Strategic Grant to Boost Research Opportunities for Graduate Nursing Students

Cloude Moore building entrance

The programs supported by the Strategic Investment Fund grant will begin in the fall.

A nearly $2.3 million infusion into the University of Virginia’s School of Nursing will support a new student-faculty model of research collaboration and teaching teams, aiming to enhance research productivity and expand exposure to research for the school’s second-biggest student population: the roughly 250 students enrolled in its seven master’s tracks.

The transformative grant – from the Board of Visitors’ Strategic Investment Fund, which is administered through a rigorous application process – begins this fall, and extends into 2020.

The funds will also enhance the Nursing School’s development and delivery of high-tech courses and labs with digital health technology. The broad scope will include mobile health, health information technology and bioinformatics, wearable devices, telehealth and big-data approaches to genomics and personalized health.

“Traditional models of nurse practitioner education focus only on clinical practice in the classroom and bedside setting,” Christine Kennedy, associate dean for academic programs, said. “But rapid changes in health care push us to transform and innovate by integrating research and moving learning beyond the classroom walls.”

Starting this fall, the 15 students enrolled in the school’s two newest master’s programs – the neonatal nurse practitioner and the pediatric nurse practitioner-acute care tracks – will be closely mentored by nursing research faculty and intimately involved in a series of pediatric research projects over their two years of study. After an initial three-year pilot of this research immersion model, the program will be formally expanded to the school’s additional five master’s tracks.

“This visionary investment in research and graduate education by the Board of Visitors gives us an unparalleled opportunity to make the school one of the nation’s preeminent institutions for neonatal and pediatric research, teaching and care,” School of Nursing Dean Dorrie Fontaine said. “It will enhance the care and improve health outcomes for the smallest and sickest patients in the commonwealth.”

Text reads: Illimitable Discovery

Media Contact

Christine Phelan Kueter

School of Nursing