Featured faculty

Faculty highlights

Honors and Awards

Associate Professor Meagan Whisenant, PhD, APRN, and Assistant Professor Higinio Fernández-Sánchez, PhD, RN, were selected among the 2025 cohort of American Academy of Nursing fellows. The pair will become Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston’s latest FAANs when they are inducted in October.

Assistant Professors Darlene Acorda, PhD, RN, CNE, CPNP-PC, and Sheryl Malone-Thomas, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, completed the UTHealth Houston Health Educators Fellowship Program.

Associate Professor Doncy J. Eapen, PhD, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, was named one of top 25 nurses in the state by the Texas Nurses Foundation.

Assistant Professor Veronica Brady, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FADCES, BC-ADM, CDCES, received the Zeta Pi Excellence in Mentoring Award.

Assistant Professor Wesley R. Browning, PhD, has been selected to join National Institute on Aging’s Butler-Williams Scholars Program.

Assistant Professor Joyce Ju, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, CNE, has been awarded the 2025 APEX award for publication excellence in health and medical writing for her study, “Enhancing foot care education and support strategies in adults with type 2 diabetes.”

Instructor Kennessa Landry, MSN, RN-BC, received the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing’s Zeta Pi Chapter’s $1,000 Evidence-Based Practice and Research Award to support her dissertation project.

Professional Service

Assistant Professor Daniel L. Arellano, PhD, RN, ACNP-BC, FNP-BC, CCRN, CEN, CFRN, EMT-P, FCCM, FAANP, was elected to serve on the national Board of Directors of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses for a three-year term from July 2025 to July 2028.

Assistant Professor Sara Mithani, PhD, RN, has been selected to serve on the 2025-2027 Jonas Scholar Alumni Council.

Promotions

Maja Djukic, PHD, RN, FAAN, and Daphne Hernandez, PhD, MSEd, FAAHB, FSBM, were promoted to professors in the Department of Research. In addition, Padmavathy Ramaswamy, PhD, MSN, MPH, RN, FNP-C, FNAP, was promoted to associate professor in the Department of Graduate Studies.

Assistant Professor Janice Lee, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, has been named coordinator for the Emergency/Trauma Care postgraduate track.

New faculty

Department of Research

Rose Mary Xavier, PhD, MS, APRN, PMHNP-BC, FAAN, FAANP
Associate Professor

Xavier is an interdisciplinary scholar, a board certified psychiatric mental-health nurse practitioner, and a nationally and internationally recognized leader in psychiatry and mental health nursing. She specializes in genetics and genomics, schizophrenia, psychotic disorders, and biobehavioral methodologies, combining clinical expertise with cutting-edge scientific research. With over two decades of clinical experience, Xavier has worked across diverse psychiatric care settings, including involuntary and voluntary treatment facilities, community hospitals, state mental health systems, and outpatient psychiatry clinics, supporting individuals with mental health disorders.

Sara Mithani, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor 

Mithani is a nurse scientist specializing in sleep disorders, brain injury, and genomics. She earned her PhD in Nursing Science with a focus on genomics and sleep disorders from the University of Illinois - Chicago and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her federally and foundation-funded research uses transcriptome sequencing, proteomic profiling, and biomarker discovery to investigate the molecular mechanisms of sleep disturbances, brain health, and cognitive function across varied populations, advancing precision medicine approaches to treatment and exposure effects.

Taichi Goto, PhD, PHN, RN
Assistant Professor

Goto joined Cizik School of Nursing from the NINR, where he served as a research fellow for three years. His research focuses on the mechanisms underlying pain, particularly the transition from acute to chronic pain. His work investigates the molecular and cellular basis of nociceptive hyperexcitability, a key factor in the development of chronic pain in patients with wounds. He earned his nursing degree from Chiba University School of Nursing in Japan and later obtained his master’s and PhD degrees in health sciences and nursing from the University of Tokyo. He completed postdoctoral training at the NINR and the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

Department of Graduate Studies

Joshua Davis, DNP, CRNA
Assistant Professor

Davis obtained his BSN from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013. Afterwards, he worked for Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center in the cardiovascular intensive care unit. He earned an MSN in nurse anesthesia in 2019 from the University of Detroit Mercy and a DNP from Touro University Nevada in 2023. His DNP focused on ketamine administration in colorectal surgery cases that implemented an enhanced recovery after surgery protocol. His clinical experience includes practicing at LBJ Hospital.