Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma) will induct 22 world-renowned nurse researchers into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame, including two University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing faculty members.
Lora Burke, PhD, MPH, FAHA, FAAN, Professor Emerita, and Denise Charron-Prochownik, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN, Professor and chair of the Department of Health Promotion and Development, are among this year’s class of inductees. The prestigious Hall of Fame honor recognizes nurse researchers who have achieved significant and sustained national or international recognition, and whose research has improved the profession of nursing and the people it serves, according to Sigma.
“This honor is incredible for me and my research,” said Dr. Burke. “To know that the work I’ve dedicated my research career to, helping to make a difference in the lives of the individuals who have participated in my studies, is being recognized is an incredible feeling. To be inducted into this remarkable group of international nurse scientists is extremely humbling.”
Dr. Burke has a long-standing record of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to support her research program, focusing on two areas of behavioral change research: the examination of self-monitoring as the centerpiece of behavioral treatment for weight loss and testing the use of mobile or digital devices to assess behaviors and deliver behavioral interventions in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. She incorporated the use of technology (instrumented paper diary) to validate self-report measures over 18 years ago and documented the actual patterns of self-monitoring among participants in behavioral treatment for weight loss and provided evidence for the association between consistency in self-monitoring and weight loss outcomes.
Using qualitative methods, she revealed that study participants reported self-monitoring was burdensome and tedious. She has since focused on developing and testing intervention strategies to reduce the burden and improve adherence to three behaviors recommended for self-monitoring: diet, physical activity, and weight. Dr. Burke has conducted a series of clinical trials, the latest two (SMART and SMARTER) that incorporated the use of digital technology to develop applications for hand-held devices and an investigator-developed algorithm that reads the self-monitoring data and sends a tailored feedback message to the study participants.
Dr. Denise Charron-Prochownik has had an outstanding record of research directed to health promotion and disease prevention of children and adolescents. Her work has been directed toward promoting healthy pregnancies with pre-pregnancy preparation by raising awareness in adolescent women to prevent the untoward effects of gestational and other forms of diabetes, thus preventing severe complications to the mother and the infant. Moreover, her work in preventing gestational diabetes can further lead to breaking the cycle of diabetes in future generations.
Her groundbreaking work READY-Girls (Reproductive-health Education and Awareness of Diabetes in Youth for Girls) has been published and adopted by the American Diabetes Association as an evidence-based model preconception counseling program for teens with diabetes. READY-Girls has been placed on the ADA website and is distributed internationally at no cost. Her research has also provided the cited evidence for changes to the ADA’s standards of practice for preconception counseling. Her internationally recognized research program has been culturally adapted to high-risk disparate communities such as African American, Latina and American Indian/Alaska Natives (AIAN) populations.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to join a world-renowned group of researchers who work diligently to generate evidence for nursing practice that ultimately transforms health care,” said Dr. Charron-Prochownik. “I am passionate about preconception counseling and my research on preparing young women with diabetes for a safe pregnancy and healthy baby, and fortunate to have an outstanding team to help accomplish these goals. I am grateful to the society for recognizing the value in this important work.”
“We are incredibly proud of Dr. Burke and Dr. Charron-Prochownik and their induction into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame,” said Christine E. Kasper, dean, and professor of nursing. “The impact these nurse scientists have on research, science and patient care are profound and deserve to be recognized and celebrated.”
The 2023 inductees will join 270 previously inducted nurse researchers, including Pitt Nursing’s Eileen Chasens, PhD, RN, FAAN, and Margaret Rosenzweig, PhD, CRNP-C, AOCNP, FAAN were inducted in 2022. Pitt Nursing Dean Christine E. Kasper, PhD, RN, FAAN, FASCM was inducted in 2015 and Dean Emeritus Jacqueline Dunbar-Jacob was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame in 2010. Pitt Nursing alums are also well represented with this prestigious honor including Kathryn Puskar (DrPH ’81, MPH ’78, MSN ’71), Terri Weaver (BSN ’73), Margaret Grey (BSN ’70) and Bernadette Melnyk (MSN ’83). Former faculty member, Mary Beth Happ, was inducted in 2021.
Dr. Burke and Dr. Charron-Prochownik will be inducted during the organization’s 34th International Nursing Research Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in July.