Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing
Faculty

Diane M Santa Maria, DrPH, MSN, RN, PHNA-BC

Dr. Santa Maria is a tenured Associate Professor with expertise in public health nursing, adolescent health, HIV/STI and pregnancy prevention, intervention development, randomized controlled trials, mobile technology, and predictive modeling. She has served as the principal investigator and program director on research and demonstration grants on multiple NIH-, CDC-, ACF-, and foundation-funded prevention projects. With wide-ranging experience working in underserved communities in the U.S. and abroad, she currently is conducting research with youth and young adults experiencing homelessness and at-risk youth and their families.

She has served as the PARTNERS Faculty Research Scholar and holds the John P. McGovern and the Dorothy T. Nicholson Distinguished Professorships.

Santa Maria is an adjunct faculty member in the Center for Health Promotion and Research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. She currently teaches courses in Public Health Nursing and Research Methods.

She received her BSN from The Ohio State University, her MSN in Public Health Nursing from Case Western Reserve University, and her DrPH in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences from the UT School of Public Health.

Related News Items

Santa Maria publishes three times in Journal of Adolescent Health (Oct 2018)

Hanneman & Santa Maria present papers, Kang Memorial Workshop launched (Oct 2018)

UTHealth President appoints Diane Santa Maria interim dean of Cizik School of Nursing (Aug 2018)

Santa Maria & Padhye publish study of drug use predictors among homeless youth in Houston (Feb 2018)

Santa Maria named to new School of Nursing distinguished professorship (Apr 2017)

Armstrong, Pullis and Santa Maria receive Dean’s Service Awards (Feb 2016)

Center for AIDS Prevention Studies selects Santa Maria for training and pilot study funding (Feb 2016)

Santa Maria awarded NICHD/NIH grant, releases “YouthCount 2.0!” report on homeless youth (May 2015)

Research projects of Starnes-Ott, Drake, Yammine and Santa Maria get boost from PARTNERS grants (May 2015)

Santa Maria appointed PARTNERS Research Scholar through FY 2017 (Dec 2014)

Cathy L Rozmus, PhD, RN

Dr. Rozmus is the endowed PARTNERS Professor and Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at UTHealth School of Nursing. She also is Assistant Vice President for Institutional Assessment and Enhancement in the UTHealth Office of Academic and Research Affairs. In addition, she is a faculty associate in the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics at the UTHealth Medical School. 

Rozmus previously was the chair of Graduate Studies at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. At Georgia Southwestern State University, she served as dean of the School of Nursing and as vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of the faculty. While at Georgia Southwestern, she was project director for projects funded by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) of the U.S. Department of Education and by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Rozmus’ research interests include health behavior decision making and health professions education. In addition to educational research, her most recent clinical research is a collaborative study on the use of community theater in the prevention and treatment of Type 2 Diabetes in Fiji. The project is funded by the International Diabetes Federation. She also has current funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration.

Her BSN is from West Virginia University. Her MSN in Parent-Child Nursing is from Vanderbilt University,where she was the Dean's Scholar. She received her PhD from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Maternal-Child Nursing and Education Administration.

Related News Items

'Outstanding Nurses of 2018' – TNA foundation honoring UTHealth’s Rozmus and Drake (Oct 2018)

Researchers collaborating to improve low vaccination rates in Houston schools (Apr 2017)

Benedict, Rozmus and Dean Starck contribute to new book on human subjects research (Jul 2014)

Rozmus successfully applies for HRSA training grant for MSN students (Jul 2014)

Rozmus and Jones publish evaluation of Pacesetter BSN model (Apr 2014)

Rozmus selected for 2013 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award (Jul 2013)

Rozmus Co-Investigator of Project Reported in “Diabetes Voice” (Mar 2013)

Rozmus Named AVP for Institutional Assessment & Enhancement (Mar 2013)

Rozmus Named First Holder of New PARTNERS Professorship (Sep 2011)

Constance M Johnson, PhD, MS, RN, FAAN

Dr. Constance Johnson joined the UTHealth School of Nursing as Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship in October 2016.  She already was an adjunct associate professor at UTHealth’s School of Biomedical Informatics (SBMI), where she earned her PhD in 2003 and her MS in 2001.

