Barr, Cheatham among Houston’s top 15 nurses
PhD student receives scholarship
Four Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston faculty members were honored in this year’s Houston Chronicle Salute to Nurses, and Fiona Smith, MS, BSN, RN, is one of three students chosen citywide to receive scholarships through the program.
Emily Barr, PhD, CPNP-PC, CNM, ACRN, FACNM, FAAN, and Latarsha Cheatham, DNP, FNP-BC, were featured among the newspaper’s Top 15 nurses, while Stacey Crane, PhD, RN, CPON, and Hsiao-Hui “Joyce” Ju, DNP, FNP-BC, CNE, were honored among the city’s Top 200. All are assistant professors at Cizik School of Nursing.
“We are privileged to have exceptional faculty and students at Cizik School of Nursing. As the state’s leading nursing school for federally funded research and with the top-ranked Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs in Texas, we attract the best and brightest at all levels,” said Dean Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FAAN. “Congratulations to our honorees, and thank you to all nurses throughout the Houston area and beyond who are so often the unsung heroes of health care.”
Caring for women, youth, and children with HIV
A pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) and nurse midwife, Barr has worked with women and children affected by HIV since the early 1990s. She came to Cizik School of Nursing in 2022 from the University of Colorado School of Nursing (CUSON), where she earned her PhD and managed a clinical research team at Children’s Hospital Colorado investigating HIV, childhood immunizations, and COVID-19 related studies.
“Dr. Barr’s leadership, advocacy, and generosity of spirit make her truly deserving of this recognition,” Crane wrote in her nomination of Barr. “She doesn’t just provide care as a nurse, she transforms lives.”
Since moving to Houston, Barr has been inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the American Academy of Nurse Midwives. She has received two grants from the Texas Development Center for AIDS Research for projects that involve telehealth and young adults living with HIV, and she recently received the center’s Robert Lanford Early-Stage Investigator Award. Barr is a lead co-investigator on “UPLIFT: Understanding Practices of Lactation and Infant Feeding Together with Women with HIV (U01PS005288-01-00),” a CDC-funded study led by principal investigator Lisa Abuogi, MD, MSc, at CU.
She earned her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) on the PNP chronic illness track from Yale University School of Nursing, a post-master’s certificate in nurse midwifery from State University of New York – Stony Brook, and a certificate in nursing education from CUSON.
Excellence in graduate education
With nearly 27 years of nursing experience, Cheatham was nominated for her exemplary leadership in clinical practice, nursing education, and academic innovation. She maintains a clinical practice at Pearland Family Practice Wellness Clinic and has worked as a family nurse practitioner in various settings since earning her MSN from Prairie View A&M University in 2005. She also holds a BSN from Dillard University in New Orleans.
Before joining Cizik School of Nursing in 2018, Cheatham spent most of her clinical career at St. Luke’s Health – Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. She completed her DNP degree in 2017 and later earned a post-graduate certificate in nursing education.
Cheatham served as co-director of the DNP program before being promoted to Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies in 2024. She led a DNP curriculum redesign project, emphasizing quality improvement and the integration of evidence-based health care practices.
Cheatham played a key role in writing the proposal for a $2.6 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which provides financial support to more than two dozen primary care nurse practitioner students at Cizik School of Nursing each year.
“Dr. Cheatham has consistently demonstrated excellence in teaching,” wrote Ju, who nominated her. “She mentors nurse educators and serves as a resource within the school.”
Our Top 200
One of the Cizik School of Nursing faculty members honored in the Salute to Nurses Top 200 supports students in their first semester of nursing school, and the other is conducting federally funded research of cancer symptoms among children.
Ju was nominated for her leadership and innovation in teaching BSN students about pharmacology, among other topics. She has also conducted pilot research involving patient education telehealth and videos about foot care for patients with diabetes. Ju joined the faculty in 2019 after earning her MSN and DNP degrees at Cizik School of Nursing.
Crane developed the Smart Pediatric Oncology Tracker of Symptoms (SPOTS), a web-based interface designed to make it easier for kids with cancer and their parents to report symptoms in real time. Pilot testing has been supported by funding from the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders, and St. Baldrick’s Foundation. Crane, who also joined Cizik School of Nursing’s faculty in 2019, was nominated for her dedication, passion, and leadership in pediatric oncology nursing over more than two decades.
Award-winning PhD student
The 2025 Salute to Nurses scholarship is by no means Smith’s first award. Most recently, she received the 2025 Novice Writer’s Award from the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses for her article “A Cross-sectional Survey of Comprehension and Satisfaction of Spanish Reading Adults regarding RÁPIDO as a Stroke Awareness Acronym,” which was printed in the May 2024 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing.
Smith has worked closely with Associate Professor Jennifer S. Beauchamp, PhD, RN, on stroke-related projects, including RÁPIDO, which has been adopted by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
She also received the Graduate Student Brain Awareness Outreach Award from the Neurosciences Research Center at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston in 2023 after collaborating with Assistant Professor Stuart Fraser, MD, a pediatric neurologist at McGovern Medical School, on the paper “Stroke in the Young,” which was published in Current Opinions in Neurology.
Smith had worked in neuroscience at a suburban hospital for several years before pursuing her PhD in nursing. She holds a BSN from Cizik School of Nursing and a Master of Science from the McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.
