Marie Adorno, PhD, APRN, CNS, RNC-MNN, CNE
Interim Director of the PhD in Nursing Program
Louisiana State University Health New Orleans

I am interested in volunteering for the role of President-Elect. As a nursing educator at Louisiana State University Health New Orleans (LSUHNO), and a current member of the Southern Nursing Research Society (SNRS), I fully embrace SNRS’ mission to advance nursing research.

As the Interim Director of the PhD in Nursing Program at LSUHNO and a consultant/member of research advisory committees for local hospitals, I collaborate and engage in research and scholarly activities that impact nursing students and clinical nurses at all levels of practice to facilitate improving patient outcomes. I collaborate with nursing colleagues in both academic and practice settings who are conducting research and disseminating findings to influence positive patient care outcomes and advance nursing research. In mentoring registered nurses and undergraduate and graduate students with the achievement of their educational and career goals, I value the collaboration to facilitate future nursing scientists in promoting nursing science.

I am an active member in nursing professional organizations; I currently serve on the SNRS Succession and Nominations Planning Committee. I have also served on the SNRS Planning Committee for the Annual Conferences from 2020-2024. In my role as President of the Epsilon Nu Chapter of Sigma (2017-2019) and Chair of the Research Committee for Epsilon Nu at Large Chapter, I have assisted with collaboration and dissemination of nursing research amongst the nursing community. I have also served as President of the New Orleans District Nurses Association (NODNA).

My experiences in various leadership positions will position me well to help propel SNRS’ vision to lead transformation of health outcomes through nursing research.

Mercy Ngosa Mumba, PhD, RN, CMSRN, FAAN
Associate Professor and Founding Director – CSURRC
Capstone College of Nursing, The University of Alabama

My name is Mercy Mumba. I’m an Associate Professor at the Capstone College of Nursing. I have been a member of SNRS since 2012 and previously served as Secretary (Student Network), member (Communications Committee), Associate Editor/Editor (Southern Connections Newsletter), and was recently reelected as Director of Membership. My research focuses on substance use disorders.

I’m running for the office of President-Elect. I have a strong record of serving this organization, supporting the mission and vision, and providing innovative solutions to some challenges we have faced. I became Director of Membership at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our membership experienced significant declines. However, with the relentless and strategic efforts we put in place alongside my esteemed State Liaison colleagues, we have seen a steady 50% increase in membership over the last two years. We also witnessed over 90% of current SNRS members attending the 2023 annual conference, which is unprecedented.

My goal as President-Elect/President is to provide LEADERSHIP that leverages our strengths and builds on our tradition of inclusive excellence.

I have vast leadership experience that has prepared me to assume this role. I hope you will consider electing me as your President-Elect. With Gratitude.

Pamela F. Ashcraft, PhD, RN, PHCNS-BC
Professor
University of Central Arkansas

My name is Pamela F. Ashcraft, PhD, RN, PHCNS-BC and I am excited to announce my candidacy for Secretary/Treasurer of SNRS. I am a Professor of Nursing at the University of Central Arkansas where I also serve as the Research and Scholarship Coordinator, Coordinator of the Nursing Honors Program, and am a member of the Nursing Administrative Council. With a deep-rooted commitment to SNRS and to advancing nursing science, I humbly seek your support.

As a member of SNRS for over 19 years, I have been fortunate to witness the transformative power of research and evidence-based practices in improving patient outcomes and elevating quality of care. As a member of the SNRS Board of Directors, I aim to channel my experience into initiatives that will further advance the collective goals of our organization. My vision for SNRS revolves around three core principles: promoting research collaboration and interdisciplinary exchange, nurturing emerging researchers and mentorship programs, and promoting research dissemination and translation.

Over the years, I have served on many SNRS committees and sub-committees, including serving on the Board of Directors for four years. Outside of SNRS, I have served on several committees that have enhanced my financial and budgetary knowledge. For example, I served five years as chair of the Discretionary Funds Committee for the UCA School of Nursing, served five years on the Arkansas State March of Dimes Grants Awards Committee, and served as a board member for a community-based capital campaign, that raised over five million dollars for a “home away from home” to house cancer patients and their caregivers. Through my service on all of these committees, I had the responsibility of balancing budgets, paying vendors, and disseminating funds appropriately.

If entrusted with this leadership role, I promise to approach it with utmost dedication and integrity.

Susan B. Fowler, RN, PhD, CRRN, NE-BC, FCNS
Chief Nurse, Research & Innovation
Orlando VA Healthcare System

I am committed to advancing nursing science through efforts of the Southern Nursing Research Society. SNRS can advance nursing science through sponsorship of research grants, an annual conference, webinars, mentoring, awards, and networking. Support costs money and I would strive to build SNRS’s financial foundation for stability and most importantly, growth of the association. SNRS is rich in people and opportunities for professional growth, especially with a focus on research, dissemination of research findings, and translation of research into practice. But, we can get richer! I have had the opportunity to be treasurer of two national nursing organizations in the past. I bring a good understanding of budgets, revenue, and expenses to the position of Secretary/Treasurer. I am willing and able to help SNRS fulfill its vision to lead transformation of health outcomes through nursing research. I recently served on the BOD as chair of the awards committee.  I used to facilitate the health policy RIG and now focus on research in the clinical setting.

