NOTEWORTHY

Brenda Afzal, director of health programs for the University of Maryland School of Nursing’s Environmental Health and Education Center, has been appointed to the board of directors for the Children’s Environmental Health Network, a national multidisciplinary organization whose mission is to protect the fetus and the child from environmental health hazards and promote a healthy environment. Afzal has also been invited to join the Maryland State Attorney General’s newly formed Environmental Advisory Council.  The council will serve as a resource and sounding board to the attorney general, as the office seeks to identify priority environmental issues and determine policy and enforcement issues.

At its Education Summit on Sept. 29, the National League for Nursing’s Academy of Nursing Education inducted its inaugural class of 41 fellows, representing 33 schools of nursing throughout the United States. Of those 41 fellows, five are from the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing: Patricia Allen, Carol Boswell, Sharon Cannon, Sharon Decker and Patricia Yoder-Wise. They were selected for their sustained and significant contributions to the field of nursing education, nursing education research, faculty development, academic leadership, promotion of public policy that advances nursing education and collaborative educational, practice or community partnerships.

Todd Ambrosia, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, has been appointed to the Advanced Practice Research Council of the International Council of Nurses (ICN). The research council tracks issues related to advanced practice research and development of the advanced practice nurse’s role worldwide. Ambrosia has been a member of the advanced practice section of the ICN for the past five years, and will co-chair new research initiatives.

Robyn Anderson, of James J. Peters VA Medical Center in Bronx, New York, was named top national winner of the 2007 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award in the advanced practice nurse category: “Anderson uses her kindness and compassion to reach and treat veterans besieged by aggression, personality disorders and mental illnesses. She is admired for her ability to develop personal connections with her patients, often by providing a comforting ear and giving them hope and encouragement at a time when they need it most.”

Tonya Appleby, acute care nurse practitioner in the Emergency Department at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, has been appointed clinical instructor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

Jennifer Bellot, assistant professor at Jefferson School of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, received a PhD in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in August. She was also selected to attend the Policy Leadership Institute, part of the John A. Hartford Faculty Scholars Program.

Janice Strom Borman, former director of the graduate nursing program at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, has been named director of the Deicke Center for Nursing Education at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois, USA. Borman, who succeeds the retiring Linda Niedringhaus, will lead all aspects of the college’s nursing department, including its new Master of Science in Nursing program.

Mary Bowen, associate professor and associate dean of research and development at Jefferson School of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, has received a three-year, advanced education in nursing grant from Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Bowen is primary investigator for the $1,138,277 grant, awarded to fund a nurse anesthesia training program for diverse and underserved populations.

Donna Clemmens, assistant professor at New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN), has received a two-year, $100,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health through the National Cancer Institute to conduct a study on coping strategies and levels of stress of adolescent daughters whose mothers have breast cancer. The study will target 90 adolescent daughters and their mothers with breast cancer recruited through the New York University Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital cancer centers. Adolescent daughters whose mothers have breast cancer have reported a 25 percent increased rate of anxiety and depression compared with a normative sample and compared with sons.

Kathleen Czekanski, instructor at Jefferson School of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, received a PhD in nursing from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in June.

Joan Delk of Moses Cone Regional Cancer Center in Greensboro, North Carolina was named grand-prize winner of the 2007 Cherokee Inspired Comfort Award in the registered nurse category: “Delk formed a strong bond with a female patient from Sudan who was being treated for acute leukemia. Discovering the woman had no family in the United States, Delk took it upon herself to create a comfortable place for the patient to stay by inviting the woman into her own home. Additionally, Delk worked with government officials to have the patient’s brother brought to the U.S. to serve as a bone marrow donor for his sister.”

Carol Etherington, assistant professor at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, has been named the university’s 2007 Distinguished Alumna, the highest honor conferred by the school, for the profound impact she has made on behalf of the underserved in local, national and international settings. A 1975 graduate of Vanderbilt School of Nursing’s master’s program and a mental health expert, Etherington has focused largely on traumatized populations, creating effective community-based programs for the health and human rights of individuals, families, and communities who have survived natural disasters, war, crime or other abuses. She has globally impacted individuals, families and communities with her work addressing health and mental health.