Abshire, Demetrius, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
576-6262, Room 627
Expertise: Factors related to obesity in rural adults, interventions to promote healthy behaviors
and reduce obesity in rural adults, relationships between obesity and health outcomes
Research: Rural health, obesity, physical activity, nutrition, psychosocial determinants of
health
Adams, Swann Arp, PhD, MS
Associate Professor
777-7635, Room 618
Expertise: Cancer screening & survivorship, epidemiology methods, public health, health disparities,
physical activity, subject recruitment
Research: Disparities in cancer screening, survivorship, and epidemiology, dietary and physical
activity interventions, subject recruitment strategies, inflammation processes and
cancer
Andrews, Jeannette O., PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean & Professor
777-3862, Room 202
Expertise: Behavioral interventions, mixed methods research, randomized controlled trials, community-based
participatory research, patient centered research, community-engaged research, smoking
cessation
Research: Community-based,multi-level cessation intervention, school-based tobacco prevention,
smart phone behavioral trials/chronic disease management, peer navigator interventions
(oral health, spinal cord injury), tobacco marketing/labels, training academic-community
dyads for research
Baliko Beverly, PhD, RN
Associate Professor
777-2292, Room 517
Expertise: Psychiatric-mental health nursing, crisis intervention, child and adolescent acute
and long-term treatment, chronic mental illness in adults
Research: Post-traumatic stress and consequences of trauma and violence, grief and trauma related
to violent death, intimate partner violence, cognitive sequelae of interpersonal violence,
interprofessional education innovation and evaluation
Bell, Nathaniel, PhD
Assistant Professor
777-9861, Room 619
Expertise: Injury, trauma outcomes, social epidemiology, trauma systems, geographic information
systems
Research: Health-related quality of life following trauma, disparities in injury recovery and
access to health care services, geo-surveillance tool development and testing, socio-economic
deprivation indices, expanding the utility of linked-administrative health databases
for injury surveillance and targeting interventions
Beverung, Susan, MSN, RN
Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies
Clinical Assistant Professor
777- 0851, Room 524
Expertise: Nursing education, distance teaching and learning, medical surgical nursing
Research Interest: Simulation, disease prevention, nursing education
Burgess, Stephanie, PhD, APRN, BC, FAANP
Associate Dean for Practice and Health Policy
Clinical Professor
777-2219, Room 515
Expertise: High-risk teens, partner abuse
Research: Vulnerable populations and health promotion and risk reduction, exercise and health
outcomes in HIV patients, health policy, reimbursement, and scope of practice issues
for advanced practice nursing as it relates to access to care and outcomes
Chappell, Kate K., MSN, APRN, PNP-BC
Clinical Associate Professor
777-4730, Room 506
Expertise: Pediatrics, particularly forensic medical evaluations for abuse and neglect, intensive
care, developmental needs, and neurology
Research: Prevention and recognition of child abuse and neglect, with a focus on child caregivers'
protectiveness behaviors, pediatric assessment and developmental approach, clinical
and didactic nursing education including critical thinking and technology-based methods
Corbett, Cynthia L., PhD, RN, FAAN
SmartState Endowed Chair in Clinical Effectiveness Research/Chronic Care Management
Professor
576-6275, Room 616
Expertise: Health system and self-management interventions, interdisciplinary research and interventions,
randomized controlled trials
Research: Self-management of chronic conditions, health system interventions to improve outcomes
for adult patients with chronic conditions, care transitions, medication safety and
management
Culley, Joan M., PhD, MS, MPH, RN, CWOCN
Chair of the Faculty
Associate Professor
777-1257, Room 308
Expertise: Health care informatics, systems analysis, mass casualty triage systems, wound ostomy
and continence nursing, public health
Research: Impact of integrative conceptual information models on the triage continuum of care
during mass casualty events, impact of clinical information technology on organizational,
patient and clinician outcomes
Dail, Robin, PhD, RN, FAAN
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs & Professor
576-6187, Room 507
Expertise: Physiological longitudinal data collection, intensive case study research design,
randomized controlled trials, clinical research, premature infant population, observational
methods, thermal physiology and body temperature management, nursing leadership.
Research: Decreasing infant morbidity and mortality through studies in thermal physiology
and management, infant stabilization after birth, global infant health
Dievendorf, Amy C. DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
Clinical Assistant Professor
777-7851, Room 513
Expertise: Lung cancer screening and prevention.
Research: Lung cancer screening in the post-NLST era: Primary care nurse practitioner perceptions
and screening practices – USC College of Nursing
Elk, Ronit, PhD
Co-Director, Palliative Care Initiative
Research Associate Professor
777-2684, Room 624
Expertise: Palliative care, end of life care in rural elders, culturally tailored palliative
care programs, African American elders needs at end of life, community-based participatory
research, telemedicine delivery of palliative care, LGBT patients with advanced cancer
Research: End of life care preferences in African American rural elders, end of life care preferences
in white rural elders, culturally tailored and community driven palliative care programs,
telemedicine delivery of PC programs, needs of LGBT patients with advanced cancer
Estrada, Robin Dawson, PhD, RN, PNP-BC
Director, Smart Start Nursing Program
Assistant Professor
576-6021, Room 623
Expertise: Communication processes, health disparities, health care access, language access,
cultural issues, qualitative research methods, primary care, pediatrics
Research: Health disparities in vulnerable populations, technology-based interventions to improve
communication between patients and health care providers, medication adherence
Felder, Tisha M., PhD, MSW
Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Assistant Professor
777-9830, Room 620
Expertise: Health disparities, breast health, African American health, Medicaid populations,
community-engaged research, cancer prevention and control, mixed methods, outcomes
research
Research: Racial and social disparities in cancer prevention and control, treatment adherence
in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, promoting healthy behaviors among
African American women
Graham, Crystal., PhD, RN, CHSE
Interim Director, Clinical Simulation Laboratory
Clinical Assistant Professor
777-6533, Room 525
Expertise: simulation, educational disparities in nursing education, diversity
Research: qualitative perceptions of underrepresented students in higher education,
educational interventions for underrepresented minority students, simulation research
particularly pedadogy used and minority nursing student outcomes
Hein, Laura C., PhD, RN, FAAN
Associate Professor
(803) 777-7683, Room 625
Expertise: Health Disparities, cultural diversity, youth homelessness, lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender (LGBT) health, violence/victimization, internet research with homeless
youth, ER nursing and NP practice, theory
Research: LGBT health disparities, violence/victimization, resilience, empowerment
Heiney, Sue, PhD, RN, FAAN
Research Professor
Dunn-Shealy Professor of Nursing
Co-Director, Cancer Survivorship Center (CSC)
777-8214, Room 617
Expertise: Psychosocial care of oncology patients (children and adults), group interventions
for cancer patients, focus breast and prostate cancer
Research: Teleconference group intervention for African American women with breast cancer, mHealth
interventions, recruitment of African Americans to clinical trials, and psychometrics
of measurement tools for African Americans, treatment adherence to oral cancer therapies
Hickey, Patrick, DrPH, RN, MS, MSN, CNOR
Clinical Associate Professor
777-4436, Capstone
Expertise: Patient safety, perioperative nursing, risk management
Research: Sharps injuries in the clinical setting, interpreter programs in ambulatory care
Hughes, Ronda, PhD, MHS, RN, CLNC, FAAN
Associate Professor
Director, Center for Nursing Leadership
777-0119, Room 405
Expertise: Patient safety, health care systems, data analytics
Research: Nursing State Implementation Program; Readiness Evaluation & Discharge Interventions
Hulett, Jennifer M. PhD, APRN, FNP-BC
Assistant Professor
576-6518, Room 622
Expertise: breast cancer survivorship, lymphedema, mind-body practices, spirituality, psychoneuroimmunology,
biomarkers, stress
Research: Mind-body interventions to reduce stress and inflammation in breast cancer survivors,
neuroimmune biomarker measurement, tailoring and adaption of mind-body interventions
Jackson, Joynelle Rivers, EdD, MSN, RNC
Clinical Assistant Professor
777-2806, Room 525
Expertise: Nursing education and simulation, women’s health
Research: Evaluation of teaching methodologies and simulation to determine effectiveness with
competencies in the clinical environment, health promotion and risk reduction with
evaluation of African American women and perceptions on breastfeeding
McDonnell, Karen Kane, PhD, RN, OCN
Assistant Professor
777-9866, Room 610
Expertise: Cancer, early stage lung cancer, decision making, multiple health behavior change
including smoking cessation, cancer survivorship, mindfulness-based stress reduction
(MBSR), recruitment/retention of individual research participants and dyads, mixed
methods
Research: Adapting or developing and testing family interventions, decision making and health
related quality of life (HRQL) in relation to health behavior changes, tailoring evidence-based interventions
to mHealth technologies, and promotion of lung cancer screening among individuals
at high-risk and providers
McKinney, Tena Hunt, PhD, APRN, P/MHNP-BC
Interim Director, PMHMP Program
Associate Professor
777-0925, Room 518
Expertise: Advanced practice psychiatric-mental health nursing, mental health nursing education,
adaptive leadership and care system outcomes
Research: Educational partnerships, collaboration, and student learning outcomes, leadership
in long-term care facilities and quality of care outcomes, nurse turnover and care
outcomes in long term care
Messias, DeAnne, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor– College of Nursing
Director, PhD Program – College of Nursing
Emily Myrtle Smith Professor of Community Nursing
777-8423, College of Nursing, Room 304
Professor - Women's Studies Program
777-4009, Jones Physical Science Center, Room 109
Expertise: International health and primary healthcare, community health nursing, community
coalitions and community-academic partnerships, cultural issues and implications in
health and healthcare, popular education and health teaching methods, transitions
frameworks, women's health - global perspectives, qualitative research methods, feminist
narrative analyses, participatory action research, cultural competence and praxis,
language access and health literacy, community health workers/promotoras de salud
Research: Community-based promotora-delivered Hispanic health interventions, health system navigation support for limited-English
proficient patients, language access, community and youth empowerment, community-based
participatory research, women's work and health, immigrant women's health
Mitchell, Sheryl, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, ACNP-BC
Clinical Assistant Professor
Director FNP Program and Interim Director AGACNP Program
777-2913, Room 511
Expertise: vulnerable populations, graduate nursing education, simulation, policy, and breast
cancer survivorship
Research: Exercise among cancer survivors
Onello, Rachel, PhD, RN, CHSE, CNE, CNL
Clinical Associate Professor
Expertise: theory-based debriefing, psychological safety, simulation-based education, faculty
development of simulation educators
Research: use of standardized participants in faculty development of debriefing and feedback
skills, integration of debriefing into clinical learning environments, clinical instructor
development
Pinto, Bernardine M., PhD
Associate Dean for Research
Professor
777-9272, Room 302B
Expertise: Theoretically-based exercise interventions, healthy behaviors among cancer survivors,
exercise promotion in cancer survivors, peer delivered interventions, modifying sedentary
behavior among middle-aged and older patient populations
Research: Exercise adoption and maintenance, telephone-based interventions, peer-delivered interventions,
modifying multiple risk behaviors, community partnerships
Poslusny, Susan, PhD, RN
Associate Professor
777-5706, Room 528
Expertise: Women’s health, ecologic perspectives in health promotion and risk reduction, health
disparities, community health and development, international health, stress and depression,
nursing education and curriculum development, primary health care, program evaluation
Research: Health effects of childhood sexual abuse and trauma-informed care
Raynor, Phyllis, PhD, APRN, PMHNP, BC
Clinical Assistant Professor
777-9083, Room 306
Expertise: Advanced practice psychiatric-mental health nursing, substance use disorders and recovery
management, self-care/self-management for parents in recovery from substance use disorders
Research: Self-care/self-management for mothers and fathers in recovery from substance use disorders,
utilization of mobile technology to enhance recovery care management, educational
partnerships and IPE collaboration, and medication-assisted treatments for substance
use disorders
Ribar, Alicia K., PhD, RN, FNP-BC
Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs
Clinical Associate Professor
777-4889
Expertise: pediatric and women's health; qualitative research; nutritional interventions affecting
health; health disparities; and lactation education
Research: Health eating in minority children, body weight perception in adolescents
Starnes-Ott, Kristen, PhD, BS, CRNA
Associate Professor
Associate Dean for Academics
777-9505, Room 516
Expertise: Patient safety, perioperative systems, patient-centered communication techniques
among healthcare providers, team leadership, educational programmatic outcomes
Research: Simulation and patient safety, communication and situational awareness among healthcare
providers impacting patient outcomes
Tavakoli, Abbas S., DrPH, MPH, ME
Clinical Assistant Professor
777-2978, Room 307
Expertise: Data management, statistical methods
Wirth, Michael, MSPH, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
676-6736, Room 607
Expertise: Circadian rhythm disruption effects on the human body and various health
outcomes, dietary sources of inflammation, physical activity, and the effect of stress
on health