Newswise — Despite a nursing faculty shortage across the U.S., the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON) continues to attract scholars and expand its expertise, recently hiring three new faculty members specializing in healthcare prevention for underserved populations, improved learning in simulation labs, and the role religion plays in older African American cancer patients and survivors, respectively: Carmen Alvarez, PhD, RN, C-NP, CNM, Jill Hamilton, PhD, RN, and Nancy Sullivan, DNP, RN.
Through her clinical experience, Alvarez defined and was motivated to pursue her research interests in health promotion for underserved populations. For the past seven years, she has practiced in community health centers serving mostly uninsured and underinsured Latino immigrants. As a Julio Bellber Postdoctoral Fellow at the George Washington University, Alvarez has collaborated with researchers to examine characteristics of community health centers, provider attitudes, and communication behavior regarding support for patient self-management.
At Hopkins, she says she wants to be actively engaged in research and is looking forward to the “wide array of resources” the school has to offer. With the school of nursing, the School of Medicine, and the Bloomberg School of Public Health forming the corners of the campus, Alvarez says, “there are few places with such powerful interprofessional opportunities right at your fingertips.”
Hamilton, a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar and recipient of the 2011 Oncology Nursing Society Publishing Division’s Award for Excellence in Writing Qualitative Research, says she wants to “give voice to the lived experiences of older African American cancer patients and survivors.” She has researched how African American use religious songs and prayers to deal with life-threatening illnesses and is working on a series of interventions using video documentaries of songs and Bible verses.
“Collaborations and partnerships are incredibly important to any researcher, and I’m excited to develop these relationships within the Baltimore community,” Hamilton says. “I was drawn to Hopkins because of the chance to collaborate with some of the world’s best researchers, all while serving a new community.”
A nurse of 39 years and a 2013 graduate of the JHSON DNP program, Sullivan has worked in the emergency department/trauma/critical care setting with both adult and pediatric patients and has served 11 years as a nurse educator for new graduate nurses. Since 2005, she has held multiple joint appointment faculty positions at JHSON including clinical instructor, CAPP (Clinical Academic Partnership Preceptorship) clinical instructor, course coordinator, and guest lecturer.
Inspired by her mother to become a nurse, she says it’s “the ability to impact people in a positive way through patient care, care coordination, patient teaching, and teaching future nurses,” that makes her job exactly what she wants to do. Taking on the role of Director of the JHSON’s Simulation Labs, Sullivan wants to find ways to improve efficiency and learning. “I’m looking forward to taking the simulation experience to the next level and better preparing each student that walks through those sim doors.” Sullivan will begin on August 25.
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The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing is a global leader in nursing research, education, and scholarship. The School and its baccalaureate, master’s, PhD, and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs are recognized for excellence in educating nurses who set the highest standards for patient care and become innovative national and international leaders. Among U.S. nursing schools, the Hopkins Nursing graduate programs are ranked #1 by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, nursing.jhu.edu.
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