Stanfill named Associate Dean for Research Johnson to retire from growing research department
Professor Ansley Grimes Stanfill, PhD, RN, FAAN, will join Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston as Associate Dean for Research effective Aug. 29, 2025. Stanfill succeeds Constance M. Johnson, PhD, MS, RN, FAAN, who has helped grow National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to the school more than 15 fold over the past nine years.
Stanfill was selected through a nationwide search and will join Cizik School of Nursing from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, where she has served as Associate Dean of Research since 2019. She began teaching at the institution as an assistant professor in 2016 after earning her PhD in Nursing Science there in 2014.
Johnson plans to retire at year’s end. Under her leadership, Cizik School of Nursing has risen to No. 1 in Texas and No. 15 nationally among nursing schools that receive NIH funding, with federally funded research increasing from $450,000 to approximately $6.87 million.
“Cizik School of Nursing would not be on the upward trajectory we are today without Dr. Johnson’s expertise and dedication. Her work has left an indelible mark on nursing science,” said Dean Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, ACRN, FSAHM, FAAN. “I am pleased to welcome Dr. Stanfill to carry on this tradition of excellence and the important work of preparing students to advance nursing research.”
Stanfill’s research focuses on the influence of genetic and epigenetic factors on long-term outcomes in neurological injury and chronic diseases. Her more than 20 funded projects have included awards from National Institute of Nursing Research/NIH for studies of disability and quality of life after subarachnoid hemorrhage and a Department of Defense grant looking at the risk of early onset dementia and mild cognitive impairment in service members who have experienced traumatic brain injuries.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Vanderbilt University, Stanfill received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Saint Louis University. She completed a postdoctoral training program in genomics at the University of Pittsburgh after earning her PhD at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Nursing. She was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nurses in 2019, and her many awards include honors from the Southern Nursing Research Society and the International Society of Nurses in Genetics.
Since joining Cizik School of Nursing in 2016, Johnson has helped grow the research faculty by 21 new members, including top nurse scientists, with several faculty gaining tenure and promotion. She also established the Smart Apartment for research and testing of aging-in-place technology.
Johnson’s research interests grew from her years of experience in informatics, disease prevention, and health promotion to include studies of human-computer interaction and how the presentation of information impacts health-related decisions related to chronic disease. Specifically, she has focused on using online biobehavioral interventions to impact self-management of chronic diseases. As a principal investigator, she received funding from several NIH institutes, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and other sources.
After earning her BSN from the University of Connecticut in 1978, Johnson worked for several years in hospitals before transitioning into clinical research and data science. She served as a database developer for California Pacific Medical Center before moving to Houston, where she worked as a senior research nurse and project manager at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center while earning her master’s degree at McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics. Johnson was named a National Library of Medicine Fellow in 2001 while earning her PhD at McWilliams, where she now holds a joint faculty appointment.
Johnson returned to UTHealth Houston in 2016 after a decade serving in various leadership positions at Duke University School of Nursing. She also held appointments with Duke’s School of Medicine and the Center for Health Informatics.
In addition to serving as Associate Dean for Research, Johnson is the Maria C. and Christopher J. Pappas Family Distinguished Chair in Nursing and the Lee and Joseph Jamail Distinguished Professor.
