On July 27, Dr. Kay L. Wanke joined NINR as Acting DESP Director, along side recently appointed Deputy Director, Dr. Martha Matocha. The position was previously held by Dr. Kathleen Anderson, who will be leaving in August to assume a leadership position at another NIH Institute. Dr. Wanke is responsible for scientific leadership and overseeing policy and management for grants and contracts to support NINR research and training.

Other staff updates include current NINR Acting Deputy Director, Dr. Jessica Gill, who will return to the role of Acting Scientific Director. Check out other NINR staff updates here.

The National Institutes of Health has launched a centralized, secure enclave to store and study vast amounts of medical record data from people diagnosed with coronavirus disease across the country. It is part of an effort, called the National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C), to help scientists analyze these data to understand the disease and develop treatments.

There currently are 35 collaborating sites across the country, and data access will be open to all users under a forthcoming NCATS Data Use Agreement (DUA), regardless of whether they contribute data.

The World Health Organization has designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. 

In honor of the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, NINR would like your help in capturing what nursing research means to those who live it. This information will help NINR learn more from the community and collectively begin describing the next frontiers in nursing science. 

NINR Acting Deputy Director, Dr. Jessica Gill and Dr. Kimbra Kenney of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, joined the American Academy of Neurology's podcast to discuss their research on neurofilament light chain as a biomarker following traumatic brain injury

Click here to listen.

Janie Heath PhD, APRN-BC, FAAN, FNAP, FAANP
University of Kentucky College of Nursing

What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t take your academic nursing leadership career for advancing education, research and practice so serious – lighten up – breathe more- reflect more- laugh more- ENJOY a healthy balanced work-life MORE.

Where is your favorite vacation spot?
Daufuskie Island – a wonderful get away that FEW people know about – it is a beautiful historic 7 mile island that is a 45 minute ferry ride from Hilton Head, SC.  After the Civil War it became inhabited primarily by freed slaves – the book “The Ocean is Wide” by Pat Conroy tells a wonderful story about his work to integrate the Gullah children in the SC public school system. 

NINR's Artifical Intelligence Bootcamp
August 3 -6, 2020
Register here

Registration is now open for NINR's Artificial Intelligence Bootcamp. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this event will be held virtually. 

Course Objectives

On July 1, NIH announced that Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, has selected Shannon N. Zenk, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN as Director of NIH’s National Institute of Nursing Research. Dr. Zenk is expected to join NIH in early fall.

Read the full press release here.

Source: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-taps-dr-shannon-zenk-director-national-institute-nursing-research

Careers in Nursing Research Panel
Date: July 10, 2020
Time: 2:00 pm ET

The NIH Office of Intramural Training & Education (OITE) will hold a panel on careers in nursing research featuring NINR speakers:

RADx-Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) has improved access to and acceptance of COVID-19 testing for underserved populations. The goal is to make millions of tests available to Americans each week, especially those most vulnerable to and disproportionately affected by COVID-19. 

NIH has partnered with other government organizations including the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help achieve this goal.  

If you are interested in applying for the 2021 FNINR Board of Directors, please fill out this form.

Please send any questions to Liz Fossett, Executive Director, at [email protected]

On June 12, 2020, the NIH published three Notices of Special Interest to solicit emergency competitive revision applications to existing awards and a fourth funding opportunity announcement for a Coordination and Data Collection Center to support the goals of the NIH RADx-UP program.

NIH is providing two pre-application webinars.

Dr. Vicky Tiase, a nurse informatician from New York City, joined Healthcare's MissingLogic Podcast to share her experience on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She discusses the challenges faced during the initial days of the pandemic, transitions that needed to meet staff needs, and the importance of mental health and how individuals can support one another.

Genomic Response to the Social Environment: Implications for Health Outcomes
June 24, 2020 at 10:00 AM ET 

NINR will host the workshop “Genomic Response to the Social Environment: Implications for Health Outcomes” on Wednesday, June 24, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. EDT. The event is open to the public and registration is not required.

The full agenda is available on the workshop’s event page.The workshop will be streamed live via NIH VideoCast.

NINR Acting Director Dr. Tara Schwetz joined the Oncology Nursing Society’s Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Lisa Kennedy Sheldon to discuss nurses on the frontline of care, the landscape of nursing research, and NINR’s key initiatives in 2020.

Click here to listen.

In honor of the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, NINR is collecting responses to the prompt: "Tell us how you would explain nursing research to someone outside the field, such as a next door neighbor, family member, or friend. Picture the future of nursing research in 5 or 10 years and share your vision below."

Visit the NINR website here to submit your response.

Karen A Monsen, PhD, RN, FAMIA, FAAN 
University of Minnesota School of Nursing

Please describe your work with the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Together with 300+ participants from 10 countries and 35 states, I am leading the rapid development and deployment of encoded, evidence-based COVID-19 Response Guidelines. These guidelines are publicly available at omahasystemguidelines.org and are available in our Omaha System Guidelines App available now at iTunes (and in review by Google). This guideline synthesizes evidence from over 100 sources, primarily from CDC, WHO, and other highly credible organizations; within 90 interventions for 25 roles from triage to midwifery. We are actively updating the guideline as new evidence emerges, which is a constant challenge. This is a great opportunity for nurses, scientists, students, and community members to have a role and a voice in ensuring that we have a way to describe, disseminate, and document evidence-based care to defeat COVID-19. 

Please give us information about your background and history as a nurse scientist. 
My research uses standardized nursing data and systems to improve the quality of care in home visiting interventions and outcomes. This research has been informed by 20 years of experience as a public health nurse and manager. I have developed a novel practice-based research network based on standardized nursing terminology data through the University of Minnesota Center for Nursing Informatics. This Omaha System Partnership research has been conducted by multidisciplinary research teams and international research teams with student principal- or co-investigators and community partner principal- or coinvestigators. This work forms the basis for comparative effectiveness research, to shape policy in knowledge management, and to educate students in contemporary health care practices. This uniquely situated research blends clinical and scholarly perspectives, adding rigor to clinical processes and relevance to scholarly inquiry, which results in a powerful and sustained impact on health care quality. 

Research!America and partners are hosting a virtual roundtable discussion on Thursday, June 18 at 2:00 pm ET. This roundtable will be focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public and private sector-fueled medical progress. Participants will explore the pandemic’s influence on the impact on federally funded research, our nation’s R&D infrastructure, the private sector investment climate, technology transfer and other key variables influencing the pace of medical progress, and opportunities to quickly reboot R&D as we move forward. You can find more information here.

Register

These are challenging times for healthcare professionals and scientists, and for the people and communities we serve. Likewise, we are experiencing insights, innovation, and a deeper sense of community. As a member of the FNINR community, please know that you have been in my thoughts.

The work you do and the work you support are critical, and are more important now than ever. Many in our communities are on the frontlines engaging with COVID-19, others supporting direct care givers, and others devoted to discovering safe practices, and all of us committed to expanding our knowledge and transformation of healthy communities.  FNINR is sharing your stories, stories of nurse scientists on the frontlines of the pandemic, advancing the health of communities. FNINR honors scientist heroes by telling their stories and by advocating for them at the federal level as we support the National Institute of Nursing Research.