Whisenant named PhD Director
Nurse scientist Meagan Whisenant, PhD, APRN, has been named director of the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Nursing program at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston, effective Dec. 16, 2024.
Whisenant has had close connections with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Cizik School of Nursing throughout most of her career. Her first jobs as a nurse and instructor were at MD Anderson, and she served as assistant professor at Cizik School of Nursing from 2020 to 2023.
She returns to the school as an associate professor. She will take over leadership of the PhD program at a time of substantial growth within the Department of Research.
“The future of nursing depends on developing a pipeline of doctorally prepared nurse scientists and educators to inspire and teach the next generation,” said Dean Diane Santa Maria DrPH, MSN, ACRN, PHNA-BC, FAAN. “Our faculty have made great strides in growing programs of research in multiple fields, and Dr. Whisenant will play a vital role in connecting PhD students to mentors who share their scientific interests.”
Whisenant’s program of research focuses on improving the lives of people living with chronic diseases, including cancer and HIV. She studies variations in chronic disease-related symptom burden, symptom-related communication between clinicians and patients, and the development of innovative interventions for supporting patients and their families in managing symptoms. Her work includes developing and testing mobile and digital technologies for capturing the symptom experience and delivering just-in-time symptom management interventions that address health disparities and target diverse patient populations, including underserved and under-resourced individuals.
She serves as a principal or co-investigator on several grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and private foundations, often collaborating with Kathrin Milbury, PhD, a professor in the Department of Behavioral Science at MD Anderson. Whisenant was awarded a CPRIT grant for research focused on routine symptom monitoring in breast cancer patients and was a Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Scholar through the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Whisenant is currently the principal investigator on a grant funded by Gilead Sciences for the study, “Comprehensive outcomes after cancer health (COACH): the feasibility and impact of a mHealth augmented coaching program for self-management in cancer survivors,” and a multi-principal investigator on a grant funded by the NCI for the study, “Simulation-based caregiving skills training for family members of high grade glioma patients.”
Whisenant earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from New York University, her Master of Science in Nursing on the family nurse practitioner track from Cizik School of Nursing, and her PhD from the University of Utah College of Nursing, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in interdisciplinary research in cancer, aging, and end-of-life care funded by a T32 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, as well as a post-master’s certificate in nursing education. Upon returning to Texas, she completed a Hawn Foundation for Pain and Symptom Research Postdoctoral Fellowship at MD Anderson and a post-master’s certificate in biomedical informatics from the McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston.