Award recipients Marisa Scibilia (left) and Beatrice Gaynor.

Nursing honors

Doctoral students in nursing science program honored

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11:14 a.m., April 28, 2015--The University of Delaware doctorate in nursing science program has announced that Beatrice Gaynor has been named the 2014-16 Jonas Nurse Leader Scholar and Marisa Scibilia has been named the 2014-15 Virginia Lee Franklin Fellow. 

Veronica Rempusheski, Jeanne K. Buxbaum Chair of Nursing Science and coordinator of the program, said, “The timeliness of these awards is crucial to support and accelerate completion of requirements by students attending UD’s Ph.D. in nursing science program. Of critical importance is ensuring students can concentrate on the rigor of their scholarship to ultimately begin to fill the pending severe shortage of Ph.D.-prepared nurse scientists and faculty.”

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Kathleen Schell, director of UD’s School of Nursing, said, “Continued funding through the Jonas Foundation is evidence of the quality of our program and students. We are grateful to the Virginia Lee Franklin Trust for their continued support of nursing students at all levels of education.” 

Annually, in addition to the Ph.D. fellowship, a Virginia Lee Franklin Honors Award is given to an undergraduate student in the School of Nursing who excels in the care of neurologically compromised patients.

Beatrice Gaynor, Jonas Nurse Leader Scholar

Gaynor earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing from UD and a master of science degree in nursing from Wilmington (Delaware) University. She is a family nurse practitioner and works part-time in UD’s Nurse Managed Health Center. In this role she supports research, education, and scholarship for faculty and students of multiple disciplines within the University. Clinical responsibilities include primary care, occupational health, urgent care and medical clearance of potential research participants.

In her second year of the doctoral program, Gaynor is a research assistant to Regina Sims Wright, assistant professor in the School of Nursing. 

Gaynor’s research focuses on the predictive value of metabolic syndrome measurements. Currently, she is conducting a pilot study of waist circumference use by primary care providers to assess and predict metabolic and cardiovascular disease. She presented preliminary ideas in a research poster at the Eastern Nursing Research Society Scientific Sessions in Washington, D.C., this month.

“Beatrice is developing well-informed and creative scientific inquiries that will serve as a strong foundation for her program of research that seeks to improve the prediction of chronic disease outcomes and reduction of health disparities in primary care,” said Wright.

In addition to being a Jonas Scholar, Gaynor was awarded the Virginia Lee Franklin Fellowship for the 2013-14 academic year.

Marisa Scibilia, Virginia Lee Franklin Fellow

Scibilia, a second-year doctoral student, earned an honors bachelor’s degree in nursing from Syracuse University and a master of science degree in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania. She works as a nurse practitioner in a neurosurgical collaborative practice in New Jersey. 

She has taught simulation lab to undergraduate nursing students, precepted new graduate nurses and nurse practitioner students, and lectured on spinal cord injury and stroke to critical care nurses and community groups throughout southern New Jersey.

Informed by her vast clinical experience with neurological patients, Scibilia’s research focuses on management of chronic neck pain in adults with degenerative axial neck pain. She presented the results of a pilot study of patients’ perceptions of the barriers and facilitators to exercise for degenerative cervical pain in a research poster at the Eastern Nursing Research Society Scientific Sessions in Washington, D.C., this month. 

She is a research assistant to Ingrid Pretzer-Aboff, associate professor in the School of Nursing.

“Marisa has a clear vision and the passion to develop a strong program of research that will advance science and impact the practice of advanced practice nurses who work with adults experiencing chronic cervical pain,” said Pretzer-Aboff. 

About the Jonas Nurse Leader Scholar Program

The Jonas Nurse Leaders Scholar Program was created in 2008 to support educational development of new nursing faculty and stimulate models for joint faculty appointments between schools of nursing and clinical affiliates. 

The grants, made through institutional awards, also prepare doctoral candidates to help students address the needs of future patients – from dealing with co-morbidities and chronic illnesses to providing culturally competent care. 

Since the program's inception in 2008 with six scholars in New York City, it has grown to include more than 200 Jonas Nurse Leader Scholars in 88 schools across all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, and welcomed a new cohort of more than 200 scholars in 2014.

About Virginia Lee Franklin

In the spirit of Virginia Lee Franklin’s commitment to teaching, the trust provides fellowships to doctoral students whose long-term goals include employment as faculty in a university setting. 

This award not only perpetuates the development of nursing science but also prepares the next generation of nurse scientists and nurse educators.

Virginia Lee Franklin earned a master's degree in nursing from Emory University in 1957 and was assistant professor in the UD School of Nursing (then called the College of Nursing) from 1964 to 1979. 

To honor her after her death in 1981, her parents, D. Murray and Katherine Franklin, created the Virginia Lee Franklin Memorial Trust.

Photo by Ambre Alexander Payne

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