UMass Boston

Research and Scholarship Day

About Research & Scholarship Day

The Donna M. and Robert J. Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences Research & Scholarship Day will be held on Friday, April 12, 2024 in the Campus Center Ballroom.  This year we are highlighting the four departments of our college: Exercise & Health Sciences, Gerontology, Nursing, and Public Health, with four keynote speakers focusing on our theme of Bridging Divides in Health Equity Across the Life Course. 

All events will be in person this year. Only the Doctor of Nursing Practice Lightning Talks will be a hybrid event with some participants attending via Zoom.  To download Zoom to your computer or mobile device and to make sure you have the most up-to-date version please visit HERE.

Students, colleagues, and clinical and community partners are all welcome! 

See the full Program of Events and our Featured Presenters below.  Keep checking back for any updates over coming days. 

Program of Events

Manning College Research Day: April 12th, 2024

Friday, April 12th, 2024, 8:00am-4:00pm

Welcome and Opening Remarks, 8:45am, Campus Center, 3rd Floor Ballroom B&C

  • Bala Sundaram, PhD (Vice Provost for Research & Dean of Graduate Studies)
  • Bo Fernhall, PhD (MCNHS Dean) 

Keynote Presentations: 9:00-10:00am, Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Ballroom B&C

  • Monica Webb-Hooper, PhD, Deputy Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, "Addressing Preventable Health Differences and Advancing Health Equity"
  • Christina M. Dieli-Conwright, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The Jacqueline Fawcett Lecture on Promoting Health across the Lifespan:  "Exercise Medicine for Clinical Populations: A hard pill to swallow"

Keynote Presentations: 10:00-10:50am, Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Ballroom B&C

  • Marie Boltz, PhD, GNP-BC, FGSA, FAAN, Elouise Ross Eberly and Robert Eberly Endowed Chair, Professor at Penn State College of Nursing, and Associate Director of the Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence, "Disparities in Hospital Dementia Care: Where are we and where do we need to go?"
  • Alice Bonner, PhD, RN, FAAN, Senior Advisor for Aging at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and Chair of the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition, "Invisible and Forgotten: People who live and work in U.S. nursing homes"

Round Tables with Keynote Speakers, 11:00-11:30am

  • Drs. Marie Boltz and Alice Bonner, Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Rm. 3545. Opportunities for further discussion 
  • Drs. Christina Dieli-Conwright and Monica Webb-Hooper, Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Rm 3540, Opportunities for further discussion

Poster Session, 11:30am-12:30pm, Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Ballroom A

