Yvette Conley | School of Nursing | University of Pittsburgh

PhD, FAAN

Senior Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship

Distinguished Service Professor of Nursing

Professor of Human Genetics

Health Promotion & Development

Profile

Dr. Conley is dedicated to conducting research that will improve the lives of individuals who have suffered a neurological insult and are at risk for cognitive decline, including the neurological insults brought about through cancer and its treatments. She is also dedicated to educating the next generation of nurses and nurse scientists to holistically view their patients and their research through a precision healthcare lens. Dr. Conley has been recognized for her research and mentoring including the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award, Provost’s Award for Doctoral Mentoring, Eastern Nursing Research Society Distinguished Contributions to Nursing Research Award, UPMC Hillmann Cancer Center Outstanding Research Mentor Award, the Friends of the National Institute of Nursing Research Faye Glenn Abdullah Leadership Award, induction into the New York Academy of Medicine and induction into the National Academy of Nursing as an Honorary Fellow.

Scholarly Emphasis

Dr. Conley’s research interests are in the field of molecular genomics. She has a fully equipped molecular genomics laboratory located within the School of Nursing that includes an extensive biorepository of a variety of biospecimens representing a variety of patient populations. Her lab is involved with several research projects and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over 25 years. Her current research focuses on using omics approaches to understanding symptom development and patient outcomes after traumatic brain injury, stroke, cancer and therapeutic interventions for cancer as well as how non-pharmacological interventions can mitigate cognitive decline.

Teaching

Dr. Conley is the director of an NIH funded training program titled “Targeted Research and Academic Training for Nurses in Genomics” (T32NR009759) that educates and trains nurses at the predoctoral and postdoctoral levels to incorporate omics into their research trajectories. She developed and teaches the Advanced Topics in Human Genetics course (NUR2681). Dr. Conley is director of the minor in Health Care Genetics. She also is the chairperson or a member for doctoral dissertation committees for students who wish to have an omics-based component as part of their pre-doctoral work.

Service

Dr. Conley is an active member of the American Society of Human Genetics, the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science, the Oncology Nursing Society, the American Academy of Nursing, the New York Academy of Medicine, and the International Society of Nurses in Genetics. She is an appointed member of the Science Committee for the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science and recently served on the National Advisory Council for Nursing Research.