Jane Carrington, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAMIA, the Dorothy M. Smith Endowed Chair and director of the Florida Blue Center for Healthcare Quality, was named interim Family, Community and Health System Science department chair.

Tamara Macieira, PhD, RN, (PhD 2019), assistant professor, appeared as a panelist in the UF Artificial Intelligence K College workshop. K College is a monthly seminar series hosted by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute that provides support, opportunities and resources for career development in clinical and translational research.

Diana Wilkie, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Prairieview Trust – Earl and Margo Powers Endowed professor, was featured in a Washington Post article, where she shared her expertise on dignity therapy, as well as information about her team’s current study on the subject. Wilkie was also the recipient of a University of Florida Health Cancer Center High-Enroller Award, which recognizes the top enrolling provider to cancer- relevant interventional clinical trials.

Leslie Parker, PhD, APRN, NNP-BC, FAAN, (BSN 1985, MSN 1992), associate professor, and Denise Schentrup, APRN, DNP,(BSN 1993, MSN 1996), associate dean for clinical affairs, were officially inducted as fellows of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Miriam Ezenwa, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate professor, and Diana Wilkie, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Prairieview Trust – Earl and Margo Powers Endowed Professor, earned a four-year, $6.3 million grant to investigate if therapies such as acupuncture and guided relaxation could be used to reduce addictive medications when treating chronic pain caused by sickle cell disease. The award from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a division of the National Institutes of Health, will fund a study evaluating acupuncture and a cognitive-behavioral technique known as guided relaxation as therapies to ease pain in sickle cell disease patients.

DNP students Andrea Hefner and Kathryn Deal were accepted into the Graduate Nursing Student Academy Digital Innovators Program
as a team, the first to have this honor from the College of Nursing. The goal of the program is to innovate in a personal and team-based journey by collaborating and creating content for the teaching and learning space.

PhD student Gina Gehling was selected as the Florida Nurses Association Membership Assembly Planning Committee chair. As chair, she will work with the association’s staff to set topics prior to meetings.

BSN student Ayten Onel was a recipient of the Outstanding Undergraduate Award from the University of Florida International Center. Onel was one of nine UF students who were honored.

In November, 22 College of Nursing students and two nurse leaders were inducted in the Alpha Theta Tau chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, nursing’s international honor society. The students included DNP student Jeveria Alim, as well as BSN students Jaeson Alcoriza, Myranda Alvarado, Elizabeth Brito, Chelsea Chin, Katherine Coniglio, Grace Connolly, Lizbeth Cruz-Garcia, Cara Eakins, Monica Echagarruga, Natalie Geltman, Rylee Harfouche, Nicole Spinnler, Haley Jacobowitz, Rachel Litwack, Daniela Lopez, Joymarie Pedrosa-Negron, Brianna Riddle, Sophia Sanchez-Aviles, Carsen Schmid, Abigail Tess, Madison Nicole Vaught and Beverley Wu. The nurse leaders were Clinical Assistant Professor Anthony Roller, DNP, APRN, CPNP AC/PC, and Jennifer Boneta, DNP, RN, CCRN.

From Feb. 23- Feb. 25, the UF College of Nursing joined the 36th Southern Nursing Research Society, or SNRS, Annual Conference to disseminate research findings, encourage career development and promote nursing science with other nursing organizations. Attendees had the opportunity to view presentations from leading nurse scientists, as well as various exhibitions, as part of SNRS’ mission to promote nursing as a scientific discipline. The following faculty and students disseminated research at the conference:

Students
Fatmah Alamoudi
Amal Anazi Al
Tarah Nelson
Kiley van Cleve
Lauren Cervantes
Caroline Deaterly
(Top 10 Student Poster)
Alissandre Eugene
Gina Gehling
Christina Grinstead
Larissa Iapicca
Angela Monk
Jennifer Pruitt
(Top 10 Student Poster)

Faculty
Star Booker
Lakeshia Cousin
Miriam Ezenwa
Dany Fanfan
Leslie Parker
Lisa Scarton
Jeanne-Marie Stacciarini

Post-doctoral associate
Marion Bendixen

Gator Nursing Assistant Professor Staja “Star” Booker, PhD, RN, was recognized at SNRS for her dedication to influencing outcomes through scholarly work and received the Early Science Investigator Award.