A health informatician with interdisciplinary training in nursing and health informatics, Johnson has over 25 years of experience in research and informatics in the area of health promotion and disease prevention. She has more than 50 publications to her credit.

As a principal investigator (PI), Johnson has received research funding from the National Cancer Institute, National Library of Medicine, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the University of North Carolina’s Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI). She is also a co-investigator and Co-PI on various other grants in health informatics. Her current research interests include human-computer interaction, and how the representation and visualization of information affects healthcare decisions.

Johnson previously served as a tenured associate professor and a member of the senior research faculty in the Center for Nursing Research at Duke University School of Nursing. She also had a secondary appointment in the Department of Community and Family Medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine.

Related News Items

Johnson appointed to Pappas Family Distinguished Chair in Nursing (Nov 2018)

SBMI honors Constance Johnson as distinguished alum at 2018 Commencement event (Jun 2018)

Johnson publishes on technology in type 2 diabetes education and self-management (Feb 2018)

Johnson produces two new articles on chronic disease self-management (Aug 2017)

Johnson and Ahn named to endowed positions at UTHealth School of Nursing (Dec 2016)

Geri L Wood, PhD, RN, FAAN

Geri LoBiondo-Wood, PhD, RN, FAAN, is Professor and Coordinator of the PhD in Nursing Program at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Nursing (UTHSC-Houston) and former Director of Research and Evidence-Based Practice Planning and Development at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. She received her Diploma in Nursing at St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in Rochester, New York; Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Rochester; and PhD in Nursing Theory and Research from New York University. Dr. Wood teaches research and evidence-based practice principles to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. At MD Anderson Cancer Center, she developed and implemented the Evidence-Based Resource Unit Nurse (EB-RUN) Program, a hospital-wide program that involved all levels of nurses in the application of research evidence to practice. She has extensive national and international experience guiding nurses and other health care professionals in the development and utilization of research. Dr. Wood is the primary author and editor of the textbook Nursing Research: Methods & Critical Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice which is in its 8^th edition. This book has won the AJN Book of the Year Award for six of its editions. Dr. Wood is an Editorial Board member of Progress in Transplantation and a reviewer for Nursing Research, Oncology Nursing Forum, Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, and Nephrology Nursing Journal. Her research and publications focus on pediatrics, family, chronic illness and oncology nursing. Annually for the past three years she has obtained funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund PhD students as Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars.

Dr. Wood is active locally and nationally in many professional organizations, including the American Nurse Foundation, Oncology Nursing Society, Southern Nursing Research Society, the Midwest Nursing Research Society, and the North American Transplant Coordinators Organization. She has received local and national awards for teaching and contributions to nursing. In 1997, she received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from New York University, Division of Nursing Alumni Association. In 2001 she was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and in 2007 as a Fellow of the University of Texas Academy of Health Science Education. In 2012 she was appointed as a Distinguished Teaching Professor of the University of Texas System.

Related News Items

Wood, Yu and Fay appointed to endowed positions, effective September 1 (Oct 2018)

Wood wins prestigious Future of Nursing Scholars grant for fourth time (Jan 2017)

Wood and Ownby are graduating students’ choices for school’s outstanding teachers (May 2016)

Armstrong co-authors in several journals with colleagues & PhD students (Apr 2015)

Wood and McEwen top research category in AJN 2014 Book of the Year Awards (Jan 2015)

Wood publishes three articles in oncology journals (Jan 2014)

Four faculty members contribute to popular textbook’s 8th edition (Dec 2013)

Transition in Leadership Coming to School’s Ph.D. Program in Fall (Mar 2013)

Sandra K Hanneman, PhD, RN, FAAN

Dr. Hanneman is the Jerold B. Katz Distinguished Professor for Nursing Research and tenured professor in the Department of Acute & Continuing Care. She conducts laboratory and clinical research on circadian rhythms in adult ICU patients on mechanical ventilation and ICU night-shift workers. She also conducts clinical trials to test the efficacy and safety of interventions to prevent pulmonary complications. Dr. Hanneman was the 1994 University of Florida College of Nursing Outstanding Alumna and 2000 Distinguished Research Lecturer of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. She serves on editorial boards of nursing research journals and advisory boards of patient advocacy not-for-profit organizations.

