Shape the future of health care, health policy and science in New Mexico and beyond.
505-272-5098
$50,000 in funding for one-year beginning July, 2021.
Melody Avila, DNP, RN, FNP
Clinician Educator, Assistant Professor
The research will involve working with 60 high risk youth referred from CYFD many of which have experiences ACEs – adverse childhood experiences – and their families. The ADOBE Portal Project will be used and focus on Hispanic adolescent mental and behavioral health by enhancing a multidisciplinary, sustainable, whole-family approach.
The goal is to help treat mental and behavioral health disorder and provide medical care for the youth and their families. Then see if there is an improvement that support positive outcomes such as; decrease engagement with justice system, increase resilience to adversity and access to medical care. The project will also support social needs – housing or food – and enroll participants in school.
By responding to the needs of families facing adversity and overcoming system barriers that hinder evidence-based treatment the ADOBE Portal model will reduce risk for tragic mental and behavioral health outcomes among Hispanic adolescents in New Mexico.
“I love our community, New Mexico and working with youth. There is a huge disparity with these youth being able to access services and providers trained in working with youth that have experienced trauma. If we can start addressing these mental and behavior health concerns then we can prevent things like suicide. Now we are focused on the metro Albuquerque area but our hope is that the model shows success and we can expand across New Mexico,” Melody Avila.
The TREE Center for Advancing Behavioral Health is committed to supporting behavioral health research that will increase health equity in New Mexico. The purpose of this award is to support strong pilot projects that foster transdisciplinary, community-engaged, multi-level intervention research that addresses behavioral health equity in New Mexico. As well as increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) and non-URM post-doctoral students, junior faculty, and early-stage investigators with the critical consciousness, cultural competence, and other relevant skills to conduct behavioral health equity research with New Mexico’s underserved populations.
$21,628 in funding for one-year beginning July, 2021. The current funding will be renewed in January 2023.
Mary Pat Couig, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN
Associate Professor and Carter/Fleck Endowed Professorship
Roberta P. Lavin, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FAAN
Professor and Aladino and Nellie Matteucci Faculty Fellow
This project is part of an ongoing effort, a Nursing Call to Action, started by the Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC) in 2014 to improve nursing readiness and to provide leadership and guidance to health care facilities and systems regarding issues related to disasters, public health emergencies, high consequence infections (pandemics) and the provision of nursing care. Nurses who have experienced caring for patients with COVID-19 and related issues including of personal protective equipment, crisis standards of care, personal preparedness and family issues, and stresses of caring for seriously ill patients with a highly infectious disease have the potential to identify local and systems factors that contributed to what helped support the nurses and their ability to provide care and what improvements might help in the future.
Through interviews, this study will examine nurses’ perspectives of individual, government, systems, and organizational factors that contributed to and/or hindered support of the nurses and their ability to provide care during a public health crisis.
The goal of the project is to identity themes and potential areas for intervention. The findings will lay down the ground work for a more in-depth study.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for nurses and other health and public health professionals to be educated and trained to respond to disasters and public health emergencies. Additionally, the systems and infrastructure that support these professionals to provide care, whether to an individual or a population, need to be in place and adaptable to the event. This study should provide new knowledge that will help nurses and ultimately improvement patient care during disasters or public health emergencies,” Mary Pat Couig.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, VEMEC has funded an Interagency Personnel Agreement (IPA) for Couig’s and Lavin’s research and collaboration. Drs. Couig and Lavin have a long-standing professional relationship with VEMEC that dates back to 2014.
$19,478 in funding for two-years beginning May, 2021.
Elizabeth Dickson, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
Since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, New Mexico schools had to quickly respond to public health orders requiring school closure. School nurses are essential school health personnel with pediatric and public health knowledge and often the only health professional present in school environments. While their expertise could be essential in the planning and coordination of COVID-19 management strategies, the involvement by school nurses in the COVID related school operations is not clear.
In partnership with the New Mexico School Nurses Association, this project will explore the experience and perspective of New Mexico school nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify barriers and facilitators for planning and implementing school health services since COVID-19 related school closure and re-entry. The findings from this study will be shared through publications and presentations for national, state, and local audiences, and will also support policy efforts to strengthen and expand school nurse practice throughout New Mexico.
“School nurses are essential advocates for the communities they serve. Together with the New Mexico School Nurses Association, we want to capture what school nurses went through during and after the pandemic and help inform policy changes,” Elizabeth Dickson.
The purpose of NASN Research Grants is to encourage and support research regarding school nursing and health of school aged children. To advance and fund quality school nursing practice and school-affiliated delivery of healthcare.
$359,258 from Aug. 1, 2020 to Nov. 30 2021
Stephen Hernandez, PhD, RN
PhD Program Director and Associate Professor
Mark Parshall, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor
UNM School of Medicine
Yiliang Zhu, PhD, Biostatistician, Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Research and Design Module Lead and Jessica Reno, MPH, Staff Researcher, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Preventive Medicine
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Jacqueline Killian, Col, USAF, PhD, RN and Karen Herzing, MSN, RN, Grant Coordinator
This study will examine the effectiveness of the Stress Management and Resilience Training (SMART) in increasing resilience in U.S. Air Force healthcare personnel stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Research has shown significant increases in resilience scores after SMART training was completed. However, all previous studies with SMART have been undertaken with civilian samples. SMART focuses on improving the practices of gratitude, mindful presence, kindness, and developing a resilient mindset. This study will be the first known effort to evaluate the effectiveness of SMART in military personnel.
