Fall 2026 faculty advancement
Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston faculty members Joyce Ju, Daisy G. Mullassery, and Lisa Thomas are being promoted to associate professor and Janet H. Van Cleave is being granted tenure effective Sept. 1, 2026.
“At Cizik School of Nursing, we strive to create an environment that nurtures our faculty and provides rich opportunities for professional development,” said Dean Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FSAHM, FAAN. “Congratulations to these outstanding members of our faculty on well-deserved advancements in their careers.”
Van Cleave, PhD, RN, FAAN, joined Cizik School of Nursing’s Department of Research in 2023 as an associate professor. She holds the Suzie Conway Endowed Professorship and has been lead investigator on a $3.3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health to investigate the implementation and effectiveness of a patient-reported symptom tool for head and neck cancers.
Mullassery, DrNP, APRN-CNP, WHNP-BC, has taught at Cizik School of Nursing since 2013, when she joined the faculty as a clinical instructor. She was promoted to assistant professor in 2016 when she earned her doctoral degree from Drexel University in Philadelphia. She teaches courses in the Department of Graduate Studies, including advanced pathophysiology, and has practiced in the school’s nurse-led clinic, UT Health Services.
Thomas, DNP, APRN, ACNS-BC, CRRN, NEA-BC, CNE, joined the faculty in 2016 after earning her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) from Cizik School of Nursing on the Nursing Leadership and Administration track. She teaches in the Department of Graduate Studies, and her research interests include nurses’ transition to practice and patients’ adjustment to disabilities.
Joyce Ju, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, CNE, has taught in the Department of Undergraduate studies since 2019 after completing her DNP on the Family Nurse Practitioner track at Cizik School of Nursing. Her research focuses on diabetes and its associated complications, with a particular interest in utilizing innovative technology platforms to optimize patient- and family-centered behavioral interventions and improve chronic disease management.