Dr. Hanneman teaches research measurement in the PhD program and pathophysiology in the BSN program. She mentors BSN honors program and PhD students and junior faculty. In May 2014 and May 2017, the School’s undergraduate students voted Dr. Hanneman their choice for the John P. McGovern Outstanding Teacher Award.

She received the BSN from the University of Florida, Gainesville; the MSN from the University of California, San Francisco (Pulmonary Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist); and the PhD from Texas Woman's University in Houston.

Related News Items

Hanneman & Santa Maria present papers, Kang Memorial Workshop launched (Oct 2018)

Hanneman co-authors article on Arabic cancer patients in Cancer Nursing (Feb 2018)

Hanneman co-investigator on $1.6M RO1 study of dyspnea in cancer patients (Feb 2018)

Hanneman co-authors monograph in journal Respiratory Care (May 2017)

Hanneman and Arnaud chosen by students as McGovern outstanding teachers of 2017 (May 2017)

Hanneman and colleagues publish biomarker validation study in Nursing Research (Nov 2016)

Hanneman co-authors journal article with former international student at UTHealth (Aug 2016)

Hanneman, Kang and Padhye coauthor new article on circadian rhythms (Aug 2015)

Hanneman joins advisory board of patient health and safety advocacy group (Jun 2015)

Hanneman “thought leader” on respiratory compromise at national roundtable (Apr 2015)

Hanneman co-authors articles with PhD student and 2010 alumna (Dec 2014)

Hanneman and others share presentations at nursing research congress (Sep 2014)

McGovern Outstanding Teacher Awards for 2014 go to Hanneman and Laird (May 2014)

First PCCL Findings Published by Leyden and Hanneman (Mar 2012)

Biosciences Laboratory Achieves First Publication (Apr 2011)

Melanie M McEwen, PhD, RN, CNE, ANEF, FAAN

Dr. McEwen has been a nursing professor for more than 25 years. She is the author/editor of three nursing textbooks: Theoretical Basis for Nursing (with E. Wills ); Community/Public Health Nursing: Promoting the Health of Populations (with M. Nies); and Community-based Nursing: An Introduction (with B. Pullis). She has also published numerous articles in nursing journals. Her research interests include: RN-BSN programs; spiritual nursing care; immunizations and immunization policy; disparities in diagnosis and management of ADHD; and school-based management of asthma.

She received her BSN from The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, her master's degree in Community and Public Health Nursing from Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans, and her PhD in Nursing from Texas Woman's University. 

Related News Items

Ten faculty members contribute to coauthor McEwen’s new edition of Community/Public Health Nursing book (Oct 2018)

McEwen among six UTHealth faculty members recognized by UT System for teaching excellence (Aug 2017)

Ruppert and fellow faculty members push for nurses’ “Leap into Leadership” (Mar 2016)

Wood and McEwen top research category in AJN 2014 Book of the Year Awards (Jan 2015)

McEwen, Pullis and Krawtz co-author study of RN-BSN program content (Oct 2014)

Brosnan retiring, McEwen named new track director for MSN concentration (Jul 2014)

Four faculty members contribute to popular textbook’s 8th edition (Dec 2013)

McEwan inducted as fellow of Academy of Nursing Education (Oct 2013)

Nursing Systems Faculty Members Publish RN-BSN Survey (Oct 2012)

Joan C Engebretson, DrPH, AHN-BC, RN, FAAN

Dr. Engebretson is a professor of nursing with a joint appointment to The University of Texas School of Public Health. She is also a Fellow in the Society for Applied Anthropology. She received her doctorate at the UT School of Public Health, her MS from Texas Woman's University and a BSN from St. Olaf College.

