Alumni Profiles
Charles Alexandre, PhD, RN, '10, is the Manager of Quality and Regulation at Butler Hospital, a non-profit psychiatric hospital in Providence, RI. He is a member of the Delta Upsilon Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau and sits on the Board of Directors of the Rhode Island State Nurses Association. His current research interests are the regulation of health care and health care worker scope of practice. He earned his BS in nursing from Rhode Island College and a MS in Nursing Administration from the University of Rhode Island.
Lisa M. Abdallah, PhD, RN, CNE, '03', is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Nursing, School of Health and Environment at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and a John A. Hartford Institute Geriatric Nursing Scholar. Dr. Abdallah’s current area of research focuses on the care of older adults. She is a Co-Investigator on the “Bring Diversity and Leadership to Nursing Project.” Dr. Abdallah has received funding from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Workforce Development Educational Opportunity Grant, and the Nursing Workforce Diversity Grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. Dr. Abdallah received her MS from UMass Boston and her BS from Fitchburg State College.
Edith Barrett, PhD, APRN, BC, ’12, is a part-time faculty member in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She teaches Mental Health Nursing. In addition, Eddie is a surveyor for the Joint Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations, surveying in the hospital and behavioral health programs. She is also the Director of Caregiver Support Services at the Center for Cancer Support and Education in Arlington, MA. Her research interest is the prevention of childhood obesity in elementary schools.
Jean M. Bernhardt, PhD, RN/NP, NHA, CNAA-BC, FNP-BC, ’09, has received numerous awards in recognition of her outstanding performance and commitment to excellence in the areas of quality and innovative service design. Her areas of interest are strengthening the role of nursing in the community, the contribution of self-care/self-management to health outcomes, the utility of policy and politics to improve health and health care services and delivery, and the application of nursing leadership toward organizational effectiveness. In June, 2010, Dr. Bernhardt will assume the position of Administrative Director at MGH Charlestown Health Center. Jean also holds an appointment at the MGH Institute of Health Professions as a Clinical Assistant Professor where she teaches health care administration in the DNP program and serves as the coordinator of the DNP for Nurse Executives program.
Rev. Gloria Harris Cater, PhD, RN, FNP-BC,’10, is the Dean of the Health Science Division at Roxbury Community College. Her research interests are Faith Community Nursing and its Impact on chronic disease in the African American community, and the retention of African American nursing students. She is an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and serves as the Minister for Health and Wellness at Charles St. A.M.E. Church in Roxbury. She is a member of the New England Regional Black Nurses Association and the Faith Based Cancer Disparities Network at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She is also a Consultant to the Dotson Program at the Simmons College School of Nursing
Kathleen Hickson, PhD, RN, MSN,’11, is a Research Nurse at the VA Boston Healthcare System. She has spent the last years coordinating clinical studies in Vascular Surgery and Spinal Cord Injury. Her areas of interest include the delivery of health care services and factors affecting outcomes in patients with vascular disease. Dr. Hickson is a member of Theta Alpha Chapter, and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Married with four children, she enjoys kayaking and snowshoeing.
Laura Cestari Long, PhD, RN, ’04, is employed by VNA Care Network where she coordinates discharges for patients with complex home health and hospice care. Dr. Long’s dissertation research focused on the impact of Medicare payment structures on services and outcomes for home healthcare patients. In addition to home healthcare reimbursement, her research interests include patient decision making in breast cancer treatment and communication in end of life care. Dr. Long has a visiting faculty appointment at the College of the Holy Cross where she coordinates the healthcare internship program. In addition, she is an Associate Professor at Framingham State University where she teaches health policy to graduate students in the Health Care Administration program and is an adjunct faculty member teaching health policy to students in the MSN program at Emmanuel College. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, earned her BSN from Boston College and her MSN from Southern Connecticut University.
Linda J. Curtin, PhD, RN, CCRN, ’07, is currently the Director of Nursing Education and Research at a teaching hospital south of Boston. Her program of research utilizes the bundling of autonomous nursing interventions. Her research activities include program development and evaluation, focusing on patient safety, and improving patient outcomes. For her dissertation, Linda developed and tested an autonomous nursing intervention bundle to reduce Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia. Linda received her BSN and MSN from Boston College. Linda is also a Part Time Faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Boston; teaching activities include Advanced Practice in Acute and Critical Care Nursing I and Nurse Educators in Clinical Practice Settings.
Peg (Margaret J.) Cushman, PhD, RN, FHHC, FAAN,’08, is an Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University School of Nursing. Her research areas of interest include complementary and alternative medicine, herbal medicine; home care - leadership and management, and workforce issues. Her dissertation research was on the use and perceived benefit of herbs by U.S. adults. Her current program of research is examining early nursing interventions using complementary therapies to address cognitive problems following mild traumatic brain injury. She is a former home care executive, and holds an adjunct faculty appointment as Associate Clinical Professor at Yale University School of Nursing.
Joe-Ann Fergus, PhD, RN, MA,’12, is the Director of the Division of Membership at the Massachusetts Nursing Association. Her current research focuses on the association between Nurse Manger leadership and staff nurse empowerment and retention. She has received funding from the Massachusetts Nurse Foundation and is a recipient of the Janet Dunphy Scholarship. Joe-Ann is a member of Sigma Theta Tau. She earned her BSN from Simmons College, an MA in Dispute Resolution from the University of Massachusetts.
Anne H. Gross, PhD, RN, NEA-BC ,’10, is Vice President for Nursing and Clinical Services at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA. Her research is in the areas of quality of life, and hope and hopelessness in oncology patients. She is also interested in the clinical and therapeutic effectiveness of the nurse-patient relationship through staff renewal and rejuvenation programs and has presented and published her work on multidisciplinary teamwork and team training, applying crew resource management principles to clinical teams in the outpatient oncology setting. Dr. Gross is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, serves as the Massachusetts Health Policy Liaison for the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) and is a member of the Dean's External Advisory Committee.
Patricia A. Hickey, PhD, RN, MBA, CPHQ, NEA-BC, FAAN, ’10, is Vice President, Cardiovascular and Critical Care Services and Executive Director, Center for Medical Simulation, Children's Hospital, Boston. She led the development, evaluation and publication of the Nightingale Metrics for improving care quality and patient outcomes in pediatrics and currently serves nationally on the American College of Cardiology's Pediatric Quality Measurement committee. Her dissertation examined the impact of California's staffing ratios and institutional characteristics on risk-adjusted outcomes for pediatric cardiac surgery programs. Patty is currently a faculty member at UMass Boston’s College of Nursing and Health Sciences and Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. She is a 25-year volunteer for Project HOPE and regularly consults at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center and schools of nursing in China. She received the 2009 AACN Circle of Excellence Award in recognition of her significant contributions to the care of acute and critically ill patients and their families.
Donna Dello Iacono, PhD, RN, ’09, is a Neuroscience Nurse Clinician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a Senior Lecturer at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. Dr. Dello Iacono’s areas of interest include brain tumors, pain management, and hydrocephalus. Her research examines the quality of life of Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus patients who have undergone the implantation of a shunt. Donna is married to Paul Dello Iacono, and is the mother of Brad, a 2006 graduate of the Air Force Academy and Andrea, who attends Quinnipiac University.
Nancy W. Ebersole, PhD, RN, ’09, is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Salem State College where she teaches pharmacology and medical-surgical nursing to both undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. Ebersole’s dissertation was a qualitative study of Massachusetts hospitals’ implementation of the Leapfrog Group program to improve quality and patient safety. Dr. Ebersole is a member of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors, serves on the Board of the Eta Tau Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau, and serves on an Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Open School chapter on the North Shore.
Susan A. LaRocco, PhD, RN, MBA,’04, is Professor and Traditional Program Coordinator at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts, where she teaches both traditional and accelerated pre-licensure students as well as Master’s students in the Clinical Nurse Leader program. Her dissertation research was a qualitative study of men in nursing. She is currently engaged in an oral history project of men who graduated from the Alexian Brothers Hospital School of Nursing. Dr. LaRocco is on the board of the American Assembly for Men in Nursing and was the first woman to receive that organization’s member of the year award. She is also the Secretary of the American Association for the History of Nursing and a Faculty Counselor of Theta-at-Large Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International. Dr. LaRocco was the first recipient of the Brenda S. Cherry Doctoral Dissertation Award.
View Susan’s Professional Publications at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=LaRocco%20SA
Weibo Lu, PhD, RN, ’10, is an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing, Second Military Medical University in Shanghai, China. Her areas of interest include health assessment, medical-surgical nursing and community nursing. Her research will examine the impact of 1997 BBA on utilization and outcomes of home health care. Ms. Lu is an active volunteer serving in Shanghai Red Cross for many years.