Jyotsana Parajuli, PhD, MGS, RN
Assistant Professor in Nursing
University of North Carolina at Charlotte School of Nursing

I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing (SON) at UNC Charlotte since August 2020. My research focuses on palliative and end of life care in older adults with cancer, and I have received multiple grants to advance this agenda. I currently have a National Institute of Aging grant under consideration. I have served on multiple School and University committees (including the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, SON Honors Committee, Faculty Search Committee, and Faculty Welfare Committee). I have also led research teams, including students and clinical partners. During my doctoral work, I was a member of the Eastern Nursing Research Society and joined SNRS when I moved to North Carolina. Currently I am a member of the Planning Committee and the Communications Committee, and I also served as co-chair of the Planning Committee until the birth of my first child in December. My role in the Communications Committee included serving as the RINAH Submission Chair. In this position, my role was to secure contributions from the board members for each RINAH issue and ensure we are on track for the production schedule. As a young millennial, I am adept in social media as well. With my experiences of serving in the SNRS Planning Committee and Communications Committee (as RINAH chair) and other service roles within my university in my short tenure as an assistant professor, I am confident I have the leadership skills to serve as the Director of Communications at SNRS. Given the chance, I have the passion and enthusiasm to advance SNRS communications while supporting SNRS’s mission.

Ashley Rivera, RN, PhD, Jonas Scholar
Assistant Professor
Florida Atlantic University – Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing

As the current Director of Communications, I strive to continue to develop the team of connected individuals working towards a goal of keeping the SNRS membership engaged, involved, and informed on all research society activities and opportunities for growth. I’ve been fortunate to be joined with a wonderful group of committee members that bring so many wonderful ideas to the table, for example, the “Good News” campaign which seeks to celebrate the many wonderful achievements of the SNRS membership and the revitalization of our SNRS YouTube channel, a work that is still in progress! I am a big believer that many hands make light work and I hope to continue to embody this tradition as the Director of Communications for SNRS for the coming election term.

Demetrius Abshire, PhD, RN
Associate Professor
University of South Carolina College of Nursing

I have served as a member of the SNRS Development Committee since 2020 and am excited to be a candidate for director of this committee. Having served on the Development Committee for the past 3 years, I have learned much more about the different ways in which SNRS raises funds to support nursing research and have worked with the committee on various fundraising initiatives (e.g., the $23 for 23 campaign, the online silent auction, and the SNRS annual sponsorship package). As Director of Development, I will work with other committee members and the SNRS Board of Directors to implement both established and new fundraising initiatives. Some of my priorities for this position, if elected, include growing SNRS endowments for research, collaborating with the Director of Grants to pursue crowdsource funding options to support emerging nurse scientists, and exploring new opportunities for grant recipients to engage with both existing and potential donors.

In addition to gaining valuable experience by serving on the Development Committee, I have served in a variety of leadership positions during my academic career that have prepared me to serve as Director of Development. I previously served as co-chair of the awards and scholarship committee of the Delta Psi chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International and was a founding member of the Lexington Alliance for Men in Nursing chapter of the American Assembly for Men in Nursing. I have chaired several academic committees during my career and currently serve as co-director of our Smart Start Nursing Program for Honors students who major in nursing.

Sara Davis, PhD, RN, PCNS-BC
Assistant Professor
University of South Alabama College of Nursing

My name is Sara Davis, and I am an Assistant Professor in Maternal Child Health Nursing at the University of South Alabama. I have been a member of SNRS for 10 years, first joining when I was a PhD student. SNRS has been a great organization for me as I’ve sought networking, presentation, and leadership opportunities. I have been a state liaison for SNRS since 2021, and I served as the chair of Membership Renewal Subcommittee for 2023. I have also had the honor of participating in the SNRS Leadership Academy for the 2023-2024 cohort. I would like to continue to give back to SNRS by serving as the Director of Development for 2024-2026. My experience in fundraising for professional organizations includes chairing various conference committees, developing and hosting virtual CEU presentations, and organizing dinner theater and silent auction events. I have a strong history of networking with leadership in SNRS and would continue to work closely with SNRS membership to ensure the continued success and growth of the organization.