She has conducted ethnographic research on lay healers and their constructions of health and healing. She has continued to research and publish in the area of complementary and alternative therapies. Engebretson also conducts research in the areas of women's health behaviors and ethnographic studies of patient's accounts of living with various chronic conditions. She has consulted with a number of interdisciplinary researchers on qualitative methodologies as well as complementary therapies.

Engebretson has given many guest lectures on culture, complementary therapies as well as woman's health, all areas in which she is well published. She has developed graduate courses on qualitative research and has collaborated on developing several interdisciplinary course offerings on complementary and integrated health care.

She is a CNS in maternal child health and is certified as an advanced holistic nurse. Engebretson has co-edited, with Dr. Lynna Littleton, textbooks on Maternity, Neonatal and Women's Health Nursing and Maternity Nursing Care. She has developed and researched, and patented a pacifier for low-birth weight infants along with Dr. Diane Wardell. This pacifier now marketed both domestically and internationally. She is an invited visiting scholar at Georgetown University School of Medicine Center for Clinical Bioethics.

Related News Items

Nash describes her dissertation research on teen substance abuse in new online article (Dec 2015)

Frederick and Engebretson co-author on skin-to-skin contact during cesarean section (May 2015)

Armstrong co-authors in several journals with colleagues & PhD students (Apr 2015)

Engebretson inducted with 168 new fellows by American Academy of Nursing (Nov 2014)

Engebretson appears as co-author in four different journals (Oct 2014)

Engebretson’s Article Reviews Stigma (May 2013)

Engebretson Publishes on Stigmatization and Chronic Illness (Mar 2013)

Faculty Members Publish with 2011 Alumna Mann-Salinas (Feb 2013)

Engebretson Co-authors “I’m Just Not That Sick” (Oct 2012)

UTHealth Contributors’ Text Receives “Book of the Year” Honor (Feb 2012)

Reception Honors Freds for New Professorship Held by Engebretson (Jan 2011)

Engebretson Named to Judy Fred Professorship in Nursing (Jul 2010)

Joanne V Hickey, PhD, RN, ACNP, FAAN, FCCM

Dr. Joanne Hickey holds the Patricia L. Starck/PARTNERS Professorship in Nursing at the University of Texas health Science Center at Houston (UTHSC-H) School of Nursing. She received a baccalaureate degree in nursing from Boston College, a master’s of science degree in nursing from the University of Rhode Island, a master’s of arts degree in counseling from Rhode Island College, a PhD degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and a post-master’s certificate as a nurse practitioner from Duke University. She is certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as an acute care nurse practitioner, and the American Board of Neuroscience Nursing as a certified neuroscience registered nurse.

The adult neuroscience patient population has been the focus of Dr. Hickey’s advanced practice, research, and publications. She has serviced in the neuroscience clinical areas in St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital as an advanced practice nurse and The Methodist’s Hospital as the Scurlock Nurse Scholar. Dr. Hickey is the author of The Clinical Practice of Neurological and Neurosurgical Nursing now in its sixth edition and numerous articles on neuroscience topics. She is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences.

Dr. Hickey is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing and a fellow of the American College of Critical Care Medicine. She holds membership in numerous professional organizations including American Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau International, Society of Critical Care Medicine, and American Association of Neuroscience Nursing. She currently serves as chairperson of the Research Council of the American Nurses Credentialing Center Institute of Credentialing Research, a member of the American Board of Neuroscience Nursing Board of Trustees, and a member of the Elsevier Nursing Research Council.

