Year in review 2021-2022
YEAR IN REVIEW 2021–2022
In her first year as dean of the Connell School of Nursing, Katherine E. Gregory embraced her wide-ranging experience as a clinician, scientist, and leader to set forth a vision for CSON and for the future of nursing.
External funding
Epidemiologist and Associate Professor Nadia Abuelezam received a five-year, $1.9 million Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for her project “Advancing Methods in Infectious Diseases Models: Incorporating Structural Causes.” She utilizes mathematical models to better understand health disparities and how racial and ethnic identity affect well-being.
Associate Professor Jinhee Park received an R21 Exploratory/ Developmental Research Grant Award from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Nursing Research. This prestigious R21 grant, which supports exploratory research, will allow Park and her collaborators at the University of North Carolina and Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to investigate the “Biobehavioral Efficacy of the Semi-Elevated Side-Lying Position for Feeding Preterm Infants.”
Rachel French ’17 and Ph.D. student Katie Fitzgerald Jones each received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health. French was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship (F32) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for her project “Improving Opioid Use Disorder Treatment for Hospitalized Patients with Endocarditis.” Jones received a predoctoral award (F31) from the National Institute for Nursing Research for her project “A Multimethod Approach to Understanding the Biopsychosocial Underpinnings of Chronic Cancer Pain.”
Clinical Assistant Professor Victor Petreca and his research team received funding from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health’s Jail/Arrest Diversion Grant Program for their project “Exploring the Biopsychosocial Factors in Diversion to Other Treatment-Based Alternatives.”
Boston Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry awarded Ph.D. student Danielle Walker with its Gennaro Acampora Junior Investigator Pilot Award, which provides supplemental support to develop pilot data addressing psychiatric research questions.
Lindsey Camp
Victor Petreca
Danielle Walker
Boston College funding
Five CSON faculty members are on teams that received Exploratory Collaborative Scholarship Grants from BC’s Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society:
- Associate Professor Andrew Dwyer’s team will develop interventions to enable more effective health screenings for at-risk Latinx and Black populations.
- Associate Professor Elizabeth Howard, Professor Karen Lyons, and their team will evaluate health benefits of low-income older adults who participate in a federally funded community-service employment program.
- Assistant Professor Monica O’Reilly-Jacob’s team will explore telehealth’s impact on patient-clinician trust and the overuse of health care services.
- Associate Professor Jinhee Park’s team will study “Ultrasound for Body Composition Measurements and Nutritional Status Assessment.”
The Connell School launched Innovation Grants, a resource program designed to fund small research projects that are essential to supporting large external research grant applications. The first two funded projects are:
- “Associations among Cannabis Policies, Cannabis Use, and Patient-Provider Communication among Cancer Survivors,” from principal investigator and Assistant Professor Lindsey Camp and her team: Summer Hawkins, from BC’s School of Social Work, and CSON Clinical Assistant Professor Catherine Conahan.
- “Strangulation and Asphyxiation: A Data‐Driven Exploration of Offender Characteristics and Predictor Factors,” led by Clinical Assistant Professor Victor Petreca and his team: Professor Ann Wolbert Burgess and Clinical Instructor Melissa Pérez Capotosto; Michelle Patch, from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing; and BC Visiting Scholar Gary Brucato.
BC Nursing at 75
This year marks the school’s 75th anniversary and, since 1947, the Connell School has educated more than 12,000 nurses, nurse practitioners, and nurse leaders.
Climate Challenge
CSON joined the Nurses Climate Challenge: School of Nursing Commitment, a global initiative to educate 50,000 health professionals about the health impacts of climate change.
Promoting health equity
To meet its goal of creating classrooms where students learn how to promote health equity, CSON has been working to ensure that classroom content and pedagogy equip all students with a critical eye toward racial injustice and health disparities.
