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

Faculty and Staff Awards, Nursing Leaders

April 9, 2018

By Diana Austin

Monica McLemore Named 2018 ACN Person of the Year

Monica McLemore Monica McLemore, assistant professor of Family Health Care Nursing and a researcher with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at UCSF, has been named Abortion Care Network (ACN) Person of the Year for 2018 for her commitment to providing patient-centered abortion care to her patients and her advocacy for reproductive health and justice, particularly her role in advancing a California law that allows midwives, nurse practitioners and physician assistants to provide abortion care. She recently served as the face of ACN’s billboard campaign to fight deceptive messaging on abortion.

McLemore frequently speaks to media about abortion and other reproductive health issues; she was most recently quoted in POPSUGAR’s article “3 Dangerous Abortion Myths Were Just Obliterated by This Groundbreaking Study,” highlighting a recent study on abortion safety and quality in the United States, which found that the quality of abortion care in the U.S. is high, and that laws that restrict access may delay women from accessing abortion care early, when it is safest.

McLemore is also featured in an EXPLAINED video on so-called “abortion reversal,” for the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health’s Innovating Education in Reproductive Health program. The EXPLAINED: Abortion Research and Policy series features lectures with experts highlighting the impact of abortion restrictions on women and providers in the U.S.

Finally, McLemore co-authored a chapter – "The Criminal Justice System’s Impact on Intergenerational Health" – in the recently released book Moving Life Course Theory Into Action: Making Change Happen, from APHA Press.

Kim Dau Elected Fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives

Kim Dau Certified nurse-midwife Kim Dau, assistant clinical professor of Family Health Care Nursing, has been elected a fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM). Fellowship in the college is given to midwives who have demonstrated leadership, clinical excellence, outstanding scholarship and professional achievement in their field.

Dau, who directs the UCSF Certified Nurse-Midwife/Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner program, is an advocate for nurse-midwives and their patients and for diversity within midwifery. In 2014, she received ACNM’s Kitty Ernst Award for excellence in clinical practice, education, administration and research relating to midwifery and women’s health.

Dau and other new fellows for 2018 will be inducted during a ceremony at the ACNM Annual Meeting and Exhibition in May.

Kristin Cosner and Valerie Yerger Receive Chancellor Awards for Public Service

Kristin Cosner (left) and Valerie Yerger Kristin Cosner, a student in the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AG ACNP) program, and Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences Valerie Yerger have been selected to receive the 2018 Chancellor Awards for Public Service, which recognize outstanding contributions toward UCSF’s public service mission.

Cosner is CEO of the Team G Childhood Cancer Foundation, which she and her husband co-founded with another couple in 2013 to support pediatric cancer research after their daughter Gabriella was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma.

Yerger is a researcher at the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. Her work focuses on the way the tobacco industry targets African American communities, and on investigating how African Americans can reduce tobacco’s impact on their communities by reframing tobacco as a social justice issue that affects the entire community.

Cosner and Yerger will receive their awards at a Founders Day luncheon on May 11, 2018.

Faculty, Staff and Students at Health and Wellness Fair

From left: Michele Pelter, Heather Leutwyler, Sarah Dobbins, Rachel Goldberg and Erin Hubbard On March 9, School of Nursing faculty, staff and students provided health and wellness information to participants in the inaugural Health and Wellness Fair at the Salvation Army Harbor Light Center, which provides addiction recovery programs to men and women in San Francisco.

Associate Professor of Physiological Nursing Heather Leutwyler worked with Angel Carter, intake and network manager at the Harbor Light Center, to organize the event; Leutwyler also hosted a physical activity table. Associate Professor and Chair of Physiological Nursing Janine Cataldo and Clinical Research Coordinators Ruby Bamford and Rachel Goldberg hosted a table on tobacco cessation. Clinical Research Coordinator Erin Hubbard hosted a table on healthy sleep. Assistant Professor of Physiological Nursing Michele Pelter and Assistant Clinical Professor/PhD degree candidate Lorinda Coombs hosted a table on blood pressure and heart health. Sarah Dobbins, a student in the Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program, hosted a table on mental health resources.

