Research Newsletter

1. Recent Grant Awards

During calendar year 2005, 26 new sponsored projects totaling over $10 million were awarded to School of Nursing faculty members. This is double the number of new awards and more than double the amount of funding received in calendar year 2004 - a milestone in CUSON’s funding history.

Grants funded since the Fall 2005 newsletter include:

  • Dr. Suzanne Bakken is principal investigator of a newly funded Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Nurse Education, Practice and Retention program grant, “Wireless Informatics for Safe and Evidence-based APN Care.” The program goal of this 3-year training grant is to reduce health disparities in underserved populations through preparing Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) students, faculty, and preceptors to use informatics approaches for improving patient safety and enhancing evidence-based practice. The program will (1) expand the current APN student clinical log database and personal digital assistant user interface to capture additional data; and (2) implement desktop and wireless access to web-based information and communication resources related to patient safety, evidence-based practice, and cultural competence in underserved populations for APN students, faculty, and preceptors.

  • Dr. Bernadette Capili, the Dean’s Distinguished Postdoctoral Research Scientist, is principal investigator of a 2-year R03 funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research entitled, “HIV, Lipids and Dietary Strategies.” This feasibility study will evaluate the metabolic effects of a controlled dietary intervention, supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids, to reduce serum triglyceride levels in HIV/AIDS patients taking highly active antiretroviral therapies with protease inhibitors.

  • Dr. Kristine Gebbie, Elizabeth Standish Gill Associate Professor of Nursing, is principal investigator of “Definition of Competencies for a National Cancer Corps,” a contract issued by C-Change, a non-profit organization fighting to eliminate cancer. The Center for Health Policy is assisting the Cancer Workforce Team and Cancer Corps Project Taskforce of C-Change in specifying core competencies for health professionals who care for cancer patients or engage in cancer prevention activities and developing beginning training materials based on those competencies. The primary work of the Center will be gathering relevant background information, drafting preliminary competency statements for review and development by the Workforce Team, using feedback to shape final competency statements, designing competency validation tools and drafting curriculum and training materials based on the specified competencies.

  • Dr. Kristine Gebbie is also principal investigator of an 18-month grant funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “A Comprehensive Assessment of Changes in State Public Health Laws.” This project will design and implement a comprehensive approach to track changes in public health statutes across the states and territories, and to document the subsequent changes in public health practice and programs.

  • Dr. Kathleen T. Hickey, Assistant Professor of Nursing, is principal investigator of a 2-year R03 recently funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research entitled, “Utility of Trans Telephonic Monitoring in the Detection of Silent Arrhythmias.” This feasibility study will be testing the ability of a cardiac arrhythmia trans telephonic EKG monitoring system to detect silent arrhythmias in an elderly, primarily Hispanic population seen at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital cardiac clinics. Dr. Hickey is a new CUSON faculty member and this was her first NIH grant submission.

  • Anita Nirenberg, MS, AOCNP, Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing, member of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and Director of the CUSON Oncology Program is co-principal investigator on the Columbia Campus component of newly awarded NIGMS grant, “Long Island University-Brooklyn MBRS SCORE Program” (PI: A. Depass). The study, entitled "Oral cavity/pharynx cancer recovery in African-Americans" is nursing initiated by the LIU Principal investigator, Dr. Mary Jo Dropkin, and study participants will be recruited from the Columbia Cancer Center.

  • Dr. Patricia Stone, Assistant Professor of Nursing, is principal investigator of a grant funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “Human Capital in the Nursing Workforce and its Impact on Patient Outcomes.” Guided by the theory of human capital, the primary purpose of this project is to move beyond analyses of nurse staffing levels and provide a comprehensive econometric analysis of the impact of skill level and stability of the nursing workforce on nursing-sensitive patient outcomes. Dr. Stone is collaborating with Dr. Ann Bartel from the Columbia University Business School and with investigators at Stanford and Harvard Universities.