Jinbing Bai PhD, MSN, RN, FAAN
Assistant Professor
Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing

I am an Assistant Professor at Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. I completed my Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2016 and was inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN) in 2019. My research expertise includes patient-reported outcomes, gut microbiome, and microbiome-gut-brain axis across cancer treatment trajectories, with more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. I have led multiple projects sponsored by the National Institute of Health, Oncology Nursing Foundation, Department of Health CURE program, NRG Oncology, and SNRS/American Nurses Foundation. SNRS is my home society as it provides all the research support, service needs, and next-generation naturing for faculty like me. I have been a member of SNRS since 2012 and presented my work many times in SNRS. One of my research projects was funded by SNRS/ANF in 2017. I have served on the Finance Committee and the Awards Committee and have been the SNRS conference abstract reviewer since 2015. I completed the SNRS Leadership Academy in 2023, strengthening my leadership skills and preparing me to help peers disseminate and increase the impact of nursing scholarship. I am very excited to apply for the position of director of grants because of my intensive experience in grant application and running research projects. My previous experiences in SNRS have set a critical foundation for me to continuously serve our members and work with the board members/directors to strengthen the mission, vision, and values of SNRS.

Victoria Loerzel, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor and Beat M. and Jill L. Kahli Endowed Professor of Oncology Nursing
University of Central Florida College of Nursing

I am pleased to seek re-election as the SNRS Director of Grants. I am an active nurse scientist who has led research teams for federally, locally, and organizationally funded grants. My goal is to mentor and support early and mid-career scientists to succeed in research. I would like to ensure that SNRS remains an important and relevant funding source for students, and early- and mid-career faculty to facilitate the promotion of nursing and nursing research through the development of high-quality nursing science.

As the current SNRS Director of Grants, I have led the committee in a competitive process to review and award funding to multiple doctoral students and nurse scientists.  We have revised the Grant Review and Scoring form to facilitate the review of grant proposals and promote clarity of the feedback for applicants.  I have mentored new committee members in the review process and have created resources for new reviewers to develop comfort and confidence in their reviews.  In addition, I have worked with other SNRS leaders to create informative videos to address common questions and issues related to the grant application process.

Within SNRS, I have served as the Director of Grants since 2022. I have been a member of research grant review panels for SNRS, the Oncology Nursing Society, and the American Nurses Foundation for over a decade. I also serve as an Ad Hoc reviewer for Special Emphasis Panels at the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) and for K awards at the National Cancer Institute since 2018.

I look forward to the opportunity to continue promoting high quality nursing research within the SNRS community. I am committed to ensuring that our selection process is unbiased and fair to promote research opportunities for novice and experienced nurse scientists in the academic and clinical settings.

Ann Hammack Johnson
Associate Professor
Texas Christian University

My interest in research began during a period of my career focused on clinical practice while I was in my first pediatric nurse practitioner (PNP) position in the Pediatric Sleep Clinic at Children’s of Alabama. Later, during my time as a PNP in a large pediatric neuro-oncology practice, I collaborated on several retrospective studies looking at symptoms of pediatric brain tumor patients. Publications from this early work and subsequent work are listed in my cv (attached).

These early beginnings formed the foundation of my program of biobehavioral research that continued throughout my doctoral work and beyond. I have explored and analyzed symptoms that exist during pediatric brain tumor survivorship, particularly the symptom cluster of stress, sleep, and fatigue. My interest in the concept of stress involves both perceived (self-report) and physiological (biological markers of stress), and this interest has branched out to additional pediatric and young adult populations, as can be seen in my collaborative work with elementary school-children’s stress and activity, nursing student stress and wellbeing, and child report of pre-anesthesia anxiety.

Over the last six years I have received internal and external research funding and have published 12 manuscripts, five of which are first-author publications from my research. Currently, I serve as P.I. or co-P.I. with four multi-site research projects, and as departmental honors project coordinator for undergraduate nursing at TCU.

Within SNRS, I have been involved over the years, first in the student role, then as a regular member. I began by serving as an abstract reviewer; then chairing a symposium on Child Stress for an annual conference; and then serving on the membership committee as state liaison for Texas. I have always wanted to serve in a larger role in the organization, and feel that this is the year to take on that role!

 Susan Letvak, PhD, RN, FAAN
Director PhD in Nursing Program
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

I have been a nurse researcher for almost 25 years and currently serve as the Director of the PhD in Nursing program at UNC Greensboro. My area of research has focused on the health and safety of the nurse, as well as quality of patient care.  My methodology expertise is in qualitative research. I have been funded by the US Department of Defense, the NIH, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, CCI Foundation, HRSA and the American Nurses Foundation. I have 70 peer reviewed publications and 90 professional presentations, including keynotes. I have a special passion for mentoring junior nurse scientists and supporting military veterans in becoming registered nurses. I have been an active member of SNRS for over 20 years where I have chaired RIGs and the journal task force, served on the Awards Committee, presented numerous presentations as well as pre-conference workshops, and continue to serve as a long-term member of the Research Grants Committee.  I believe I am an excellent candidate for the Succession Planning and Nominations Committee because I have cultivated relationships with nurse scientists throughout the Southern region as a long-term educator, consultant to nursing programs and hospital systems, as well as my membership as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing along with other nursing organizations to include the American Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau, International, and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses. I will work to support the Board of Directors in assuring succession planning is an integral part of Board operations.