Related News Items

Hickey & Giardino lead publication of new, peer-reviewed UTHealth online journal (Oct 2016)

Second edition of Hickey’s award-winning DNP textbook now in print (Aug 2016)

Hickey and DNP alumna are co-editors and chapter authors of new stroke care book (Jul 2015)

Hickey article appears in international neurosciences journal (Dec 2014)

Hickey honored with Outstanding Teaching Award by UT System Regents (Aug 2014)

Hickey examines credentialing in "Nursing Outlook" (Apr 2014)

Hickey’s classic textbook released in 7th edition (Jan 2014)

Journal’s Authors Have in Common: UTHealth School of Nursing (Apr 2012)

UTHealth Contributors’ Text Receives “Book of the Year” Honor (Feb 2012)

Diane Wardell, PhD, WHNP-BC

Diane Wind Wardell, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, AHN-BC is a women's health care nurse practitioner and a holistic nurse. She is the Director of the Women’s Health Care track and teaches at the master’s and doctoral levels. Her research areas of interest are in women’s health and alternative healing modalities, specifically touch therapies/biofield therapies. Her past research includes assessing reasons why abused women stay in relationship, women’s experience of menopause, developing partnerships, and military women's hygiene issues. She has also conducted translation research and developed a pacifier for low birth weight infants, the WEE Thumbie, with Dr. Engebretson which is marketed and sold internationally. She has served as a NIH panel reviewer for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). She maintains a faculty practice in women’s health and a practice in Healing Touch. She is a certified Healing Touch practitioner and instructor.

Related News Items

Wardell co-authors new “Healing Touch” book about holistic healing practice (Dec 2014)

Wardell Publishes Study on "Healing Touch" (Oct 2012)

Hyochol "Brian" Ahn, PhD, RN, MSN, MS-ECE, MS-CTS, ANP-BC

Dr. Ahn received his BE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Seoul, South Korea, and MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Florida. Then, he received his BS in Nursing, MS in Adult and Elderly Nursing, and PhD in Nursing from the University of Florida. In addition, during his postgraduate training at the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute, he earned a Master’s degree in Clinical and Translational Science. He also earned the Graduate Certificate in Aging and Geriatric Practice at the University of Florida Institute on Aging.

Dr. Ahn’s overall research goal is to establish a program of clinical and translational research that enhances health and independence in older adults using innovative technologies to optimize pain management. He has been continuously funded since 2011 as a principal investigator, and published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles. He received a Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing Grant as principal investigator for a project that examined pain and behavioral outcomes in older adults. In addition, he served as principal investigator of a project, which investigated ethnic group differences in clinical pain and experimental pain sensitivity. Moreover, he conducted a randomized controlled pilot trial that examined the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation through daily visit to clinic in older adults with chronic pain and demonstrated that five daily sessions of active stimulation reduced clinical and experimental pain sensitivity compared to sham stimulation. More recently, he received a Rising STAR Award from The University of Texas System to establish his Pain Assessment and Management Laboratory at UTHealth for a program of clinical and translational pain research. He has also been co-investigator on several collaborative grants on pain and aging.

Dr. Ahn has received numerous recognitions and awards, including the Early Science Investigator Award from the Southern Nursing Research Society, Research in Nursing & Health Journal Authorship Award, Interdisciplinary Primer Scholarship Award from the American Pain Society, Gerontological Society of America Minority Issues in Gerontology Committee Award, Health Equity Research Institute Faculty Scholar Award, and Excellence in Scholarship Award from the Sigma Theta Tau Alpha Theta Chapter.

Dr. Ahn is nationally certified as an Adult Nurse Practitioner (ANP-BC). His areas of expertise are management of late-life health and independence (e.g. pain, neurocognitive symptoms, and psychosocial symptoms), cancer and palliative care, biobehavioral research, non-invasive brain stimulation (e.g. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation [tDCS]), Quantitative Sensory Testing, optical neuroimaging (e.g, functional near-infrared spectroscopy [fNIRS]), health disparities, big-data analysis, biomedical/nursing informatics, and meta-analysis.

