Elizabeth L. Dickson, PhD, MSN, RN

Biography

Elizabeth Dickson, PhD, RN is an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico College of Population Health (COPH), with a secondary appointment to the College of Nursing (CON). Her research investigates how to improve access and quality of school health services and education with the goal of improving health outcomes, including the implementation of school policies related to school-based sexual health education.  As faculty with the UNM Center for Participatory Research, Dr. Dickson works to build the science supporting community-based participatory research (CBPR) as an evidence-based research approach to improve health inequities. 

Dr. Dickson joined UNM as faculty in 2018 and has taught across undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programs. Her courses have focused on community and public health delivery, CBPR, evidence-based practice, health policy, qualitative research methods, and mixed methods research. She earned a PhD from the UNM College of Nursing focused on health policy and was a doctoral fellow with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nursing and Health Policy Collaborative.

Areas of Specialty

• Public health clinical practice

•  School-based health services and sexual health education

•  Health policy

•  Community-based participatory research

Education

PhD, The University of New Mexico, 2018 (Nursing)
MSN, Samuel Merritt College, 2000 (Nursing)
BS, California State University, 1991 (Business Administration)

Certifications

RN: Registered Nurse

PHN: Public Health Nurse

Achievements & Awards

Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Leaders and Innovators (U.C. Davis), 2023 – 2026

Key Publications

• Dickson, E., Crawford, L., Sparks, R., & Ciblis, A. (2023). “This Has Changed Everything”: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on School Nursing Practice in New Mexico. The Journal of School Nursing, https://doi.org/10.1177/10598405231218532
• Lardier, D. T. Jr., Dickson, E. L., Hackett, J. M., & Verdezoto, C. S. (2024). A scoping review of existing research between 1990 and 2023: Measuring virtual communities of practice across disciplines. Journal of Community Psychology, 52(1), 198–225. APA PsycInfo. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23092
• Mason, D. J., Dickson, E., McLemore, M. R., & Perez, A. (2020). Policy & politics in nursing and health care. 8^th edition. Elsevier
• Dickson, E., Rishel Brakey, H, Wilson, P, Hackett, J., & McWethy, M. (2023). Classroom voices: Youth perspectives to direct school-based sexual health education. Sex Education Journal. 1-18.
• Shattuck, D., Hall, J.L., Dickson, E., Green, A., & Ramos, M. (2021). Implementing evidence‐informed practices to make schools safer and more supportive of sexual and gender minority youth. Journal of School Health, 91, 258-261. doi: 10.1111/josh.12996
• Boursaw, B., Oetzel, J., Dickson, E., Thein, T., Sanchez Youngman, S., Peña, J., Parker, M., Magarati, M., Littledeer, L., Duran, B., & Wallerstein, N. (2021). Scales of practices and outcomes for community-engaged research. American Journal of Community Psychology,1-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12503
• Dickson, E. & Brindis, C.B. (2020). The double bind of school nurses and policy implementation: Intersecting the street level bureaucracy framework and teaching sexual health education. The Journal of School Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059840519868764
• Wallerstein, N., Oetzel, J., Sanchez-Youngman, S., Boursaw, B., Dickson, E., Kastelic, S., Koegel, P., Lucero, J., Magarati, M., Ortiz, K., Parker, M., & Pena, J. (2020). Engage for equity: A long-term study of community based participatory research and community engaged research practices and outcomes. Health Education & Behavior, 47(3), 380-390. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198119897075
• Dickson, E., Magarati, M. Boursaw, B., Oetzel, J., Devia, C., Ortiz, K., & Wallerstein, N. (2020). Characteristics and practices within research partnerships addressing health and social equity. Nursing Research. doi: 10.1097/NNR.0000000000000399
• Dickson, E., Parshall, M., & Brindis, C. (2019). Isolated voices: Perspective of teachers, school nurses, and administrators regarding implementation of sexual health education policy. Journal of School Health. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12853
• Traeger, M., Thomson, A., Dickson, E., & Provencio, A. (2006). Bridging disparity: A multi-disciplinary approach for influenza vaccination in an American Indian community. American Journal of Public Health, 96(5), 921-925. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.049882

Gender

Female

Languages

• English
• Spanish

Research

• Principal Investigator, “Advancing Sexual Health Education Through Youth Engagement”, Moore Foundation, 2023 – 2026
• Principal Investigator, “Elevating Youth Engagement to Advance Sexual Health Education”, Hillman Foundation, 2023 – 2024
• Principal Investigator, “School Nurse Academic Partnership”, New Mexico Department of Health Office of School and Adolescent Health, 2023-2024
• Co-Investigator, “Enhancing Structural Competency in School-Based Health Centers to Address LGBTQ+ Adolescent Health Equity”  (PI: Willging, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation), National Institutes for Health, National Institute for Nursing Research, 2023 – 2026
• Co-Investigator, “Engage for Equity PLUS: Testing Engagement Strategies to Promote Trustworthy Academic Institutions and Greater Diversity and Capacity for Patient and Community Leadership in Research” (PI: Wallerstein and Sanchez-Youngman), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), 2024 – 2027
• Principal Investigator, “COVID-19 Impact on School Nurses and Delivery of School Health”, National Association of School Nursing, 2021 – 2023
• Principal Investigator, “Advancing Sexual Health Education to Improve Adolescent Health in New Mexico: Staff and Student Perspectives,” University of New Mexico, Clinical Translational and Science Center, 2019 – 2020
• Co-Principal Investigator, “Virtual Communities of Practice: Measuring the Impact” University of New Mexico, 2021 – 2022

Courses Taught

• Mixed Methods Research Methods
• Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) Institute: Indigenous and critical methodologies
• Introduction to Qualitative Methods
• Health Care Policy, Systems, and Financing