Leadership in Action: Alumni, Faculty, Staff and Student Milestones

Nursing Leaders

November 6, 2017

By Diana Austin

Dean Gilliss Receives Duke University’s Highest Honor

Catherine Gilliss receives the Duke University Medal from Duke Alumni Director Sterly Wilder and President Vince Price (photo by Chris Hildreth/Duke Photography). During the October Founder’s Day celebration at Duke University, Dean Catherine Gilliss received the University Medal from Duke University President Vincent Price. The University Medal is the highest award for service Duke confers.

Gilliss served as dean of the Duke University School of Nursing from 2004 to 2014, presiding over the creation of PhD and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree programs at the school and contributing to a rise in the school’s national reputation and its student enrollment.

Monica McLemore on Innovative Employment Options for Previously Incarcerated Women

Monica McLemore In a paper published in the September 11 issue of the International Journal of Prisoner Health, Assistant Professor of Family Health Care Nursing Monica McLemore outlines the success of a collaboration between the School and the East Bay Community Birth Support Project that trained previously incarcerated, low-income women to become doulas – companions who provide nonclinical support to women during and after childbirth.

McLemore and her co-author make the argument that innovative programs like the doula project can reduce barriers to employment for previously incarcerated women. They note that the project trained 16 previously incarcerated, low-income women to provide a valuable, culturally relevant service, and that, as of the paper’s writing, none of the participants had experienced recidivism.

Monica McLemore Briefs Congress on Reproductive Justice

McLemore also presented on reproductive justice at an October 30 congressional briefing on maternal health and mortality in the United States. She joined a panel of distinguished researchers, scholars and activists who spoke on the effects of policies that limit women’s reproductive choices and erode reproductive health safety nets on maternal outcomes.

The briefing was sponsored by the Reproductive Justice Initiative in cooperation with Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) and the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust.

Kimberly Baltzell Article Scores High in Global Health Literature Review

Kimberly Baltzell An article co-authored by Kimberly Baltzell – associate adjunct professor of Family Health Care Nursing and director of the School’s Center for Global Health – was one of the most highly scored articles from the 2016 Global Emergency Medicine Literature Review.

The article, published in January 2016 in PLOS ONE, discusses causes of nonmalarial febrile illness in children in Zanzibar, and was selected for review from among 13,890 global health emergency medicine articles. It scored highly on criteria that included impact, importance, ethics, clarity and design.

UCSF Nurses Recognized Nationally for Excellence in Patient Care and Innovation

UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco have earned the prestigious Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The designation acknowledges excellence in nursing, high-quality patient care and innovations in professional nursing practice. It is the highest level of recognition that the ANCC awards.

ANCC officials noted that UCSF met the 98 standards for excellence with no deficiencies and outperformed national benchmarks the majority of the time for indicators that reflect nursing quality. These include falls, pressure ulcers, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, patient satisfaction and nurse satisfaction.

“This recognition is a testament to the outstanding and exemplary professional practices of our nurses, nurse leaders and interprofessional colleagues,” says Tina Mammone (MS ’06, PhD ’14), vice president and chief nursing officer of UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco. “The Magnet designation not only recognizes UCSF nurses, but all of our staff and providers for their tremendous teamwork and interdisciplinary care.”

Mica Estrada Leads Project to Help Communities Address Impact of Climate Change

Mica Estrada Mica Estrada, an assistant adjunct professor at the UC San Francisco School of Nursing’s Institute for Health & Aging, is project director and principal investigator for Climate Education Partners (CEP), a collaborative project in which leaders in various fields work with San Diego civic, business, government and education leaders to communicate the causes and impacts of climate change, as well as options for how to adapt to or prevent those impacts. In October, the group announced the launch of a new website, “Your Community Toolbox for Leading in a Changing Climate,” a comprehensive multimedia resource for other cities and regions looking to incorporate climate change education and leader engagement into their climate action planning efforts.

Estrada says, “The goal of the toolbox is to highlight and celebrate how the San Diego region exemplifies the positive actions communities can take when working together to address climate change. [It] describes what we’ve done and how other cities and regions can build on what we’ve learned to protect their quality of life.”