Penn Nursing Professor Elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM)

Newswise — Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH, a globally influential public health scholar, Penn Nursing professor, and a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, has been elected to the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Glanz is an internationally known public health scholar and is currently the George A. Weiss University Professor, Professor of Epidemiology and Nursing in the Perelman School of Medicine and the School of Nursing, and Director of the Center for Health Behavior Research.

Penn President Amy Gutmann launched the Penn Integrates Knowledge program in 2005. The University-wide initiative recruits exceptional faculty members whose research and teaching exemplify the integration of knowledge across disciplines. PIK professors hold joint appointments between two schools at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Dr. Glanz's research bridges public health and social science disciplines and focuses on nutrition and obesity; skin cancer prevention; tobacco control; and cancer screening. Her pathbreaking work integrates theory and research methods from social and behavioral sciences into public health and medicine. Almost a decade ago, she developed internationally-used tools to measure nutrition environments before the current obesity epidemic emerged.

The senior editor of Health Behavior and Health Education: Theory, Research and Practice (now in its 4th edition), widely used to teach applied theory in the U.S. and internationally, Dr. Glanz is also a member of the federally-appointed U.S. Task Force on Community Preventive Services and a senior editor of Social Science and Medicine.

“I am deeply honored to be elected to membership in the IOM, and look forward to joining my colleagues from Penn Nursing in contributing to the search for answers to pressing questions about public health and healthcare,“ said Dr. Glanz.

Dr. Glanz joins six other members of the School of Nursing who are members of the IOM including the dean, three current professors and two former deans:

Current Penn Nursing Dean:

Afaf I. Meleis, PHD, DrPS (hon), FAAN, is the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing. Her scholarship focuses on structure and organization of nursing knowledge, transitions and health, and international nursing. She has mentored hundreds of students, clinicians, and researchers from Thailand, Brazil, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Columbia, Korea, and Japan. Dr. Meleis currently serves on the IOM’s Section Group 10 – Other Health Professions; Interest Group (02) - Global Health, Infectious diseases, Microbiology; and co-chairs the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education and Global Health and Microbiology.

Three Current Professors:

Linda Aiken, PhD, FAAN, FRCN, RN, the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor in Nursing, Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research was inducted into the IOM in 1981. Dr. Aiken is an authority on causes, consequences, and solutions for nurse shortages in the United States and around the world. Dr. Aiken has served on the IOM Governing Council and the Board on Health Care Services and is on a number of IOM scientific and policy studies.

Loretta Sweet Jemmott, PhD, FAAN, RN, the van Ameringen Professor in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing, and Director of the Center for Health Disparities Research, was inducted to the IOM in 1999. Dr. Jemmott is one of the nation's foremost researchers in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention among African American adolescents. Several of her curricula have been designated for national use by the Centers for Disease Control and she has adopted several internationally.

Mary D Naylor, PhD, FAAN, RN, the Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology, and Director of NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health, leads an interdisciplinary program of research designed to improve the quality of care, decrease unnecessary hospitalizations, and reduce healthcare costs for vulnerable community-based elders. She is also the chief architect of the Transitional Care Model improves healthcare value - enhances the patients' and family caregivers' experience with care and improves their health and quality of life outcomes while reducing costs. She is a member of the IOM Roundtable on Value and Science-Driven Healthcare; of the IOM Board of Healthcare Services; of the IOM Learning Health System study committee; and serves as co-chair of the Roundtable's Best Practices Collaborative. She recently took part in the IOM Quality Cancer Care committee report.

And Dean Emerita:

Claire Fagin, PhD, FAAN, RN, has blended an interest in consumer health with professional health and nursing issues, and she is known for her efforts to create a new paradigm for access and quality. Currently Dr. Fagin is senior advisor to the Jonas Center of Nursing Excellence, and member of the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame as well as a Living Legend.

Norma Lang, PhD, FAAN, FRCN, RN is one of the world’s leading authorities on nursing standards and outcomes measures, Dr. Lang is internationally recognized for her advocacy of the role of nursing in health policy. She has pioneered the development of an international classification for nursing practice, the Nursing Minimum Data Set, which is used to evaluate the quality of nursing care.