Julie Lynch, PhD, RN, MBA, MA,’12, is currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Veteran’s Health Administration. She obtained her nursing degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston; her masters’ degrees from Harvard University and Babson College. Her research is focused on analyzing racial disparities in access to tumor genotyping and treatment clinical trials and implications for oncology drug development. Julie has spent the past 15 years involved in clinical and research positions in both academic medical centers and in the biopharmaceutical industry. She has been involved in the following studies: Collection of Sterile Specimens for Subjects with Lung Cancer, Principal Investigators: Dr. Yolanda Colson and Dr. Carla Kim; Validating Patient Safety Indicators in the VA: A multi-faceted Approach, Principal Investigator: Dr. Amy Rosen, and Recruitment and Retention of Smokers with Cancer into Clinical Research, Principal Investigator: Dr. Mary Cooley.
Deborah Farina Mulloy, PhD, RN, ’08, is the Executive Director of Quality Measurement and Improvement at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston Massachusetts. Her research included two national surveys that focuses on patient safety related to Wrong Site Surgery and was funded by the Association of PeriOperative Nurses, American College of Surgeons and CRICO RMF. She is a member of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors.
Patricia M. Noga, PhD, RN, MBA, NEA-BC,’11, is the Senior Director of Clinical Affairs at the Massachusetts Hospital Association. Her accomplishments and areas of interest include program start up and development, enhancing models of patient care, teamwork improvement initiatives, leadership development, improving patient throughput, reducing patient observation costs, nurse retention and recruitment strategies. Pat is a member of many professional nursing organizations and a member of the Nursing Spectrum Advisory Board.
Eileen M. O’Connell, PhD, PMHCNS-BC, ’02, is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Curry College in Milton, MA. Her current research focuses on teaching/learning issues for nurses in regard to healthcare technologies, and the psychiatric/mental health knowledge required for safe and effective practice in non-psychiatric settings. Eileen is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, and an Albert Schweitzer Fellow-for-Life. She earned her Master’s Degree from the University of Michigan in 1976. She is certified by the ANA as an advanced practice psychiatric nurse.
Eileen’s Recent Publications:
O’Connell, E. (2012). Psychosocial Problems in Children. In James, S., & Ashwill, J.W. (eds.) Nursing Care of Children: Principles and Practice. 4th edition. Saunders/Elsevier. St. Louis MO.
O’Connell, E. (2012). Pervasive Developmental Disorders. In James, S.R., & Ashwill, J.W. (eds.) Maternal-Child Nursing. 4th edition, Elsevier, St. Louis MO.
Patricia Poirier, PhD, RN, AOCN, ’05, is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. Her current research focuses on functional status in patients undergoing cancer treatment. She has received funding from the American Nurses Foundation. Pat is a member of Sigma Theta Tau and an active member of the Oncology Nursing Society. She earned her diploma in nursing from New England Deaconess Hospital School of nursing, her BSN from Northeastern University and her MSN from Anna Maria College.
Linda W. Samia, PhD, RN, ’07, is an Assistant Professor at the College of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Southern Maine. Her dissertation, a case study involving two home care agencies, was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Her research interest is in home care workforce issues and healthy aging evidence-based translation research. Dr. Samia is currently a Principal Investigator for the Maine Savvy Caregiver Project funded by the Administration on Aging. She also serves as consultant for other evidence-based healthy aging grants in Maine. She resides in southern Maine.
Shellie Simons, PhD, RN, ’06, is currently an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell where she teaches adult health nursing in the undergraduate program. Her dissertation was a quantitative study examining the relationship between bullying among nurses and their intention to leave their position. Bullying in nursing continues to be the focus of her research.
Eileen Stuart-Shor, PhD, ANP, FAHA, FAAN, ‘02, is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts Boston and a nurse practitioner for cardiology/anesthesia/critical care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Her clinical practice, research and teaching are focused on improving care for vulnerable populations. She has received funding from NIH, CDC, Sigma Theta Tau and the American Nurses Foundation to support her research. She earned her BSN from St Anselm College, her MSN from Boston College and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cardiovascular epidemiology at Harvard Medical School/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