Related News Items

Ahn leads Journal of Pain Research article on knee osteoarthritis pain (Oct 2018)

Ahn and Padhye are co-authors of new study on knee osteoarthritis pain (Aug 2017)

Johnson and Ahn named to endowed positions at UTHealth School of Nursing (Dec 2016)

Rebecca L Casarez, PhD, RN, PMHCNS-BC

Dr. Rebecca Casarez is an Associate Professor – Clinical in the Department of Family Health. Her primary research interest is management of chronic illnesses. She is currently examining the effect of a psychoeducation intervention on caregiver burden, depression, mental well-being, and immune function in family members of individuals with bipolar disorder. Dr. Casarez completed her doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She obtained her MS in psychiatric mental/health nursing at Texas Woman’s University in Houston and her BSN at the University of St. Thomas, also in Houston. Her clinical background has focused on inpatient and outpatient psychiatric nursing and home health.

Related News Items

Support Goes to Several Faculty Research Projects (Jun 2013)

Nikhil S Padhye, PhD

Related News Items

Aggarwal lead author in Applied Neuropsychology: Child on concussions (Feb 2018)

Santa Maria & Padhye publish study of drug use predictors among homeless youth in Houston (Feb 2018)

Branson and co-authors publish study in Journal of Pediatric Nursing (Aug 2017)

Ahn and Padhye are co-authors of new study on knee osteoarthritis pain (Aug 2017)

Padhye coauthors new study published in PLOS ONE on diet diversity and metabolic health (Oct 2015)

Hanneman, Kang and Padhye coauthor new article on circadian rhythms (Aug 2015)

Padhye’s abstract co-authored with students places first at Research Day (Mar 2015)

Padhye’s Chapter in New Complexity Science Book Discusses Entropy (Jun 2011)

Jennifer E Sanner Beauchamp, PhD, RN

Dr. Sanner is the director of the UTHealth Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) Biobank and the faculty project lead of the University of Texas System Health Biobank Consortium. She received her BSN from Kent State University in Ohio and her MSN and PhD from UTHealth School of Nursing. Dr. Sanner has authored numerous journal and media articles on topics related to bio-behavioral cardiovascular risk factors and genetic biobanking. Her interest in bio-behavioral disease risk factors results from over 17 years of experience engaging in studies focused on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, including a multicenter project that resulted in a large-scale genetic biobank of bio-behavioral data from high-risk patients living with cardiovascular diseases, stroke, or cancer. Specifically, Dr. Sanner’s research has focused on identifying and supporting patients with cardiovascular diseases who may be vulnerable to the neurobiological effects of mood disorders placing them at risk for mortality and disability. Dr. Sanner’s research aims to contribute to a broader, bio-behavioral understanding of modifiable, nontraditional disease risk factors, including symptoms of mood disorders, in patients and informal caregivers living within the confines of chronic disease states.

Related News Items

Sanner coauthors new journal article with two UTHealth deans (Jan 2018)

PARTNERS two-year research grant goes to Sanner’s “MEND” proposal (Jun 2017)

Sanner-Prossin project funded by Presidential Collaborative Research Award (Feb 2017)

New $3.4-million grant puts School of Nursing at core of state-wide biobank collaborative (Jan 2017)

Taiwan grant funds collaboration on different populations of cardiovascular disease patients (Jan 2016)

Sanner & Yu contribute book chapter on “Nursing and Biobanking” (Oct 2015)

Good Samaritan Foundation honors Giardino, Ethington and Sanner during Sept. 1 luncheon (Sep 2015)

Sanner authors journal’s profile of thriving CCTS Biobank at School of Nursing (Jul 2015)

Sanner publishes article on depression screening in cardiovascular inpatients (Mar 2015)

Yu co-authors with Sanner and Udtha, will lead undergraduate programs (Jan 2015)

Sanner honored for excellence in nursing research by STTI’s Zeta Pi Chapter (May 2014)

Sanner says SLED software improves researchers' access to CCTS Biobank (May 2014)

Sanner, Yu and Udtha co-author new article on genetic biobanking (Dec 2013)

