UR Nursing Professor Receives $500K Award to Fund Childhood Obesity Research
UR Research Associate Receives Grant to Clear Uncertainties from Cancer Diagnoses
Ying Meng, PhD, RN, ACNP, an assistant professor at the University of Rochester School of Nursing, was awarded nearly $500,000 through a K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research. Totaling $462,808 over the course of three years, this career development grant supports Meng’s research project “Delineation of the biopsychosocial risks of obesogenic eating behaviors.” The study will observe 3-year-old children and delineate the psychosocial and genetic risks of obesogenic eating behaviors to determine the effect these behaviors have on the development of childhood obesity. Insight into obesogenic eating behaviors, such as a preference for high-calorie foods, in young children could provide new avenues of preventing and treating childhood obesity.
Yingzi Zhang, PhD, RN, a postdoctoral research associate at the School of Nursing, was approved for a $25,000 research grant from the Oncology Nursing Foundation. The grant supports her proposal, “Refinement and pilot testing of a couple-based uncertainty management intervention for patients with gynecological cancer and their partners.” Conducted at the University of Rochester’s Wilmot Cancer Institute, Zhang’s study examines the uncertainties surrounding how patients and their partners feel after a gynecological cancer diagnosis. School of Nursing’s Associate Dean of Research Sally Norton, PhD, RN, FNAP, FPCN, FAAN, and Assistant Professor Marie Flannery, PhD, RN, AOCN, serve as co-investigators in the study. Outcomes of this research will encourage oncology professionals to understand uncertainty management needs and develop patient-centered interventions.
Tobie Olsan Named Inaugural Recipient of Madeline Schmitt Award Tobie Olsan, PhD, RN, CNL, FNAP, a professor emerita at the University of Rochester School of Nursing, was the inaugural recipient of the Madeline H. Schmitt Award for Interprofessional Education presented by the Rochester Academy of Medicine. The award is named in honor of Mattie Schmitt, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP, a decorated professor emerita at the UR School of Nursing, who has long studied and championed interprofessional education and collaborative practice. The award requires that its recipient has “demonstrably ‘broken barriers in health care’ and continues to change the landscape of health care education and practice through steadfast teaching of the importance of collaborative teamwork and by routinely fostering the inclusion of patients, families, health care providers and community partners in the delivery of the highest quality of care.” A lifelong health care and nursing professional, Olsan’s research interests include enhancing health care team competence in quality improvement, interprofessional collaboration and leadership, and improving home-based care for veterans. She developed and served as the first program director of the School of Nursing's Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) program.
Tobie Olsan (left) shares a smile with Mattie Schmitt after receiving the inaugural Madeline Schmitt Award for Interprofessional Education from the Rochester Academy of Medicine.
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