  • Rockson Anson, Nursing, "Healthcare Self-Management Support of Stroke Patients after Discharge: A conceptual analysis using Rodger's Evolutionary Approach"
  • Christopher Benoit, Nursing, "Scoping Review on Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Interventions for Vaping and E-Cigarette Use among Adolescents"
  • Nicolas Berger, Exercise & Health Sciences, "Effects of Partial Knockout of Skeletal Muscle Dynamin-Related Protein 1 on Skeletal Muscle Size and Contractile Function in Lean and Obese Mice"
  • Dr. Michelle Boakye, Nursing, "Comparing Patients' and Providers' Perceptions on the Concerns of Adults Newly Diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes"
  • James D. Cannon, Exercise & Health Sciences, "Acute Effect of Repeated Bouts of Supramaximal Exercise on Carotid Wave Intensity"
  • Elizabeth Carey, Biology, "Establishing a Skeletal Muscle Specific Homozygous DRP1 Knockout Model"
  • Taylor Carmody, Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging, "The Challenges of Aging: Describing economic insecurity in Brockton"
  • Hua Chen, Nursing, "Relationship between Joint Pain in Older Adults and Duration of Physical Activities, BRFSS, 2019"
  • Alyssa Dal Bon, Exercise & Health Sciences, "Physical Activity Levels and Menstrual Cycle Disruptions in Females Diagnosed with Early Onset Cancer"
  • Jacob DePass, Exercise & Health Sciences, "The Obesity Paradox in Cancer Patients with Pre-existing Hyperglycemia and Diabetes"
  • Weiyang Ding, Exercise & Health Sciences, "Self-Reported versus Measured BMI and Mortality among Older Middle-Aged Americans: The Health and Retirement Study"
  • Wuyi Dong, Gerontology, "Transitions to Living Alone and Psychological Well-being of Older Adults in the U.S.: Are there any race disparities?"
  • Alison O. Dresser, Exercise & Health Sciences, "Use of Rating of Perceived Exertion in a Remote Mind-Body Exercise Program in Older Adults with Chronic Pain"
  • Janelle Fassi, Gerontology, "Creative Activities and Cognition among Older Adults: Does education moderate the benefits of creative activities?"
  • Maki Karakida, Gerontology, "The Associations of Widowhood and Mulitimorbidity among Older Adults"
  • Mahdiyeh MashhadiManafi, Exercise & Health Sciences, "Exercise and Sglt2 Inhibitor Therapy Independently Affect Autophagy in Liver in Diabetic Rats"
  • Dennis Miezah, Nursing, "A Scoping Review of Community-Based Physical Activity Programs for Blood Pressure Control in African-Americans"
  • Jennifer Morgan, Nursing, "Retrospective Chart Review Methodology: Piloting an abstraction tool to describe family engagement in the hospital setting"
  • Saisuree Namluck, Nursing, "The Impact of Music on Anxiety in Pregnancy"
  • Roisin O'Keeffe, Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging, "The Epidemic of Loneliness among the Massachusetts 55+ Population as it Relates to the Location of their Community"
  • Anton Pecha, Exercise & Health Sciences, "Exploring Functional and Symptomatic Improvements by Sex after Enhanced External Counterpulsation Therapy"
  • Chantel Pheiffer, Urban Public Health, "A (Mal)Nutrition Paradox? A nationally representative longitudinal analysis of stunting and obesity among children in South Africa" 
  • Porntummarot Phothi, Nursing, "Diabetes Mellitus among Pregnant Women in Chiang Ria, North Thailand: A cross-sectional study"
  • Hannah Grace Rosen, Biology, "Inhibiting Mitochondrial Fission Protein DRP 1 Enhances Mitochondrial Structure, Attenuates Lipid Peroxidation and Improves Muscle Strength in D2-MDX Mice"
  • Chaowalit Srisoem, Nursing, "Patterns of Cannabis Use and Depression: Findings from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2021"

Break - Lunch on your own, 12:30-1:30

Student Luncheon with the Keynote Speakers, 12:30-1:30, Campus Center, Alumni Lounge   (Invite Only)

Student Networking Lunch with Invited Alumni & UMB Partners, 12:30-1:30, Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Room 3545 (Invite Only)

Doctor of Nursing Practice Lightning Talks, 1:30-3:00pm, Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Room 3540 (Hybrid Event, Zoom ID# 91813659852)

  • Brittany Holmes, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, "Implementation of a Health Care Transition Pathway to Improve the Health Care Transition for Children and Adults with Inborn Errors of Metabolism"
  • Katherine Verdier, MSN, CNP, PMHNP-BC, "Implementation of a Psychiatric Medication Consultation Pathway"
  • Emma Michl, MSN, APRN, CPNP-PC, "Implementation of Emergency Information Forms within the Metabolism Program at a Large Academic Medical Center"
  • Elizabeth Castle, BSN, RN, MSN, PNP-AC, "Implementation of Nurse Practitioner Led Video Telehealth to Improve Triage of Acute Concerns for Children in an Ambulatory Specialty Care Program for Children with Short Bowel Syndrome"
  • Asheley M. Davis, MSN, BA, RN-BC, "Implementation of a Novice Charge Nurse Training Program in a Community Hospital"
  • Megan E.L. Petty, MSN, RN, AGCNHS-BC, CWS, "Addressing Workplace Violence Directed at Nurses in an Acute Care Medical Facility"
  • Sunday W. Smith, CNM, FACNM, "Implementation of a Labor Pain/Coping Management Toolkit Including Traditional and Novel Strategies"

