Djukic, Hernandez, Ramaswamy receive academic promotions
Maja Djukic, PHD, RN, FAAN, and Daphne Hernandez, PhD, MSEd, FAAHB, FSBM, were promoted to professors in the Department of Research at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston. In addition, Padmavathy Ramaswamy, PhD, MSN, MPH, RN, FNP-C, FNAP, was promoted to associate professor in the Department of Graduate Studies. All promotions were effective Sept. 1, 2025.
“These exceptional faculty members have made important contributions to nursing education and science at Cizik School of Nursing,” said Dean Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FAAN. “Please join me in congratulating them on their well-deserved promotions.”
Djukic, the John P. McGovern Distinguished Professor in Nursing, focuses her research on the nursing workforce and health care quality. At Cizik School of Nursing, she has served as principal investigator for Advancing Visibility through Accelerated Nursing Curricula with Collaboration and Engagement (ADVANCCE), a workforce pipeline program through which high school students participate in summer camps to learn about pathways to nursing careers and earn health care certifications. She served as assistant dean for research and interim director of the PhD program in 2023-2024. Djukic is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
Hernandez, the Lee and Joseph Jamail Distinguished Professor, is a developmental psychologist whose research focuses on health disparities, including food insecurity and housing instability. She is currently principal investigator on a $2.74 million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research at the National Institutes of Health exploring the threat of eviction and mental health, and on a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that funds a year-long interprofessional research training program for undergraduate students interested in health care careers. Hernandez is a fellow of the American Academy of Health Behavior and the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
Djukic and Hernandez both joined the Cizik School of Nursing faculty in 2020.
Ramaswamy has taught in the Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs since 2016. She is a champion of interprofessional education (IPE), serving on UTHealth Houston’s IPE Advisory Council and participating in a variety of interprofessional and intraprofessional projects and simulations. She was selected for the Spring 2025 cohort of the NexusIPE™ Emerging Leaders Forum sponsored by the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education. She was inducted into the National Academies of Practice as a Distinguished Fellow in 2024.