“In my own experience in the Army and Air Force Reserves, I have seen how resiliency influences the health and readiness of military service members. Although the Air Force provides programs to enhance resiliency, there remains a lack of empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of these programs. This study also builds upon my previous observational study focused on stress and resilience in U.S. Air Force nursing personnel. We have undertaken this study with active component U.S. Air Force healthcare personnel to continue my program of research to support military healthcare personnel. If the SMART program demonstrates comparable efficacy in increasing resilience in Air Force healthcare personnel to what has been reported in studies with civilians, this study would provide data to support a multi-site clinical trial of SMART with service members in all military branches.” Stephen Hernandez
The TriService Nursing Research Program is the country’s first and only Department of Defense program that supports and allows armed forces nurses to conduct military nursing research. Recognizing that military nurses play a critical role in the health and welfare of the military population, Congress appropriated $1 million for nursing research in 1992. Since then, TriService Nursing Research Program has funded more than 500 grants totaling more than $100 million, resulting in changes to clinical practice, education, and policy across the Defense Health Agency.
$24,857 in funding for one-year beginning June 1, 2021.
Katie Kivlighan, PhD, MS, RN, CNM
Assistant Professor
Synthetic oxytocin is frequently employed for labor induction, augmentation, and postpartum hemorrhage prevention. It is a lifesaving medication, but it’s important to recognize all of its effects in the human body. There is evidence that higher doses of synthetic oxytocin are linked to a lower likelihood of continued breastfeeding.
The objective of this project is to explain the physiological mechanisms by which oxytocin might affect the onset of mature milk and individual differences in early milk production. It also aims to refine and assess the feasibility of biological sample collection and laboratory techniques with the goal of application in future studies.
A total of 30 healthy, exclusively breastfeeding women and their term newborns will be recruited for this study. Associations between human milk oxytocin levels, timing of mature milk onset, and early milk production will be examined. Associations with oxytocin receptor mRNA levels will also be assessed.
“Researchers and health care providers that care for newborns believe that human milk is the best first food. Human milk provides health benefits for mom and baby. When I saw that synthetic oxytocin might affect lactation, I wanted to learn more. I want to do this work to promote the best start for newborns in our community,” Katie Kivlighan.
The UNM CTSC is building interdisciplinary research bridges that hasten translation of medical discovery into practice. Key to this strategy is the CTSC Pilot Awards Program that provides intramural funding for clinical and translational research at the Health Sciences Center including two rounds of funding for our standard RFAs annually.
$8,000 in funding for one-year beginning March 1, 2021 with the possibility of renewing for a second year.
Roberta P. Lavin, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FAAN
Professor and Aladino and Nellie Matteucci Faculty Fellow
The overarching goal of this project is to address the impact of population health in emergency management through the creation of a model curriculum for nursing programs. It will begin with an inductory course at the BSN level and extending to a fully developed public health emergency preparedness concentration at the doctoral level in nursing.
A number of UNM faculty and emergency preparedness personnel will be consulted as experts and will contribute to the design of the concentration. Workshops will be provided to educate the stakeholders on the progress and the plan to accomplish the new concentration.
“It’s my passion, to get more public health preparedness in the curriculum. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that nurses aren’t prepared and aren’t taught disaster preparedness in the classroom. It is time we take the research that I spent my career working on and move it into the classroom to prepare our future nurses,” Roberta P. Lavin.
The Aladino and Nellie Matteucci Faculty Fellowship was established in 2005 to support scholarly work being done by UNM College of Nursing (CON) faculty. Candidates prepare applications discussing how their proposed work will address the needs of the UNM CON while enhancing priorities, especially its educational commitment to students.
$416,000 in funding for two years beginning July, 2021
Principle Investigator
Katherine Zychowski, PhD, Assistant Professor
Co-Investigator
Xiaozhong Yu, MD, PhD, MPH, Professor
Poor remediation of abandoned commercial uranium mines throughout the Southwestern United States has subjected Native tribal communities to metal-based environmental exposures, including uranium, vanadium, arsenic. Recent data suggest that inhalation of fugitive mine site derived dust may have neurovascular consequences. This research explores this relationship and evaluates serum-derived exosomes as a potential mechanism driving PM-induced neurovascular endothelial dysfunction.
“Toxicology is an exciting field, and understanding basic biological mechanisms behind real-world inhaled exposures will further inform future intervention strategies. Long-term, I hope that my research will ultimately impact at-risk communities.” Katherine Zychowski.
The NIEHS/NIH provides federal research funding in the form of grants to universities and other research organizations for research projects and activities.
Research reported in this publication was supported by the NIEHS/NIH under Award Number R21ES032432. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Admissions & Recruitment
College of Nursing
Building Number 228
Suite 255
1 University of New Mexico