Doctor of Nursing Practice Alumni Speaker, 3:00-4:00 pm, Campus Center, 3rd Floor, Room 3540 (Hybrid Event, Zoom ID# 91813659852)

  • Nicole Lincoln, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, CCNS, Senior Manager of Nursing Innovation, Boston Medical Center, "Integrative Nursing Fellowship Promotes Wellness and Relationship-based Care"

Faculty and Student Paper Sessions, 1:30-2:30pm, Campus Center, 2nd Floor, Room 2540

  • Kellyn Jason, MS, "Cardiometabolic Responses to 15 Minute Exercise Differ by Exercise Type and Intensity in Breast Cancer Patients"
  • Madeleine Pollard, Masters Student, "Physical Activity and Perceptions of Body Image in Adults Diagnosed with Early Onset Cancer"
  • Katherine Richman, PhD Student, Nursing, "Facebook Recruitment of Cigarette Users at High Risk to a Lung Health Initiative: A mixed-method analysis"
  • Jeein Jang, PhD Student, Gerontology, "Neighborhood Characteristics and Activity Engagement among Racially Diverse Community-Dwelling Older Adults"

Faculty and Student Paper Sessions, 1:30-2:30pm, Campus Center, Ballroom B&C

  • Marc Cohen, Professor & Co-Director, LeadingAge LTSS Center, "Assessing Medicaid Payment Rates and Costs of Caring for the Medicaid Population Residing in Nursing Homes"
  • Lisa Heelan-Fancher, PhD, FNP-BC, ANP-BC, Associate Professor, Nursing, "The Impact of Living in an Environmental Justice Community on Birth Outcomes"
  • Evans Kyei, PhD Student, Nursing, "Unravelling the Opioid Crisis in Urban Centers: Policy approaches and community strategies to address overdose deaths in Boston, MA"
  • Ceara Somerville, Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging, "Demonstrating the Role of Councils on Aging as Part of the Public Health Sphere"

Faculty and Student Paper Sessions, 2:30-3:30pm, Campus Center, 2nd Floor, Room 2540

  • Pamela Whittle, Undergraduate, Nursing, "Improving Outcomes for Transgender and Gender Diverse Adolescents"
  • Sabreen Darwish, PhD, Assistant Professor, Nursing, "Factors Associated with Arab Adults' Tobacco Use in the US"

Faculty and Student Paper Sessions, 2:30-3:30pm, Campus Center, Ballroom B&C

  • João L. Marôco, PhD Student, "Endurance Training Attenuates Differences between Black and White Adults in Left Ventricular-Vascular Coupling and Wasted Pressure Effort"
  • Edward Alan Miller, PhD, MPA, Professor & Chair, Department of Gerontology, "I Don't Know Who Gets More Out of It, the Children or Us: Older adults' experiences implementing the Online Intergenerational Tutoring Program"
  • Shu Xu, PhD Student, Gerontology, "Associations between Self-Reported Visual Difficulty, Age of its Onset, and Cognitive Function Trajectories among Chinese Older Adults"

Research Workshop Roundtables, 2:30-4:00pm, Campus Center, Alumni Lounge

  • Workshop Roundtable 1: "How does your science become a news story? Science Communications Basics" led by Delaney Inman. This workshop is guided by the work of Dr. Alex More's research on Science Communications.
  • Workshop Roundtable 2: "Office Hours with the Corporate and Foundation Relations Team of University Advancement" with University Advancement. This session is an opportunity to meet with UA to discuss ideas that you have, learn about specific foundations or look for foundations. 
  • Workshop Roundtable 3: "The First Draft". An open writing time for faculty and students led by Robin Babcock of The Writing House Online. She is an expert in elevating, guiding and inspiring prose.

Featured Presenters

We are honored to introduce the featured presenters below.

We will also be showcasing student and faculty research with poster sessions and oral presentations in the late morning and afternoon.