Cizik School of Nursing Professor Chao Hsing Yeh, PhD, RN, FAAN, tragically passed away as the result of a hiking accident in Taiwan in April 2023.
Yeh joined the school in November 2021 and was The Jane and Robert Cizik Distinguished Chair in the Department of Research. At UTHealth Houston, she grew her already robust and innovative program of research into auricular point acupressure for nonpharmaceutical pain management, studying how and why stimulating specific points on the ears relieves pain in various parts of the body and across different sources of pain including chronic low-back pain and chemotherapy-induced neuropathies.
“In her brief time at Cizik School of Nursing, Dr. Yeh had a huge impact on our Department of Research, made important contributions to nursing research and education, and improved the lives of so many suffering with pain,” said Cizik School of Nursing Dean Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, PHNA-BC, ACRN, FAAN. “She was a stellar nurse scientist who was dedicated to helping those most in need of care, and we are committed to continuing the important work she began.”
Over the course of her career, Yeh received more than $10 million in grants, published more than 110 papers, and presented locally, nationally, and internationally. In July 2023, she was posthumously inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing’s International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.
Yeh joined Cizik School of Nursing shortly after being appointed professor at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore. She had previously taught at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Chang Gung University in Taiwan. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from China Medical College in Taichung, Taiwan; her Master of Science in Nursing from Syracuse University in New York; and her PhD in Nursing from the University of Massachusetts. Yeh was also a master of auricular medicine.