Stacy A Drake, PhD, MPH, RN, AFN-BC, D-ABMDI

Biography: Stacy A. Drake, PhD, MPH, RN is an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Cizik School of Nursing. Dr. Drake received her PhD of nursing at Texas Woman’s University and her MSN with a concentration in forensic nursing from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, her MPH from UTHealth School of Public Health, and her BSN from Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Dr. Drake has years of experience within various clinical and administrative positions including prehospital emergency medical and fire service, trauma/burn/medical and surgical ICU, death investigation, forensic case management and risk management.  Dr. Drake teaches on a variety of forensic, public health and research topics and is involved with a number of community based injury prevention initiatives. Dr. Drake has a joint faculty appointment with The Center for Translational Injury Research (CeTIR) at UTHealth School of Medicine. Her research impacting populations thru the reduction in preventable causes of death within the public sector. Finally, she remains involved in practice as a forensic nurse at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

Related News Items

Ten faculty members contribute to coauthor McEwen’s new edition of Community/Public Health Nursing book (Oct 2018)

'Outstanding Nurses of 2018' – TNA foundation honoring UTHealth’s Rozmus and Drake (Oct 2018)

Drake leads Annals of Surgery study of Harris County trauma death rates (Aug 2018)

Drake contributes chapter to 2016 AJN Book of the Year award-winner (Jan 2017)

Good Samaritan Foundation saluting Wang, Stafford and Drake for excellence as educators (Aug 2016)

Drake completes inaugural Texas Injury Prevention Leadership Symposium (May 2016)

Research projects of Starnes-Ott, Drake, Yammine and Santa Maria get boost from PARTNERS grants (May 2015)

Drake authors three articles, receives STTI funding for pilot study (Feb 2015)

Drake Shares Special Expertise in “Medicolegal Death Investigations” (Sep 2011)

Drake Publishes Article, Achieves Forensic Sciences Accreditation (Aug 2011)

Angela J Nash, PhD, CPNP-PC, PMHS

Dr. Nash is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner with dual board certification in primary care and pediatric mental/behavioral health. Her areas of expertise include pediatric primary care and mental-behavioral health; adolescent substance misuse and disorders; recovery from substance use disorders (SUD); health problems related to prenatal alcohol and drug exposures; and reduction of stigma for patients with alcohol or drug-related problems.

A qualitative and mixed-methods researcher, Dr. Nash’s research focuses on Alternative Peer Groups and other recovery-support treatment models for adolescents with SUD and reduction of stigma for patients with alcohol or drug-related problems.

Dr. Nash received her BSN and MSN degrees from The University of Texas Austin. In 2005, she moved to Houston for a faculty appointment at Baylor College of Medicine, where she completed an Educational Fellowship designed to prepare clinicians for scholarly work. She received her doctoral degree and post-master's in Nursing Education from the Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth as a George Foundation Scholar in the Accelerated PhD Program and has been appointed to the Cizik SON faculty since 2013.

Related News Items

Hogg Foundation for Mental Health funds Nash’s research on youth substance use recovery (Nov 2016)

Nash co-authors Houston-based case study in Journal of Addictions Nursing (Jun 2016)

Nash describes her dissertation research on teen substance abuse in new online article (Dec 2015)

Luba Yammine, PhD, RN, FNP-C

Dr. Yammine practices as family nurse practitioner in a clinic that provides primary care to underserved residents of rural Texas.  Her research interest focuses on the biological and behavioral pathways linking psychosocial factors (i.e., depression, post-traumatic stress disorder) to cardiovascular disease. She has received the Dean’s Research Award for a study that will explore the relationship between psychological trauma and cardiovascular health. To date, Yammine has published several articles in peer-reviewed nursing and medical journals, and she has received numerous awards and recognitions for academic achievements and clinical practice.

Yammine obtained her BSN degree from Texas Woman’s University. From UTHealth School of Nursing, she received her MSN in 2009, followed by her doctoral degree in 2013 as the Memorial Hermann Hospital System Scholar in the Accelerated PhD Program that started in fall 2010.

Related News Items

Yammine attending Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory course on cell biology and addiction (Aug 2015)

One-year NIDA fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine awarded to Yammine (May 2015)

Research projects of Starnes-Ott, Drake, Yammine and Santa Maria get boost from PARTNERS grants (May 2015)