NEW YORK NURSE: January/February 2010
Karen Zanni, a research scientist at the New York State Department of Health in Albany, recently completed a two-month NIH Fellowship in Bethesda, Md. The NIH/National Institutes of Nursing Research (NINR) Summer Genetics Institute (SGI) is a competitive, intensive research fellowship designed to provide a foundation in genetics for use in research and clinical practice. Its purpose is to develop and expand the research capability among graduate students and faculty in schools of nursing, and to develop and expand the basis for clinical practice in genetics among advanced practice nurses. Graduates receive 12 hours of Georgetown University doctoral college credit. SGI fellows are expected to write NIH-style research proposals that incorporate some aspect of genetics with nursing. Zanni’s research looked at infant hearing loss. To further address epidemiology and natural history of connexin-related hearing loss, she will conduct a longitudinal study in an ethnically diverse cohort of infants and toddlers less than three years of age.
Fran Bowers, a full-time nursing clinician at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School (CGPS), was recently selected from more than 150 faculty members to receive its Board of Trustees Award for outstanding contributions toward the life of the school. CGPS, founded in 1764, is one of the oldest private institutions in the nation, and was originally established as a preparatory school for Columbia University. Bowers has also been employed for more than 35 years at Montefiore Medical Center, where she works as a per-diem nurse in the psychiatric emergency department. After graduating from Boston University, she pursued an advanced degree in psychiatric nursing from Columbia University. “I can’t recall wanting to become anything other than a nurse… my mother and grandmother had wanted to become nurses and influenced me… I feel fortunate to practice two specialties with psychiatric and pediatric populations,” she said. Bowers, who recently established psychotherapy practices in the Bronx and Manhattan along with her husband, Lloyd, will celebrate 40 years in the profession in May.
The Long Island College of Nursing recently celebrated a decade of nursing excellence with the tenth annual Thomas and Elizabeth Butson Awards for Clinical Excellence and Compassionate Nursing. NYSNA RNs Gina Colon, Claudette Prince, Yolaine Charles, and Lynn Jampayas-Gomez were named as the winning nurses. Colon, a staff nurse on the night shift in the emergency department, was commended for “maintaining her composure no matter what comes through the doors at night.” Prince, a labor and delivery nurse, received recognition for “always being mindful that she’s taking care of two patients at one time — mom and baby.” Charles, an RN on the stroke unit, was nominated for “responding nimbly to life and death ‘codes,’” and Jampayas-Gomez, an ICU nurse, received the Outstanding Clinical Excellence Award for “coupling her excellent clinical and technical skills with compassionate people skills.”