and presenter on Institute of Medicine committees on prevention, and an advisor to CDC’s Injury Prevention Center.

Dr. Brown’s collaborative research showed the dramatic, long-lasting effects of a first-grade behavioral intervention, known as the Good Behavior Game, through young adulthood. This work, recently published in a special issue of the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, found that diagnosable disorders of alcohol and drug dependence or abuse, antisocial personality disorder, and suicidal behavior were reduced 13 years after the first-grade intervention. This randomized trial is one of the few studies that have demonstrated such long-lasting effects of a prevention program.

Dr. Brown and colleagues across the country are also examining the role that antidepressants may play in youth and young adult suicides. They found that the Food and Drug Administration’s urgent warning about increased suicide risk among youth taking newer antidepressants was soon followed by a marked reduction in both antidepressant use and diagnoses of depression, along with a 13-percent increase in youth suicides. These findings suggest that the FDA warning may have had the unintended consequence of reducing treatment for depression among the most severely affected children and adolescents.

Dr. Brown has been instrumental in helping develop the Biostatistics Master’s and PhD programs in the College of Public Health, playing a particularly important role in mentoring students, fellows, and junior faculty members. He gets outstanding student reviews for his teaching of biostatistics, a very difficult subject that he succeeds in making interesting and informative.

Susan McMillan, PhD
College of Nursing

Internationally known for her contributions to oncology nursing and quality of life at the end of life, Dr. McMillan is the Lyall & Beatrice Thomson Professor of Oncology Quality of Life Nursing at USF. She was inducted into the prestigious American Academy of Nursing in 1993 in recognition of her national and international stature as a nursing leader – making her one of only 1,500 nurses out of nearly 3 million nationally who have received this honor. Dr. McMillan was named American Cancer Society Professor of Oncology Nursing from 1990 to 2000, the maximum time allowed for any professor to hold the award. At USF, she has garnered many honors, including the Jerome Krivanek Distinguished Teacher Award, the Theodore and Venette Askounes-Ashford Distinguished Scholar Award, and the College of Nursing’s Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award. Currently the principal investigator for two large NIH grants, Dr. McMillan is recognized worldwide for her research and development of tools to measure symptom management and quality of life in patients with cancer.

Dr. McMillan founded and continues to direct the Oncology Nursing Program that prepares advanced practice nurses in oncology – a field of nursing in great demand. Her NIH training grant in cancer care was among the first to provide interdisciplinary education for nurses and physicians. She founded and played a key role in successfully transforming an interdisciplinary research group into the USF’s Center for Hospice, Palliative Care and End of Life Studies, which partners with hospices across West Central Florida.

Dr. McMillan has been active in research at Moffitt Cancer Center since its inception and is affiliated with the hospital’s Psychosocial Oncology Program, where she mentors post-doctoral fellows.

David Sheehan, MD, MBA
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine
College of Medicine

One of the world’s leading authorities on anxiety disorders, Dr. Sheehan came to USF from Harvard Medical School where he contributed to the conceptualization and classification of panic disorder as a biological illness and conducted the first controlled trial of Xanax for panic disorder. He was a pioneer of psychopharmacology research evaluating several classes of antidepressants (including SSRIs) in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Dr. Sheehan’s structured diagnostic interview, The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), has been translated into 48 languages and has become the most widely used diagnostic interview in psychopharmacology research and clinical settings. Modules of the MINI have been adopted by the U.S. government to screen and track the mental health of American troops, and the child and adolescent version of the MINI is being used in the largest epidemiological study on the mental health of China’s youth. Several of his psychiatric rating scales are widely used in international studies.

Director of the COM’s Depression and Anxiety Research Institute, Dr. Sheehan has been awarded more than $16 million in grants for psychopharmacology, pharmaco-economics and epidemiology studies. His bestselling book The Anxiety Disease (which has sold more than a half-million copies) draws upon his research and his own pioneering breakthroughs in treating panic disorder. Dr. Sheehan is widely sought as a lecturer internationally and has served as a consultant to the World Health Organization, the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry, the International Academy for Biomedical and Drug Research, the U.S. Congress, the U.S.Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institute of Mental Health, to name a few.

He was elected as a member of the American College of Psychiatrists and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Story by Anne DeLotto Baier, USF Health Communications
Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Media Center

USF was competitively selected as one of seven nursing schools across the nation this year to join the VA Nursing Academy. The nursing school was awarded a $3.5 million grant from the VA for the partnership. The Academy is a virtual organization that boosts learning opportunities for nursing students at VA facilities, funds additional faculty positions to increase baccalaureate student enrollment, and increases recruitment and retention of nurses.

Read more...
- Department of Veterans Affairs news release

- St. Petersburg Times article

Mary E. Evans, RN, PhD, FAAN, associate dean for research and doctoral study at the USF College of Nursing, received a Scholar in Residence Joint Fellowship with the American Academy of Nursing and Institute of Medicine for 2008-2009. The program prominently engages nursing leaders in health policy development at the national level, and allows Dr. Evans to pursue interests in implementation of recommendations to improve the mental health of Americans.

“My work will provide information on factors that could facilitate the timely and effective implementation of recommendations from recent IOM committee reports and, hopefully, by implication other work underway at the IOM as well as in other scientific venues across the nation,” said Dr. Mary Evans.

Obtaining information on factors, particularly social, economic and political factors, could lead to more effective implementation of IOM recommendations. The project will also codify strategies to better prepare the legislative environment at the national level for implantation of IOM recommendations, and will be completed in cooperation with Mental Health America (MHA), the largest and oldest mental health advocacy and public education organization in the United States.

Newsbrief by Ashlea Hudak, USF College of Nursing