Dr. Malone, Professor and Chair in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, has earned a national and international reputation for her expertise in health policy and its interaction with ethics and practice. Her work on tobacco control and the behavior of the tobacco industry, especially as it impacts marginalized and special populations, have been incisive. Her groundbreaking work on corporate social responsibility, “endgame strategies” for tobacco, and voluntary business practices such as retailers who stop selling tobacco is at the forefront of health policy science. Dr. Malone has maintained steady funding from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
In addition to her research, Dr. Malone is a valued faculty member who has provided solid mentoring for doctoral and post-doctoral students as well as junior faculty. Her enthusiasm and dedication to research and education have energized faculty of all ranks. Her courses, especially two on the Theory of the Policy Process and Tobacco Control are among the most highly rated by students. Dr Malone’s excellence in the area of teaching and mentoring is well recognized by the long list of teaching and mentoring awards that she has received.
Dr. Malone has also taken on multiple leadership roles in the School, on campus, and in the profession through her work on influential academic and senate committees, professional associations, national working groups and task forces, and extensive external consultation to individual researchers and academic programs. While the list is extensive, I call out her role as co-founder for the nursing advocacy group, Nightingales Nurses, which works to educate the public about the role of the tobacco industry in perpetuating the tobacco epidemic. She represents the best of nursing faculty, taking her research into practice and making it accessible to the lay public. The 2014 Helen Nahm Research Award therefore recognizes Dr. Malone for her stellar contributions to nursing science and devotion to mentoring the next generation of nursing scholars.
