Two faculty members recognized by AAN Whisenant, Fernández-Sánchez inducted as fellows of the American Academy of Nursing
The 2025 Fellows of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) class includes two Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston faculty members – Associate Professor Meagan Whisenant, PhD, APRN, and Assistant Professor Higinio Fernández-Sánchez, PhD, RN. The pair were inducted on Oct. 18 during the AAN’s Health Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.
The academy recognizes the most accomplished nursing leaders in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia.
“Having the letters ‘FAAN’ after your name is the greatest honor in nursing, signifying a career-long commitment advancing the profession and improving the health of patients and communities,” said Dean Diane Santa Maria, DrPH, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FAAN. “The induction of Dr. Whisenant and Dr. Fernández-Sánchez will bring to two dozen the current and emerita faculty members from Cizik School of Nursing who have received this well-earned recognition. Congratulations to all.”
Whisenant, the John. S. Dunn Distinguished Professor in Oncology Nursing, became director of the school’s PhD in Nursing program in December 2024. Her research focuses on symptom science and improving the lives of people with chronic diseases, including cancer and HIV. Her work includes developing and testing mobile and digital technologies for capturing the symptom experience and delivering just-in-time symptom management interventions. She has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, and Gilead Sciences, among other sources.
Whisenant holds a PhD in nursing from the University of Utah College of Nursing, a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) on the family nurse practitioner track from Cizik School of Nursing, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from New York University College of Nursing. She has also completed two postdoctoral fellowships and two postgraduate programs, including one at McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.
An early-stage researcher with a global perspective, Fernández-Sánchez advocates for social justice and health equity as he researches challenges facing migrant communities. He currently the principal investigator on two projects related to HIV prevention for Spanish-speaking populations, one based in Houston and the other focusing on human trafficking and violence along key migration routes through Mexico. In 2024, he received the Emerging Nurse Researcher/Scholar Award for the Latin and South American Region from the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing.
Fernández-Sánchez earned his PhD in Nursing from the University of Alberta in Canada and his BSN and MSN degrees from Universidad Veracruzana in Mexico.
Both of this year’s FAAN inductees have been recognized in Washington for their work. In 2023, Whisenant and her co-principal investigator, Jessica T. Jones, MD, participated in a call with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to discuss the wide-ranging testing of an intervention involving electronic delivery of health and wellness information to patients who have completed primary therapy for a variety of cancers. Fernández-Sánchez participated in a White House Office of National AIDs Policy summit in 2024 that brought together national and community experts on the HIV crisis affecting the Latino community.
