Ph.D. Students/Graduates/Postdocs

Demetrium Abshire received the Lyman T. Johnson Odyssey Award from the UK Student Government Association at the University Honors and Recognition Awards Program in April 2009. He is a Ph.D. student and part-time faculty in the College of Nursing.

Demetrius Abshire
Ph.D. student

Jan Odom-Forren received the 2008 Book of the Year Award in the Advanced Practice Nursing category from the American Journal of Nursing.  The book is titled Perianesthesia Nursing: A Critical Care Approach, 5th edition, by Cecil Drain and Jan Odom-Forren, St. Louis, Saunders Elsevier. Previously, she won the 2005 award in the Critical Care category for Practical Guide to Moderate Sedation/Analgesia, 2nd edition, by Jan Odom-Forren and Donna Watson, St. Louis: Mosby. She also received an award for best published paper of the year from the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses.

Jan Odom-Forren
Ph.D. candidate

Muna Hammash (Ph.D. candidate) received a $10,000 grant from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and a $3,000 grant from the Council for Advancement of Science/Southern Nursing Research Society for her dissertation research, "Cardiac Dysrhythmias During Mechanical Ventilation and Weaning from Ventilation."

Muna Hammash
Ph.D. candidate

Eun Kyeung (Grace) Song (postdoctoral fellow) and Chennet Phonphet (visiting doctoral student) were finalists for the Nursing Research Award at the Heart Failure Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting in Toronto, September 2008. Song's paper was titled, "The Relationship Among Depressive Symptoms, N-Terminal Pro B Type Natriuretic Peptide, and Cardiac Events in Patients with Heart Failure." Phonphet's presentation was titled, "Factors Influencing Health Status Among Thai Patients with Heart Failure."

Eun Kyeung Song
Postdoctoral Fellow

Elizabeth Salt (Ph.D. 2009) received a $7,000 Lawren H. Daltroy Fellowship in Patient-Clinician Communication from the American College of Rheumatology. The fellowship will support her postdoctoral research, "A Patient-Health Care Provider Communication Scale."

Elizabeth Salt
Ph.D. 2009

Rebecca Dekker received a $15,000 International Scholar Award from the Philanthropic Educational Organization. Her paper presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in November 2008, "Negative Thinking: A Modifiable Target for the Treatment of Depressive Symptoms in Patients with Heart Failure," was featured in an article in Medscape.

Rebecca Dekker
Ph.D. candidate

Evelyn Parrish (Ph.D. 2008) received the Rising Star of Scholarship and Research award from Sigma Theta Tau.

Evelyn Parrish
Ph.D. 2008

Susie Adams (Ph.D. 2007) received the 2008 Excellence in Education Award from the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. In June 2008, she was inducted into the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

Susie Adams
Ph.D. 2007

Gwen (Hayes) Rinker, predoctoral fellow with the University of Kentucky Rural Cancer Control Training Program, won first place in the student poster contest at the 2008 Southern Nursing Research Society conference for her poster, GIS Mapping: Tobacco Smoke, Radon, and Lung Cancer.

Gwen Rinker
Ph.D. 2009

Jia-Rong (Angela) Wu  (Ph.D. 2007) received a two-year $88,000 postdoctoral fellowship award from the American Heart Association. She also received a $10,000 Clinical Outcomes Grant from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses for her research, "Effect of a Theory-Based Medication-taking Behavior Feedback Intervention on Medication Adherence and Outcomes in Patients with Heart Failure. " She received a two-year $95,000 postdoctoral fellowship to work with the RICH Heart Group on a grant funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (#1R01HL083176). A paper based on her dissertation, "Predictors of Medication Adherence Using a Multidimensional Adherence Model in Patients with Heart Failure," was a finalist in the Nursing Research Award competition at the Scientific Meeting of the Heart Failure Society of America. She was also a finalist for the Martha Hill New Investigator Award at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

Angela Wu
Postdoctoral fellow

Jessica Wilson was awarded $25,000 from the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention for her dissertation research, "Characteristics of All-Terrain Vehicles and Their Operators on Kentucky Farms."

Jessica Wilson
Ph.D. 2009

Brooke Bentley, 2006 Ph.D. graduate, won second place in the research presentation competition at the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses conference for her paper, "Dietary Sodium Intervention in Heart Failure Patients." Rebecca Dekker was awarded third place for her paper, "Depressive Symptoms Do Not Predict Physical Activity Levels in Patients with Heart Failure."

Rebecca Dekker
Ph.D. student

Connie Lamb received a $12,500 grant from the Christopher Reeve Foundation for her dissertation research, “Living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy: Measuring Quality of Life.”

Connie Lamb
Ph.D. 2008

Judy Schreiber was awarded a $60,000 Doctoral Degree Scholarship from the American Cancer Society. The topic of her dissertation research is, "Spiritual Belief Systems Expectations: Impact on Anxiety and Depression." She and fellow students Susan Hedgecock and Gwen Hayes were selected as predoctoral fellows in the Kentucky Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program, based in the Center for Prevention Research. In July 2006 she was chosen to attend an invitational program at the National Institutes of Health, consisting of an intensive course on the Principles and Practice of Cancer Prevention offered by the National Cancer Institute.

Judy Schreiber
Ph.D. 2009