Melinda Bender Receives SF BUILD Award to Study Diabetes and Family Support Among Asian Americans

Melinda Bender Assistant Professor of Family Health Care Nursing Melinda Bender – along with her co-investigators from San Francisco State University (SFSU), Grace Yoo, professor of Asian American studies, and Therese Doan, associate professor in the SFSU School of Nursing – received an SF BUILD Research Award to fund their collaborative SFSU/UCSF research study, “Family Support Dynamics in Older Asian Americans with Type 2 Diabetes and Their Adult Children.”

JiWon Choi Receives RAP Award

JiWon Choi JiWon Choi, assistant professor in the Institute for Health & Aging, has received a Resource Allocation Program (RAP) award. This award, from the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, will support Choi in developing a culturally and linguistically appropriate lifestyle intervention tailored for Korean American women at risk for metabolic syndrome.

Tingting Yao and Wendy Max Present at World Conference on Tobacco or Health

Tingting Yao (left) and Wendy Max Assistant Professor Tingting Yao and Director and Professor of Economics Wendy Max, of the Institute for Health & Aging, attended the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Cape Town, South Africa. Yao presented a paper on health care costs attributable to secondhand smoke exposure at home for U.S. adults, and Max presented a paper on health care costs attributable to smoking in California for different racial/ethnic communities.

School Hosts Faculty and Students from Japan at Global Nursing Training Course

From left: Risa Watanabe, Arisa Kurihara, Rika Suzuki, Sakura Nio, Miyuki Kobayashi, Senu Fukamatsu, Masaru Matsumoto Seven students and two faculty members from Soka University School of Nursing in Hachioji, Japan, participated in the fourth Global Nursing Training Course at the UCSF School of Nursing February 15 to 22.

During their stay, these undergraduate nursing students received lectures on topics such as advanced practice nursing in the U.S., cultural awareness, interprofessional practice, nursing entrepreneurship and health care for homeless persons. They attended a Master’s Entry Program in Nursing class and enjoyed lunch with some MEPN students.

Each Soka student selected a topic, such as reducing restraint use or preventing back injuries, to research while at UCSF. They were able to discuss these issues with nurses they met on tours of health care facilities and community agencies, and each student also met individually with UCSF School of Nursing faculty experts on their topics. On the last day of the course, students presented the results of their inquiries.

Suzanne Gordon in the Sacramento Bee on VA Caregivers

Suzanne Gordon Suzanne Gordon, adjunct professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, has published an op-ed, “VA Caregivers Need Funding and Support, Not Mere ‘Thank-Yous,’” in the March 22 issue of the Sacramento Bee. In the editorial, Gordon notes that the Trump administration has proposed cuts to funding for mental health programs for veterans and that an estimated 35,000 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) staff positions remain unfilled. These add to the risk faced by VHA employees, such as the three mental health clinicians who were recently killed by a former patient at Yountville’s Veterans Home of California.

Daniel Linnen Publishes on Rural Inpatient Mortality

Daniel Linnen Daniel Linnen, a third-year PhD degree student, is the lead author of a study on inpatient mortality in rural hospitals, published in the March 28, 2018, issue of the Permanente Journal. The paper, “The Rural Inpatient Mortality Study: Does Urban-Rural County Classification Predict Hospital Mortality in California?,” combined Medicare hospital mortality ratings with U.S. Census Bureau data, critical hospital classification and data from the National Center for Health Statistics to compare hospital mortality across 277 rural and urban hospitals in California.

While the study, which used an ecological design, can’t establish causality, the authors found that hospitals in medium-sized metro counties were associated with unfavorable Medicare mortality ratings. The authors noted that methods to measure hospital mortality could skew results and that future research should assess how the effects of patient transfers from rural to nonrural or semiregional hub hospitals, and other factors, contribute to mortality data patterns.