Faculty highlights - 2025
Honors, awards, promotions, and new faculty
Honors and Awards
Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FSAHM, FAAN, received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for her work on HIV prevention among youth experiencing homelessness.
Susan D. Ruppert, PhD, RN, FNP-C, ANP-BC, FCCM, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, received the 2025 Texas Woman’s University Chancellor’s Alumni Excellence Award.
Jessica Coviello, DNP, RN, ANP-BC, FACC, FAAN, was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Cardiology.
Daniel L. Arellano, PhD, RN, ACNP-BC, FNP-BC, CCRN, CEN, CFRN, EMT-P, FCCM, FAANP, received the 2025 Norma J. Shoemaker Award for Critical Care Nursing Excellence from the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
Emily Barr, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, CNM, ACRN, FACNM, FAAN, received the 2025 Robert Lanford Early-Stage Investigator Award from the Texas Developmental Center for AIDS Research. She was also one of eight nurse scientists chosen for the first cohort in the Comprehensive Advancement in Research Education and Training for Social Determinants of Health (CARES) Program at Yale University.
Barr and Latarsha Cheatham, DNP, FNP-BC, were featured among Houston’s Top 15 nurses in the 2025 Houston Chronicle Salute to Nurses. Stacey Crane, PhD, RN, CPON, and Hsiao-Hui “Joyce” Ju, DNP, FNP-BC, CNE, were honored among the Top 200.
Jennifer Beauchamp, PhD, RN, FAAN, and her team’s R.Á.P.I.D.O. acronym for Spanish-language stroke awareness has been adopted by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Robert C. Coghlan III, PhD, RN, MA, MSN, CNS, FNP, received the Emma and Emily Josphine Spirituality in Nursing Award from the Institute for Spirituality & Health at the Texas Medical Center.
Linda Cole, DNP, RN, APRN, CCNS, CNE, CPHQ, FCNS, and Kelly D. Kearney, DNP, RN, PMHNP-BC, were honored at the Good Samaritan Foundation’s “Excellence in Nursing Awards” luncheon. Cole received a silver award while Kearney received a bronze award.
Anitra Frederick, PhD, RN, CNE, was selected to participate in the 2025-26 cohort of the American Association of Colleges of Nurses’ Elevating Leaders in Academic Nursing program.
Daphne Hernandez, PhD, MSEd, FAAHB, FSBM, was inducted as a fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
Angela Nash, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, PMHS, CARN-AP, FIAAN, received the Outstanding Contribution to Addictions Nursing Award from the International Society of Nurses in Addiction.
Christian “Paige” Owen, PhD, MSN, RN, CEN, received the 2024 Founders Award from the Texas State Council of the Emergency Nurses Association.
Padmavathy Ramaswamy, PhD, MSN, MPH, RN, FNP-C, FNAP, was selected for the Spring 2025 cohort of the NexusIPE™ Emerging Leaders Forum sponsored by the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education.
Professional Service
Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FSAHM, FAAN, was named to the national Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the NIH for a term that ends in September 2026 and was elected to serve on the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine board of directors.
Constance Johnson, PhD, MS, RN, FAAN, was appointed to a one-year term as chair of the Texas Medical Center Library board of directors.
Emily Barr, PhD, RN, CPNP-PC, CNM, ACRN, FACNM, FAAN, has been selected as a director-at-large to the National Association of Nurses in AIDS Care for a three-year term.
Veronica Brady, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FADCES, BC-ADM, CDCES, has been selected to serve as president of the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists for 2025.
Latarsha S. Cheatham, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, was elected to serve a two-year term on the Texas Nurses Association Leadership Succession Committee.
Mitzy Kobeissi, DNP, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, CPAHA, has been appointed to serve a third term on the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculty (NONPF) Telehealth Committee and to the American Heart Association’s Digital Health in Cardiac Care Advisory Group.
Debbie McCrea, EdD, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, CNS, CNE, CEN, CFRN, EMT-P, was appointed to the NONPF Annual Conference Planning Committee for a second term. She was also appointed to the 2025 Texas Nurse Practitioners Education Committee, the Emergency Nurses Association’s 2025 Advanced Practice Advisory Council, and the Houston Community College Emergency Medical Services Program Advisory Board.
Daisy Mullassery, DNP, RN, WHNP-BC, will serve on the board of directors of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health for a three-year term.
Promotions
Anitra Frederick, PhD, RN, CNE, has been named Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies.
Meagan Whisenant, PhD, APRN, was named the PhD program director. She has also been named the John S. Dunn, Sr., Distinguished Professor in Oncology Nursing.
Karla M. Abela, PhD, RN, CCRN-K, CPN, has been named the director of continuing professional development.
Jennifer E.S. Beauchamp, PhD, RN, FAAN, assumed leadership of the Biological Sciences Laboratory at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston.
Welcome, new faculty
Department of Graduate Studies
- Assistant Professor Matthew Lewis, PhD, DNP, CRNA
- Assistant Professor Colleen A. Manning, DNP, APRN, FNP-C
Department of Undergraduate Studies
