The American Academy of Nursing will induct their 2013 class of fellows during the Academy’s 40th annual meeting on October 19, 2013, in Washington, DC.  Among the 172 leaders inducted this year, 2 of our very own UCSF Hartford Center Associate Directors, Janine Cataldo and Laura Wagner will be given this honor.

The Academy is composed of more than 2,000 nurse leaders in education, management, practice, policy, and research. The Academy Fellows include hospital and government administrators, college deans, and renowned scientific researchers.

Janine Cataldo, PhD, APRN-BC, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiological Nursing 

Dr. Cataldo’s interest in geriatric nursing spans decades starting with studies of hardiness, depression, and death attitudes among older adults in long-term care facilities, investigation into the impact of depression on disability and most recently with her work in gero-oncology, Dr. Cataldo has spent over 10 years understanding the factors involved in older adult smoking.  Her research and clinical foci include: the impact of tobacco industry activities on older smokers; stigma, symptom burden, and quality of life among lung cancer patients; and clinical trials for smoking cessation interventions for cancer patients and cancer survivors.  She is also piloting an Avatar intervention for enhancing coping ability with lung cancer stigma.  With a team in Australia, she is comparing symptom occurrence and severity in both young and older cancer patients during active treatment.

Dr. Cataldo has developed the first valid and reliable tool to measure Lung Cancer Stigma (LCS), the Cataldo Lung Cancer Stigma Scale (CLCSS) and went on to find that LCS is highly prevalent with a significant impact on patients’ quality of life (QOL) and symptom experience. The CLCSS is currently being used in studies in Canada, Norway, China, Korea, and Scotland. Cancer Australia funded a country wide initiative using the CLCSS to study the impact of LCS stigma on patient outcomes. 

Janine has actively disseminated this knowledge with over 30 publications in peer reviewed journals and over 20 presentations at local, national, and international scientific conferences. She has served on scientific committees for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer for the 13, 14th and 15th World Lung Cancer Conferences, provided a keynote presentation at the Australia National Lung Cancer Stigma and Nihilism Forum, presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference, Post Graduate Course, and presented at the WHO Ageing and Health forum, “From Evidence to Action.” Most importantly, her research and practice informs her teaching. She has been a nursing educator for more than 25 years for under graduate and graduate students and is a mentor to both doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows.

Laura M. Wagner, PhD, RN, GNP, Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health Systems 

Dr. Wagner has provided leadership in making nursing homes safer across the U.S., Canada, and Europe.  Her research focuses on reducing falls, injuries, and physical restraint and siderail use.  She has over 40 peer reviewed publications consisting of a steady stream of enriched scientific understanding of safety in nursing homes.  Widespread adoption of her research is based on her recent involvement as a technical expert panel member for the National Quality Forum's list of serious reportable events for skilled nursing facilities, serving on the Joint Commission Panel to introduce innovative models of care to prevent infections, chairing the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario best practice guideline development on physical restraints, being a faculty member for the Canadian Patient Safety Institute Safer Healthcare Now! Falls Collaborative, and serving as a member of the ASTM International task force to develop standards for adult bed rails.  She is the recent recipient of the UCSF Hellman Family Fellowship Award and has a grant funded by the National Council State Boards of Nursing to explore perceptions of quality and safety among internationally educated nurses working in nursing home settings.  Dr. Wagner is a nationally certified Geriatric Nurse Practitioner and currently volunteers her time at the University Mound Ladies Home here in San Francisco.  She teaches geriatric-related coursework in the AGNP and Psych-Mental Health NP programs here at the school of nursing and she will be co-teaching research methods next winter 2014 quarter.  Her degrees in nursing are from Case Western Reserve University (BSN), University of Pennsylvania (MSN), and Emory University (PhD).